Twitch confirms Amazon AI training on livestreams, offers opt-out

During a livestream dedicated to the issue, Twitch's head of community, Mary Kish, acknowledged that users were not expected to react favorably to the policy. The live chat during the stream was reportedly flooded with negative comments, and some prominent streamers voiced their disapproval on social media.

Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton admitted that if the AI training were opt-in, participation would be minimal, stating, "If it was opt-in, nobody would opt in." He also indicated uncertainty about whether Amazon had already utilized Twitch data for model training, as he does not oversee Amazon's training efforts. Minton and Kish presented the opt-out feature as a measure of respect for users, with Minton suggesting that "almost any publicly available content is being used for model training in one form or another."

Users can disable generative AI training by adjusting settings within their channel's security and privacy options, which will prevent Amazon from using streams, videos on demand, clips, images, chat, and other channel content for its AI models. Amazon, which acquired Twitch in 2014 for nearly $1 billion, is reportedly investing heavily in AI development to compete with other major tech companies.