Readers no doubt recall how Amazon and Twitch kindled a firestorm of fury among streamers and gamers earlier this month when the platform unveiled an opt-out choice for generative AI training — a feature that automatically assumes users want to provide their content for AI models to farm and only after Amazon was done silently harvesting data for years. Now it looks like the companies are facing more than a social media uproar, as there is also a class-action lawsuit filed over the matter.
Warren Pandiscia, a Twitch streamer from Connecticut with more than 900 followers, has filed a complaint with California’s Northern Disctrict court this week, arguing that both companies violated creators’ implied agreements with Twitch and the state’s unfair competition laws when it unlawfully copied millions of videos to develop Amazon’s AI models. Pandiscia also argues that he had no reason to believe his content would be used to train AI and that he would have immediately opted out if he were informed.
“Because Amazon AI products are commercialized, Amazon had an overwhelming incentive to acquire training data on an unprecedented scale,” the suit reads in part. “Rather than negotiate for lawful licenses or seek permission, defendants accessed the Twitch streams and videos to utilize them as a massive dataset.”
The lawsuit is demanding a jury trial and seeks relief in the form of damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment relief, and coverage of attorney’s fees, along with any other damages the court deems is appropriate.
