gaming

Twitch uses channel content by default to train generative AI; opt-out available

Twitch, owned by Amazon, is now using channel content by default to train generative AI models across Amazon. Channel owners can opt out, but chat messages in channels that remain opted-in will still be used for training. Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton said the feature is default because an opt-in approach would yield few participants. The change matters because users cannot opt out of all AI processing—AutoMod and AI-generated captions still analyze user data and remain active.

• Twitch will use streams, VODs, clips, stream chats, and images/text broadcast to channels to train generative AI models by default.
• Channel owners can opt out to stop their channel content from being used for this model training, but chatting on any channel that hasn’t opted out still contributes data for training.
• Opting out of channel training does not exempt users from AI processing used by Twitch features such as AutoMod community-safety and automatically generated captions, which cannot be opted out of.
• Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton said the company set model training to on by default because an opt-in system would result in very low participation; Twitch also says it does not retain user data for other types of model training.