Twitch is facing a class-action lawsuit over using streamers’ content to train Amazon’s AI.
A Twitch streamer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the platform and its parent company, Amazon, alleging that his livestream content, along with content from countless other creators, was used for generative AI training without consent or compensation.
According to Courthouse News, the plaintiff, Warren Pandiscia, a Twitch creator with approximately 1,000 followers, filed a 37-page complaint last week in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges that Twitch and Amazon copied large amounts of streamer video without proper authorization, violating the implied agreement between creators and the platform as well as the state’s unfair competition law.
Earlier this month, Twitch announced that it would begin training generative AI models on the platform. Its streamer community immediately objected, primarily demanding that these AI features be made optional. Streamers want to know why the feature is enabled by default, forcing users to manually navigate to the settings to opt out of generative AI training.
Chief Product Officer Mike Minton’s response was surprisingly candid. He insisted, “If opting in were voluntary, nobody would opt in. So it will be enabled by default, and almost every content service in the world enables it by default.”
“The thing we are doing differently here is respecting your choice to opt out of model training,” Minton added. “I know this is not what fans want, and I know it makes the community very uneasy, but this is our position for now.”
The new lawsuit stems from Twitch’s own acknowledgment in a post published on X on August 12 that it uses creators’ content, including livestreams, past clips, chat logs, and photos, to train Amazon’s AI models. Crucially, the opt-out option is not retroactive.
In addition, the choice is tied to individual channels rather than accounts. As a result, content from a streamer who opts out may still be used if that streamer appears on another streamer’s livestream when the latter has not opted out.
Pandiscia claims that he previously had no reason to suspect his content was being used in this way. He opted out as soon as the setting became available and argues that the two companies had been quietly using streamer content for AI training since 2024, well before any disclosure or opt-out mechanism was introduced.
Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for approximately $970 million (equivalent to approximately RMB 6.541 billion at the current exchange rate).
This embrace of generative AI has also affected other parts of the company. Amazon Game Studios had been working on a generative AI game before large-scale layoffs led to the dissolution of the development team, but the project was ultimately canceled after all developers were dismissed.