Kizuna AI

Kizuna AI is the virtual character credited with inventing and naming the VTuber format. She posted her first YouTube video on 29 November 2016 under the channel A.I.Channel, and within months had grown to hundreds of thousands of subscribers by mixing Let's Play videos, vlogs, Q&A sessions and casual conversation. She coined the term Virtual YouTuber in that first video, and the VTuber phenomenon — which now numbers in the tens of thousands of creators globally — traces its origin to her channel. Kizuna AI was created and managed by Activ8, a Japanese digital entertainment company, under the project name Project A.I. Her voice was later disclosed as belonging to Japanese voice actress Nozomi Kasuga. A separate Kizuna AI Inc. was eventually established to manage her exclusively. By 2020 she had more than four million subscribers across three YouTube channels, and an additional one million subscribers on Chinese video platform Bilibili, making her the most subscribed VTuber at the time. She performed at anime conventions, collaborated with gaming companies and worked with Nissin Cup Noodles and other major Japanese brands. She went on hiatus from YouTube in 2022 after a Hello World farewell concert, and has since announced an anime project. Kizuna AI is the foundational reference point for the entire virtual creator industry.