'Pokemon Go' data could help military drones navigate
What's the story
The location scans from the globally popular augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, have been used to train an artificial intelligence (AI) model. This development could help military drones find their location in war zones. The game, launched in 2016 by Niantic and Nintendo, became a worldwide sensation with over 800 million downloads by 2018.
Data utilization
Niantic sold game division in 2025
In 2021, Pokemon Go introduced a new feature called Pokestops, which rewarded players for scanning real-world locations with their devices. This required users to voluntarily upload the recording. Niantic collected this location scan data before selling its gaming division in 2025. The historical scans were then used to train AI models capable of recognizing and interpreting physical spaces.
Strategic alliance
Partnership aims to help drones navigate in GPS-denied environments
Niantic has now partnered with Vantor, a company specializing in spatial detection software for drones, including military ones. The partnership aims to help drones navigate and coordinate accurately in GPS-denied environments. "The partnership addresses a critical vulnerability in modern operations: GPS unavailability, spoofing, interference, and jamming," the December announcement said.
Ethical implications
Use of civilian data for military purposes raises concerns
The use of civilian data for military purposes has raised concerns among experts. Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said that while Niantic may have included disclaimers in their terms and conditions, most people don't read such lengthy legal documents when playing a video game. "We need regulators to focus on 'best interests of the user' or 'fair and reasonable' tests to keep users safe from exploitation like this," he added.
Data collection
Similar cases have been observed before
Dr. Rob Nicholls, a senior researcher at the University of Sydney's Centre for AI, Trust and Governance, suggested that this case is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to data collected from apps being used for other purposes. "We have already seen that Strava data has been used to identify the location of military facilities," he said.