Twitch AI training opt-out requires creators to change a default-on setting

Twitch AI training opt out is now a setting creators may need to handle themselves. Twitch has added a default-on preference that allows channel content to be used to train Amazon generative-AI models, according to reporting by TechCrunch and 404 Media. For streamers, the immediate issue is straightforward: leaving the setting unchanged means their channel is included for the future training described by Twitch.

Amazon owns Twitch, and livestream archives can contain hours of video and audio from a creator, along with chat and channel material. Twitch’s setting is labeled, “Allow your channel content to train generative AI content models at Amazon,” 404 Media reported.

How do Twitch creators opt out of AI training?

TechCrunch reported that creators can open their channel settings, rather than the Creator Dashboard, choose Security and Privacy, find Training for generative AI, and turn the toggle off. 404 Media said the control appears near the bottom of the security settings page.

Twitch’s FAQ, as quoted by 404 Media, says switching off the setting excludes streams, video-on-demand archives, clips, stream chats, and pictures and text on a channel from future training of Amazon-developed models designed to generate or synthesize text, audio, images or video.

What does the Twitch opt-out cover?

The preference is limited to the stated use in training generative-AI content models. It does not turn off every AI or machine-learning function on Twitch, according to the FAQ cited by 404 Media.

• AutoMod, Twitch’s automated moderation tool, may continue to operate.
• AI-supported features such as automatic captions for clips may also remain available.
• Twitch says those examples do not retain a stream or clip to train a model that produces new content.

The reports do not establish whether Amazon previously trained on any individual creator’s material. Asked during an official Twitch stream whether videos had already been used, Twitch Chief Product Officer Mike Minton said he did not know what Amazon had used in model training, TechCrunch reported.

The default-on design has prompted criticism among creators, according to TechCrunch. During the Twitch stream, Minton addressed calls for an opt-in system and said that if it were opt-in, “nobody would opt in.” Twitch Head of Community Mary Kish said the opt-out option reflected feedback from users who did not want their content used to train generative-AI models, TechCrunch reported.

For creators deciding what to do, the distinction is timing and scope: the toggle concerns future training described in Twitch’s FAQ, while the available reporting leaves earlier Amazon model-training use unresolved.

This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.