Twitch, Amazon hit with class action lawsuit over AI training
What's the story
A Connecticut-based Twitch streamer, Warren Pandiscia, has filed a class action lawsuit against Twitch and Amazon. The lawsuit alleges that both companies used his content without permission or licensing to train commercial artificial intelligence (AI) models. The complaint specifically accuses Twitch and Amazon of using Pandiscia's streams and videos as datasets for Amazon's AI products without obtaining the necessary licenses or permissions.
Company stance
Twitch introduced new feature to opt out of AI training
Twitch Support announced on X earlier this month that it had launched a feature for creators to opt out of having their channel content used for training generative AI models across Amazon.
Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton also defended the company's decision during an episode of Patch Notes.
He said if it was an opt-in system, "nobody would opt in," explaining why users have to actively opt out if they don't want their content used for AI training.
Allegations
Lawsuit alleges financial harm to creators
The class action lawsuit against Twitch and Amazon also claims that the companies breached their contracts by using streamers as "free training stock for separate commercial AI products."
It further alleges that creators have suffered financial losses due to these practices.
The case highlights the growing concern over tech companies using content without permission to train their AI models.
Industry trend
Other tech companies also facing similar allegations
Notably, Amazon isn't the only tech giant facing such allegations. Earlier this year, three YouTubers sued Apple for allegedly scraping copyrighted content to train its AI models.
As the demand for AI models continues to grow, the issue of data sourcing is coming under increasing scrutiny.
Content creators are pushing back against having their work used in commercial AI development without their knowledge.