00:00Are Pokémon Go players unknowingly helping to train AI?
00:06Remember Pokémon Go, the 2016 mobile game that 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, it seems they were on another mission unbeknownst to them.
00:21Online, users have claimed that they have also been generating massive amounts of visual data
00:26for the company behind the game as they play.
00:28But is this true?
00:30In a word, yes, and according to MIT Technology Review, this data didn't just sit unused.
00:35Niantic, the company behind the game, has 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 The Cube that these scans are completely optional and 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, with in-game rewards as incentives.
01:16Before activating the feature, it says you will contribute to the development of an AR mapping technology,
01:21and that the data will be sent to a third-party service.
01:25By taking a closer look at its term of service, Niantic 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, Niantic 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 note that Pokémon Go is not the only thing that Niantic has been using to train
01:49its AI.
01:50The company also uses data from drones, robots, and satellites.
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