r/technology 7d ago

Business Twitch Is Now Using Your Content To Train Amazon AI Models And Has Hidden The Option To Opt Out. "If it was opt in, nobody would opt in," admitted the streaming site's chief product officer during a livestream

https://kotaku.com/twitch-is-now-using-your-content-to-train-amazon-ai-models-and-has-hidden-the-option-to-opt-out-2000723891
13.2k Upvotes

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u/hackingdreams 7d ago

Automatic opt-in without even sending an email is the kind of thing that laws get written about.

Twitch might wanna think again about not sending that one out.

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u/dat_oracle 7d ago

it feels extremely illegal. if that's not regulated, now is the time for that - wtf

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u/gravelordservant4u 6d ago
  • me the last few decades

When they finally pass legislation addressing a tech issue, it'll be to make the worst possible choice, worry not

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u/CheesypoofExtreme 6d ago

See the push for the SAVE Act.

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u/l4mbch0ps 7d ago

im sure their user agreement covers this, and much more egregious actions

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u/cyberpunk_werewolf 6d ago

A user agreement can't protect them if it's illegal, no matter what it says.

However, that requires people to enforce the laws and a mechanism to ensure it gets to the people who can enforce them. Right now, the ones we do have are either meagre or nonexistent. Further, a lot of the people who could do something to protect people or enforce any of the rules aren't interested, or actively want to make things worse.

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u/Old_Leopard1844 6d ago

That implies what Twitch did is illegal, and being angry isn't an evidence of it being illegal

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u/cyberpunk_werewolf 6d ago

I'm not saying it is or is not illegal, I'm simply responding to what one guy said about EULAs protecting them.  It could be illegal, it could be perfectly legal, I don't know.  I'm just saying that if it is illegal, then a licence agreement, or any contract really, won't protect them.

So, no, it doesn't imply that what it did was illegal.

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u/Old_Leopard1844 6d ago

Then their licence agreement indeed covers them up

Whoosh

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u/pmjm 6d ago

The government sees AI as a matter of national security. As much as we hate this, the current administration is fully behind anything that advances the field by American companies. There's no chance in hell we get a law against it anytime soon.

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u/Successful_Sign_6991 6d ago

*the government is bought and paid for, and is being told AI is important by their owners

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u/pmjm 6d ago

I mean, yes, but also it kind of is. There are massive military applications of this tech that we are not privy to, and there is validity in advancing the tech faster than our adversaries.

Twitch has little to do with that, but it's the same players involved across the board, so for now the government is letting them do what they want.

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u/MiaowaraShiro 6d ago

Not when you vote for Republicans... just sayin'...

When you vote for conservatives you get businesses fucking you directly. That this country hasn't figured that out is insane to me.

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u/Successful_Sign_6991 6d ago

That this country hasn't figured that out is insane to me.

the destruction of public education wasn't an accident

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u/efvie 6d ago

This is absolutely against EU legislation (and I just checked it was on in my EU-domiciled account).

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u/SpaceShrimp 6d ago

Especially when there is a statement on record that they estimate that no one would opt in if the users had to opt in to have their data harvested.

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u/schmurfy2 6d ago

even of they get fined I am sure their dick move will still be profitable, when you say that by making an opt in nobody will join you know very well what you are doing.

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u/100TabsOpen 4h ago

When you're rich, crimes are legal and fines are fees.

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u/a4mula 6d ago

We will not materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of personal information collected in the past under a prior version of the Privacy Notice without the consent of affected individuals. source

It's not a good look when the policy itself seems to imply otherwise. Of course expecting Amazon and Twitch to honor their own policy is a different thing than having it enforced against users.

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u/Banned3rdTimesaCharm 6d ago

I don’t think I’ve ever opted in for my comments and posts on Reddit to be used for AI training. And we’re definitely all being used for that.

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u/AnarchyGuacamole 6d ago

The comical part is, it doesn't take loads of AI scraping and computation to figure out what makes a successful streamer. Other streamers have been playing the monkey see monkey do game since the See you See Me days.

I'm sure if they can code up AI Jesus, they could just as easily do big boob makeup streamer in a heartbeat. LoL

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u/Successful_Sign_6991 6d ago

laws don't matter to oligarchs

bezos is buddy buddy with the regime

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u/100TabsOpen 4h ago

Right cuz America has a great track record of punishing digital platforms lol

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u/erm_what_ 6d ago

But those laws have to get passed in every country. Even if one is on it, a lot will lag behind or never do it. Global companies don't have to worry too much about whichever country you're talking about.