Wired to Offend: Cancel Culture Meets Generative Artificial Intelligence

Cancel culture has been limited to individuals and corporations being cancelled. However, AI is also getting cancelled, challenging our understanding of machine autonomy and cancel culture. This paper investigates how AI cancellation is discussed on X (Twitter) using a recent AI cancellation incident involving Nothing, Forever, an AI-generated parody of Seinfeld. Qualitative content analysis is performed on 734 relevant posts to extract the main categories dominating the discourse, including emotional expression, attitudes toward AI, and discussion of human versus AI qualities. The results provide insights regarding how people perceive the autonomy of AI and who is responsible for AI output.