Twitch users outraged as Amazon uses their content to train AI in opt-out feature
Twitch has been criticised by users after it emerged the popular streaming platform allowed their content to be used to train Amazon’s AI models.
Amazon owns Twitch and a setting allowing the US tech giant to take data generated by creators and audiences to train AI is turned on by default.
Users can opt out of that, Twitch said on Wednesday, but the announcement sparked a backlash with some users questioning why it was allowed in the first place.
Twitch’s chief product officer Mike Minton, said it was “respecting” users by letting them opt out but on why data was collected by default, he admitted: “If it’s opt-in, nobody would opt-in. That’s the honest answer.”
What is Amazon using the content for?
Users who remain opted in could have any of their channel content used for training, Minton said during a livestream, adding that the data collected will not be re-sold to other companies.
In Twitch’s own FAQs about its use of AI, it says if users do not opt out, their content could be used to train generative AI models.
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence which creates new content, such as text, images and video. Chabots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are both examples of the tech.
For example, Twitch said a person’s audio might be used to “refine models that create speech to text”. It said this would help improve automatic subtitles on Twitch streams as well as Amazon videos.
Some also questioned what the implications could be for game developers, given the feature would also seemingly train Amazon’s AI models on the countless video games being played by streamers.
“On by default is criminal…. the AI narrative push is so draining,” said one streamer underneath Twitch Support’s post about the feature.
The BBC has contacted Twitch and Amazon for comment.
How to opt-out
On the same livestream, Mary Kish, head of community at Twitch, took viewers through a tutorial on how to disable generative AI training through a user’s channel settings.
Those that do want to disable it would need to navigate to the Settings tab in their Streamer Dashboard, click the Security and Privacy tab, then scroll down to near the bottom of the options and toggle off “training for Generative AI”.
Doing so will prevent Amazon from using streams, clips, images, chats and other channel content to train its generative AI models.
Some users have since said despite toggling off the option, they have then returned to the settings to find the feature turned on again.
“Went in and toggled the switch off, exited, went back in, switch is still on,” one said.
Data collection for AI training has become an industry standard, Kish said.
“We don’t expect you to be happy or excited about this. I don’t expect anyone to react to this favourably,” she added.
The stream’s chat column was flooded with hundreds of comments from users criticising the move.
One viewer wrote: “Nobody would opt in because nobody wants to feed AI with our creativity and content.”
Another said Twitch had an “opportunity to set an industry standard” to push back against data collection for AI.
It is not clear when Amazon began collecting Twitch users’ data to train its AI models.
Minton said during the stream that he did not know if users’ data had already been scraped for training, adding that he was unsure what Amazon “has done in terms of model training and what they’ve used and not used.”
Amazon, which bought Twitch for nearly $1bn (£740m) in 2014, runs a host of AI services and has heavily invested in the its development as it seeks to compete with Google, Meta andother technology giants.
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