Twitch’s community of streamers was none too pleased with the popular streaming service when it was revealed that it allowed their content to be used to train Amazon's AI models.
And what made that shocking bit of news even more upsetting was the fact that those same users were automatically opted into that practice and have unknowingly been a part of that process for years now. It seems like the growing discontent towards this decision forced Twitch to add an option for content creators to opt out of having their channel used as a training tool for Amazon’s generative AI.
Twitch’s FAQ page makes it clear that opting out means “streams, VODs, clips, stream chats, and pictures and text on your channel will not be used in future training of a model developed by Amazon whose purpose is to generate or synthesize text, audio, images, or video. And we’re sure the streaming service’s massive streamer community is flocking to this official Twitch settings page to make good use of that opt-out option.
We reached out to Zach Bussey, TOS.gg a Twitch streamer who covers the streaming industry through his weekly creator newsletter, to get his thoughts on this surprising development.
A decision that may be out of Twitch’s hands
When asked about Twitch’s decision to let its content be used to train Amazon’s AI models, Bussey stated that he thinks Amazon made that decision for them.
“Twitch's decision here isn't really one I think they are making. Instead, this feels much more like Amazon forcing the issue on them,” he noted. “The CPO, Mikey Minty, pretty clearly expressed that without overtly saying it on a stream an hour ago. The problem for Twitch is they have never been profitable and are at the whims of Amazon if they want to continue to be a platform. So it feels like they may have been able to negotiate that Opt-out option, but there was never really a choice about whether it would be implemented.”
As for the broader trend of tech companies using user-generated content to improve AI models, here’s what else Bussey had to say:
“The broader trend isn't great for creators, nor is it good for platforms, largely because AI perpetually, at best, makes slop consumable content. There's nothing great about it; it's just stuck in the middle as being, at best, average. Platforms have historically benefitted from startup creators who eventually became great creators. But the process to go from just getting started to being great takes time, effort, and a lot of learning. If they get flooded in the middle of their creator career by all the slop AI content, they'll never be able to achieve greatness. Effectively, we're diluting all these platforms and leaving them stuck in mediocrity. Do you really want to spend your time consuming things when everything is 'okay enough'?”
Bussey recognizes Twitch’s AI training method as the norm for similar creator platforms. And what’s most interesting is that he says users on those platforms may not even be aware that it’s happening to them yet. “Unfortunately, it likely is the norm across creator platforms, whether we know it or not: maybe first-party or a third party taking the data,” he pointed out. “It's why I think it's incredibly important to have transparency and advocate for better regulation. At the very least, platforms should offer to pay creators for their data when they give creators the option to train on their content.”
Bottom line
Bussey left us with this comment as to what AI as a whole could mean for streamers and their profession going forward:
“For streamers, I don't think that AI is going to replace them if that's the question. In fact, I'd wager that live streaming will be the last holdout in the content creation space. In a world where you won't be able to trust that what you see in a YouTube video, a TikTok, or a Twitter post is real...a lot more people will be seeking out live content for the last reliable digital human experience.”
You can watch this clip from Bussey’s Twitch channel to hear him provide more insight on the matter.
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