00:00Are Pokémon Go players unknowingly helping to train AI?
00:06Remember Pokémon Go, the 2016 mobile game
00:10that sent millions of people in Europe and around the world
00:13off to chase virtual creators in the real world?
00:15But while players have been busy catching Pokémon,
00:18it seems they were on another mission unbeknownst to them.
00:21Online, users have claimed that they have also been generating
00:24massive amounts of visual data
00:26for the company beyond the game as they play.
00:28But is this true?
00:30In a word, yes, and according to MIT Technology Review,
00:33this data didn't just sit unused.
00:35Niantic, the company beyond the game,
00:37has an AI division called Niantic Special.
00:40It uses images to build highly detailed 3D maps of the real world.
00:44But players didn't generate this data just by walking around.
00:47Since 2020, Pokémon Go has included an augmented reality scanning feature.
00:52First, you need to reach level 20 in the game.
00:54Then, you have to actively choose to scan a location.
00:57Niantic told theCUBE that these scans are completely optional
01:01and submitted anonymously to improve its visual positioning system,
01:05a tool designed to locate objects precisely even where GPS fails.
01:09In our own test, the app offers these scans as optional feed research tasks,
01:13with in-game rewards as incentives.
01:16Before activating the feature, it says you will contribute to the development
01:19of an AR mapping technology and that the data will be sent to a third-party service.
01:25By taking a closer look at its term of service,
01:28Niantic says that by using the AR feature,
01:31players grant the company the right to reuse this data to improve its technology.
01:35With billions of images collected,
01:37Niantic Special says it has trained tens of millions of neural networks,
01:41helping build a detailed 3D map of the world.
01:44It is important to know that Pokémon Go is not the only thing
01:47that Niantic has been using to train its AI.
01:50The company also uses data from drones, robots and satellites.
01:53with billions more per Makes SenseIs
01:58and the data contains the data한� registrations
