Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch has introduced a new setting that allows streamers to opt out of having their channel content used to train Amazon’s generative artificial intelligence models.
The setting is enabled by default, meaning creators who take no action remain included in the programme. Twitch users can disable the setting through the Security and Privacy section of their channel settings.
The change means eligible Twitch content can be used to help train Amazon’s generative AI models, which are designed to generate or synthesise text, audio, images or video. Twitch’s opt-out provision covers streams, video-on-demand recordings, clips, stream chats, and pictures and text published on a channel.
The policy has triggered criticism from parts of the Twitch community, particularly over the decision to make participation the default rather than requiring creators to actively opt in.
During a Twitch livestream discussing the change, Chief Product Officer Mike Minton was asked why the company had not made AI training an opt-in feature.
“If this was opt-in, nobody would opt in. That’s honestly the answer,” Minton said, according to TechCrunch.
Twitch Head of Community Mary Kish also addressed concerns from users during the livestream, acknowledging that many creators had been asking for an option to prevent their content from being used for generative AI training.
According to Twitch’s description of the new setting, creators who remain opted in allow their channel content to be used to train generative AI content models at Amazon.
Those who opt out will have their streams, VODs, clips, stream chats, and channel pictures and text excluded from future training of Amazon AI models intended to generate or synthesise text, audio, images or video.
The opt-out does not, however, prevent Twitch or Amazon from using channel content for other purposes covered by Twitch’s privacy policy.
Twitch says AI-supported features such as recommendations, AutoMod and tools designed to assist streamers with sponsorship campaigns can continue to use channel content even when a creator opts out of generative AI training.
There is also a distinction between a creator’s own channel and interactions on another streamer’s channel. Twitch says that when a user participates in a chat on another person’s stream, the other channel’s opt-out preference determines whether that chat can be used for AI training.
The announcement has renewed a broader debate over how online platforms use creator-generated material to develop artificial intelligence systems.
Twitch hosts large volumes of livestreamed video and audio, much of it featuring creators speaking for hours at a time. That makes the platform’s content potentially useful for developing models capable of working with video, audio and other forms of media.
For creators, however, the central concern is whether their work should be used for generative AI training without an explicit opt-in decision.
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The controversy also intensified after Minton said during the Twitch livestream that he did not know whether Amazon had previously used Twitch content for AI model training.
“I don’t actually know the answer to that question because I don’t know what Amazon has done in terms of model training and what they’ve used and not used,” Minton said, according to TechCrunch.
Creators who do not want their channel content used for Amazon’s generative AI training can go to their Twitch channel settings, open Security and Privacy, find the “Training for Generative AI” option and switch it off.
The change marks another development in the growing debate over creator consent, AI training data and the rights of people whose digital work is increasingly being used to develop generative AI systems.
Senior AI Writer
Bio: Okikiola is a writer and AI enthusiast with a background in Office Technology and Management from the Federal Polytechnic Offa. She went further to study an MSc in International Business at De Montfort University (DMU). With extensive work experience across administrative and business roles, she now focuses on exploring how artificial intelligence can transform work, innovation, and everyday life.