Official product release announcements from Niantic

Niantic Trains AI for Navigation with Pokémon Go Data

Nov 19, 2024, 04:51 PM

Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, has announced it is utilizing the vast dataset collected by its millions of players to develop an AI model capable of navigating the real world. This geospatial AI model, known as a large geospatial model (LGM), has potential applications in robotics, smart glasses, and even military uses. The data, which includes millions of images taken by players, has been unwittingly used to train AI for real-world navigation, raising concerns about privacy and the unintended uses of such data. An intelligence analyst has warned that this AI model could potentially be used for AI-powered weapons.