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Twitch faces backlash over default setting to train Amazon AI
The feature is opt-out, but Twitch’s product chief said default data collection is meant to ensure usage since “opt-in” would lead to few participants.
Twitch has drawn criticism from users after it emerged that Amazon, which owns Twitch, can use data generated by creators and audiences to train its AI models through a setting that is turned on by default. Twitch said users can disable the feature, but the announcement sparked a backlash with some questioning why the option was enabled by default.
During a livestream, Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton said the company was letting users opt out, while adding that if the feature were opt-in, “nobody would opt-in.” He also said channel content used for training would not be re-sold to other companies.
Twitch’s own FAQs state that if users do not opt out, their content could be used to train generative AI models, including uses such as refining speech-to-text capabilities to improve automatic subtitles. Some users also raised concerns about downstream implications for game developers, given that Twitch streams include video game content.
Twitch’s head of community, Mary Kish, walked viewers through how to turn off generative AI training in the user’s Streamer Dashboard. Users would need to go to Settings, select Security and Privacy, then toggle off “training for Generative AI,” which is intended to stop Amazon from using streams, clips, images, chats, and other channel content for model training.