Twitch lets users block Amazon from AI training–Here’s how

Twitch users now have been given the option to stop Amazon from training their generative artificial intelligence by using their content.

The announcement comes following Amazon’s confirmation that it has been using the streaming popular streams, images, clips and chat content for AI training purposes.

The confirmation drew backlash from millions of users across the world. In the wake of such a response, Twitch which was acquired by Amazon in 2014 announced that users can disable this default setting from their channel accounts.

Amazon’s move underscored the tech giant’s push to expand its AI portfolio aimed at rivalling competitors including Google, Meta and other giants.

Twitch executives, including Chief Product Officer Mike Minton and Head of Community Mary Kish, acknowledged that users would not be happy or excited about the change, and admitted uncertainty regarding whether Amazon has already scrapped user data for previous model training.

According to Ms Kish, although companies have been using data collection as standard practice for AI training, “We don't expect you to be happy or excited about this. I don't expect anyone to react to this favourably.”

Twitch has enabled AI data collection by default for all users to train its models, justifying the choice by admitting that an opt-in model would fail because nobody would opt-in.

The announcement stream’s chat was also met with widespread criticism as the users expressed disappointment over the practice of feeding content to AI and Twitch’s inability to take stand against it.