Niantic used Pokemon Go scans to train drone navigation AI
Turns out, all those real-world scans Pokemon Go players uploaded for in-game rewards were used to train AI models that could help drones navigate where GPS is unavailable.
Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, used this user-contributed data to build smart spatial recognition models, basically teaching drones to "see" and understand their surroundings.
Niantic Vantor partnership raises privacy concerns
Niantic joined forces with drone software company Vantor to tackle problems like GPS jamming, letting drones keep moving even when signals drop.
While Niantic says users gave consent for their scans, Digital Rights Watch worries most players didn't expect their gaming uploads would end up supporting military tools.
The discussion around how our app data gets repurposed is definitely heating up.