Kick streamer loses over 50,000 followers in an hour after launching 'awful' AI stream
One of the streaming world's biggest creators might just have jeopardized his stardom with a controversial new stunt, as Mikyle "N3on" Rafiq has ditched his real-life presence for an AI alternative in a bid to remain online forever.
Social media stars have been taking advantage of AI tools for a while now with many opting for the tech when creating thumbnails or searching for content suggestions, yet N3on has taken a bold step by replacing himself with an AI alternative.
It's not the first time this has happened – as notable gaming creator Kwebbelkop did the same on YouTube to little success – but it's an experiment that's relatively new to the upper tiers of the streaming world.
N3on in particular has cultivated a following in recent years for his wild IRL streams, featuring several famous figures and notable rappers in particular, and he even scored himself a place in GTA 6 as he burst out of a car's trunk in the recent Extended Look.
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This new move towards AI-driven content creation hasn't gone down well with his fanbase, however, with tens of thousands voicing their opposition in both the stream's chat and his follower count.
More than 50,000 people unfollow N3on over AI stream
According to X user 'Sparky', N3on's follower count on Kick dropped by around 50,000 users in just the first hour after his AI stream, and while this number has likely settled in the hours since he was live, it shows that many opposed the experiment.
Skipping to pretty much any point during the nearly five-hour-long stream you will see users in the comments expressing their dissatisfaction, spamming either thumbs-down emotes or declaring their hatred for AI — but the stream itself is one of his most viewed in recent weeks, earning 480,000 views in just 15 hours so far.
It's likely that a large chunk of this is sourced from people's morbid curiosity as they are fascinated to see quite how bad it is, but it's equally easy to take this as a sign of interest that encourages the streamer to keep going.
He had returned to a real-life gambling stream just hours later, however, suggesting both that he's not gone for good, and that the AI streams aren't running in perpetuity whenever he's not live himself.
How have people reacted to N3on's AI stream?
Beyond the in-stream opposition to the AI generated stream content, there have been countless posts across social media from people who couldn't quite believe what the were seeing.
"I watched for 10 minutes, it was SO awful. I can't even stress," wrote one user on X. "Also, the other dude was the main character 90% of the time... N3on barely talked lol."
Another joked that N3on is "single-handedly proving even the people who enjoy watching his garbage streams don't want this slop," with another pointing out that "for some bizarre reason the characters get very fascinated by their reflections in mirrors every once in a while."
There is certainly a strange fascination you can glean from the stream that sources from its absurdity, but watching it for minutes – let alone hours – on end as it jumps from one nonsensical scene to the next is likely enough to drive even the most committed of his viewership away.