A Twitch streamer has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the platform and its parent company Amazon, alleging that his broadcasts, along with those of countless other creators, were used to train generative AI models without permission or payment. According to Courthouse News, plaintiff Warren Pandiscia, a Twitch creator with around 1,000 followers, filed a 37-page complaint in the Northern District of California last week.
The lawsuit follows Twitch's announcement earlier this month that it would begin training generative AI models using creator content, including streams, past clips, chat logs, and photos. Users were automatically opted into the program by default, sparking backlash from the streaming community, whose most common demand was that the feature be optional rather than default-enabled.
Twitch's chief product officer Mike Minton addressed the backlash directly, stating that 'if it was opt in, nobody would opt in. So it's going to be on by default, and almost every content service in the world is on by default.' He added, 'The thing we're doing here that is unique is different is respecting your wishes to opt out of model training. I know this is not a fan favourite, I know it's very upsetting to the community, but this is where we are.'
Pandiscia's complaint alleges that Twitch and Amazon copied large quantities of streamer footage without securing proper licenses, breaching creators' implied agreements with the platform and violating state unfair competition law. He claims he had no reason to suspect his content was being used this way, opted out as soon as the setting became available, and argues the companies had been using streamer content for AI training as far back as 2024, before any disclosure or opt-out mechanism existed. The opt-out setting is also not retroactive and is tied to individual channels rather than accounts, meaning a streamer who opts out can still have their content used if they appear on someone else's stream that has not opted out.
In his complaint, Pandiscia writes that 'because Amazon AI products are commercialized, Amazon had an overwhelming incentive to acquire training data on an unprecedented scale,' and alleges that 'rather than negotiate for lawful licenses or seek permission, defendants accessed the Twitch streams and videos to utilize them as a massive dataset necessary to fuel Amazon's AI products.' In addition to damages, Pandiscia is seeking injunctive relief that would require removal of his material from AI training. Neither Twitch nor Amazon has responded to Courthouse News' request for comment. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for roughly $970 million.