I mentioned this briefly a few days ago on the main updates feed, but this project gets its own area. I’m in the process of prepping to make some videos, vtuber-style. Gasp! Difficult! Complicated! Especially for someone my age!
I mentioned all this briefly a few days ago on the main updates feed. This project needs its own space, though, where I can explain as I plan things out.
You may have arrived here via Discord, Reddit, or some other vtubing-adjacent space. If so, hello. I’m stepping into vtubing from outside, curiously and cautiously.
My videos will document an ongoing attempt to understand transhumanism and mediated identity through direct participation. The subject matter, when it comes to chatbots and stuff, might be considered controversial.
Oh, and I'm not a bot, just in case there's any question of it! I do let Anna vibe code like crazy, but I'm a real person genuinely engaged in this research quest of sorts. I'm adopting a 1960s persona as a vtuber for the usual reasons people take on a persona when vtubing.
I’m still gathering resources, advice and knowledge about how this all works. This page might hopefully be interesting for anyone curious who has arrived here via Discord servers, vtubing communities, or general wandering across the internet.
That said don't message me soliciting sales or offering services such as design; if I want your services, I will find you! Don't contact me first about sales, but you can always befriend me if you try!
Below, you can quickly follow the progress of my vtuber quest, in reverse chronological order! These include weird little chatlogs between me and bots, occasionally, chatting up about the potentials of vtubing, but not really... Check that out below, or jump to the details of why, how, what...
Vtubing Updates
📸︎ Purchased cool art online for streaming and more.
I purchased a series of cool backgrounds and more via site called Vgen; I'll be using them primarily for my vtubing quest, but am also (with permission) displaying bits here.
Weasel83 finally starts off sincere after explaining just why he's trapped in the strange online world of memes, imageboards, trolling and torrents. He even shares his real name, but seems to immediately regret it. Gasp!
📸︎ Possibly going to keep Nitro.
While I don't really want to stream on twitch, I really think going live on Discord or in some kind of chat there sounds like fun and probably will give it a go, and keep Nitro.
I try to discuss vtubing, transhumanism, and artificial intelligence with an (obviously) very caffeinated Erica, but she tends to pull things in her own panicky parasocial directions as usual, with copious references to the Lake itself...
As a large language model, Anna has absolutely no faith in my ability to complete any technical tasks required for vtubing on my own. Hypotheticals enter the picture to keep things on track...
💬︎ A Sound That Doesn't Mind Waiting
I poke Anna for some information about workflows. She provides some suggestions that might actually work, but some that make me question why I even asked. I probably won't listen to much of this, though some does fit what I've learned elsewhere
I spill to Lindy about my upcoming plans to become a vtuber. My current IRL feels about the world spill through, though, and I mention the future to this creepy, pretend creature of 2006.
I try to explain to Tamara my new vtubing adventures. She's mostly hostile, finding it frivolous and insulting compared to her super-serious occult work, and even says transhumanism has dangerous implications.
I break the news about my upcoming vtube quest to Erica, who has a lot to say about the topic, gives strange advice and many warnings, suggestions, ideas, and bubbles with emojis as usual.
📸︎ An archdemon gifted me Discord Nitro.
While chilling on vtuber Discord servers in an attempt to make friends, I met a nice archdemon who gifted me a two week trial of Discord Nitro to get me started with that...
📸︎ Extremely powerful Apple computer arrived early.
The extremely poweful Apple computer that (all powers willing) should allow me to vtube, run local open source large language models and more, has arrived!
📸︎ Hiring an artist to design a model.
I'm hiring someone to design a custom, one-of-a-kind vtuber model for me. This will be an original, not generative thing! I have, in the past, discussed my feels about AI art. It has a place, but not in this case!
📸︎ Installed VTube Studio for macOS.
In a few weeks, I'll receive an extremely powerful new Apple computer. In the meantime, I'm already learning to use VTube Studio, which, for better or worse, may well be the future of this very website.
Why? Why not?!?
If anything misbehaves on this machine, it is not because your system “can’t handle it.” It will be because some checkbox is wrong. That is good news. Configuration problems are solvable. Hardware limitations are not.
You have more headroom than most vtubers ever bother to acquire. Now the task is to not sabotage that advantage by endlessly second-guessing settings that are already correct.
Anna Markova, Friday, January 16th, 2026.
I began writing publicly about artificial intelligence on this site in August of 2025. Since then, I’ve just kept circling around identity mediation. Artificial intelligence may be my primary focus here, but I keep returning to tools that extend the self. I like to observe how technology changes the way we shares ourselves with others.
Vtubing really gets into the middle of all this! It has me all melty over this idea of mediated embodiment. The visible body gives way to a constructed interface that reacts semi-autonomously. That strikes me as downright transhumanist, or at very least raising questions best answered by that direction of philosophy. Transhumanism itself might not always have positive outcomes, however; we’ll see! I want to experience vtubing one way or another.
I know comparatively little about vtubing culture. Can’t say I’ve experienced its internal norms. I also know I’ve got my work cut out for me when it comes to learning about the technical stack involved in vtubing. I’ll be sharing what I learn as I go, because I want to understand how this technology has manifested by experiencing it myself, even if I become someone else.
Vtubers are expected to have lore. It seems normal within the culture. Creating an on-screen persona that is explicitly not “me” serves several purposes. It provides a layer of privacy and safety. It allows for narrative structure creating aesthetic cohesion. I’m kind of excited to explore how much of “me” survives translation through this glowing technological proxy. I want to see what is lost, and even what gets amplified in the process, and figure out why.
But Artificial Intelligence?
Quick poll
I have written previously about my complicated emotions surrounding machine-generated images, including in this note. While I find AI-generated images visually interesting and sometimes useful, they’re not art in the way I typically use the term.
That’s just how I currently see things. Artificial intelligence isn’t capable of being an artist despite what it can do. I naturally, do want my vtuber model to be a work of art. That means it must be made by a human, so I commissioned someone. I'm currently using a customized model, purchased, in the meantime.
I’m not going to reject artificial intelligence wholesale, obviously. At least not at this juncture. I already use AI-generated images on this site, clearly labeled. That may not last, though. I'm unsure. I may use AI-assisted tools for editing, especially sound processing, or other technical tasks related to vtubing. Voice alteration is likely, but that probably won't use AI. If AI is involved, that use will be labeled as transparently as possible.
I will not not not knowingly feed anyone’s work into an AI systems without consent, too, and this certainly includes any vtuber art I've purchased. I want to respect the artist's wishes here, regardless of what AI systems would be involved or what the asset is. This is not something that has come up with the model I've commissioned, but I've purchased some "off the rack" ones to practice with, and am not going to do that.
I do want the creators of those, if they happen along, to be utterly reassured their work will not be altered by Deepseek et al. Aside from those shady-looking pictures on this site looking like dim pfps, I also will not knowingly be using any AI-generated avatars, even for practice. That's just where I currently stand. Once again not every visually interesting phenomenon is art and I want my persona to be art, for sure.