Twitch faces a class action lawsuit over using streamers' content to train Amazon's AI
A Twitch streamer has filed a proposed class action against the platform and its parent company Amazon, claiming his broadcasts, and those of countless other creators, were fed into generative AI training with neither consent nor payment. Read more
A Twitch streamer named Warren Pandiscia has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the streaming platform and its parent company Amazon. Pandiscia claims that his and many other creators' broadcasts were used to train Amazon's AI without their consent or payment. According to the 37-page complaint filed in California, Twitch and Amazon copied large amounts of streamer footage without obtaining proper licenses, violating creators' implied agreements with the platform and state unfair competition laws.
The streaming giant announced its plans to use generative AI models earlier this month, leading to backlash from the Twitch community. Streamers demanded that the feature be optional, and the most popular request. Twitch's chief product officer, Mike Minton, explained that opting in would be too confusing for users, so the feature is enabled by default.
However, users can opt-out individually. The lawsuit comes after Twitch admitted that it uses creator content, including streams, past clips, chat logs, and photos, to train Amazon's AI models, with the opt-out not being retroactive. Pandiscia had no knowledge of his content being used for AI training and opted out as soon as the setting was available. Neither Twitch nor Amazon has commented on the lawsuit.
Written by urgent.news from Eurogamer's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
