Twitch's AI opt-out shipped after the training: consent as a retrofit

Twitch updated its account settings to let streamers opt out of having their content used to train the generative AI models of Twitch's parent company, Amazon.

The setting is off by default, which means the AI training is on by default; creators are opted in unless they act.

What the training covers is close to everything on a channel: streams, past broadcasts, clips, chat messages, and the images and text on a channel page.

Asked on a livestream why the setting is not opt-in, Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton said: "Why is it not opt-in? That's what everybody is spamming in chat. I get it... Well, there's an honest answer... If this was opt-in, nobody would opt in. That's honestly the answer."

The livestream on the official Twitch channel featured Head of Community Mary Kish and Chief Product Officer Mike Minton addressing a live audience of nearly 3,000 aggrieved users, many posting anti-AI sentiments in chat.

When a user asked whether their videos had already been used for training, Minton responded: "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."

TNW reports that the toggle is new but the practice is not, and that the platform is reported to have been feeding the training pipeline for a couple of years.

It remains unclear exactly when Twitch began using the posts, streams and videos of its users to train Amazon's systems.

Twitch's own example is that a streamer's voice could train speech-to-text models, improving captions on Twitch and Amazon's AI products elsewhere.

Opting out protects content on your own channel, but messages you send in another streamer's chat can still be collected if that streamer has not opted out; the other streamer's settings govern.

In a forum dedicated to the topic, more than 16,000 creators expressed opposition to having their content used by default to train Amazon's AI systems, a practice that only came to light after the settings update.

Minton made the comments on a livestream this week alongside Mary Kish, after streamer Zach Bussey found the toggle and a screenshot of it spread.

Rather than telling the community that Amazon would begin training on user content, Twitch framed the change as "[adding] a setting that lets you opt out of having your channel content used to train generative AI content models across Amazon."

Kish said that including an opt-out option at all is "a reflection of reacting to this community's voice that you are not wanting to train Gen AI models, and we want to give you that option."

Meta uses public content from Facebook and Instagram to train its own AI models; users in the UK can opt out, while elsewhere the only way to opt out is to use private settings, which is not feasible for creators who monetize their accounts.

TNW argues that a default chosen because users would refuse it is the textbook definition of a dark pattern, and that what is unusual is hearing an executive describe the reasoning without dressing it up.

Because the opt-out applies only to future use while Twitch's chief product officer says he does not know what Amazon has already used for model training, the setting provides no remedy for content already ingested.

Minton said he is comfortable with AI training and would not opt out himself if he were a streamer.

Twitch's Terms of Service, in effect since March 2024, stipulate that users grant Twitch and its sublicensees the right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, distribute and create derivative works from their content, but until now have not explicitly stated that such materials could be used to train generative AI models.

Minton said the mechanisms are not unique to Twitch and that other AI developers likely extract content from Twitch and other services: "I don't know for sure, but I think it's quite reasonable to assume that almost any publicly available content is used to train models in one way or another, with or without permission. So I think we also need to acknowledge that there's a lot here that's beyond even our direct control."

Asked on the same stream why Twitch had not simply emailed people about the change, Kish said not everyone reads their emails.

TNW notes that none of the coverage says how the Twitch default works in Europe, and that opt-out consent for AI training has been challenged there before: Meta had to pause an identical approach in 2024 before regulators let it resume.