tech
Pokemon Go players unwittingly contributed to tech with military drone uses
The repurposing of Pokemon Go data for AI training continues to draw scrutiny.
TL;DR
- Niantic Spatial, a company spun out of Pokémon Go developer Niantic, uses billions of real-world images captured by players to train AI for navigation.
- The AI company developed a "large geospatial model" and a visual positioning system using data from Pokémon Go and its Scaniverse app.
- This technology is being partnered with companies like Coco Robotics for delivery robots and Vantor for military drones and ground vehicles in GPS-denied environments.
- Concerns have been raised by players and ethicists about the indirect contribution of gameplay data to military applications, questioning the scope of consent.
- Niantic Spatial and Vantor state that game data is not directly shared between them, and the models are a product of training, not a copy of scans.