Twitch and Amazon face lawsuit over AI training using streamers’ content

A Connecticut-based streamer has filed a class action lawsuit against Twitch and Amazon after his content was allegedly used to train AI models. The complaint accuses Twitch and Amazon of failing to obtain the necessary licensing or permission before using his Twitch streams and videos as datasets to fuel Amazon’s AI products.

Twitch Support posted on X earlier this month that it had introduced an option allowing creators to opt out of having their channel content used to train generative AI models across Amazon.

Thereafter, Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton addressed the issue during an episode of the company’s Patch Notes stream.

When asked by a viewer on why AI training was enabled by default rather than being opt-in, Minton said, “if it was opt-in, nobody would opt in,” explaining why users must actively opt out if they do not want their content used for AI training.

The comments come as Twitch and Amazon face a new class action lawsuit alleging that the companies breached their contracts by using streamers as “free training stock for separate commercial AI products.” The lawsuit also claims that creators suffered financial losses as a result of the companies’ practices.

Amazon is not the only tech giant facing such allegations. Earlier this year, three YouTubers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of scraping copyrighted content to train its AI models.