Twitch and Amazon face legal action over using livestreams to train AI

A legal dispute has been initiated against Twitch and Amazon over the utilization of livestream content from Twitch to train their AI models without proper consent or compensation. The class action lawsuit, filed on behalf of thousands of Twitch streamers, alleges that Amazon unlawfully employed their videos for AI training purposes.

The plaintiffs claim that Twitch breached its contractual obligations by using streamers' content to develop AI models without obtaining their permission or providing appropriate payment. The lawsuit seeks damages for the streams that were allegedly utilized to train AI, as well as an injunction to prevent Amazon from continuing the alleged practice.

It remains unclear when Amazon started gathering Twitch users' data for AI model training. Twitch's chief product officer, Mike Minton, revealed uncertainty regarding Amazon's use of model training and the data sources. In Twitch's FAQs regarding AI training, it mentioned that a person's audio might be employed to enhance speech-to-text models, benefiting automatic subtitles on Twitch streams and Amazon videos.

However, the opt-out choice applies to individual streams, implying that creators' content could still be utilized for AI training when they participate in a stream with the feature enabled. Amazon, the company that acquired Twitch for a sum of nearly $1 billion in 2014, has placed significant emphasis on AI as it competes with other tech giants like Google and Meta.