HISTORICAL FACTS: Niantic spatial | History Defined

Pokémon Go Was Supposed to Bring People Together. Instead, It Trained AI for Military Drones.

Thanks to a new partnership between gaming developer Niantic Spatial and defense contractor Vantor, it turns out that user data may have been used indirectly to help create new military technology.

Barchart · Oct 28

Pokemon Go Popularity Accidentally Helps the Military?

Pokemon Go is in the news for the worst reason possible. And, you’re going to want to sit down before you read this story. This week, DroneXL reported that the company who now owns the game’s date is flogging it off to defense contractors. Niantic Spatial is the proud owner…

The Mary Sue · Jun 12

Pokémon Go Data Used To Train AI That Could Guide Military Drones In War Zones

Pokémon Go's location data has been used to train AI models for military drones, raising concerns about unintended applications of consumer data.

International Business Times UK · Jun 12

Pokémon Go players have unknowingly been helping to train delivery robots

A massive databse built by players of Pokémon Go is now being used Coco Robotics to help its street delivery robots better navigate busy urban environments.

Euronews · Mar 18

How Pokemon Go players have been unwittingly training AI navigation robots

IN FULL

The Independent UK · Mar 17

Pokemon Go players have been unwittingly training robots

A 30-billion-image dataset built by players over the last decade is now being used to train an AI navigation system

The Independent UK · Mar 17

Was Pokemon Go An AI Spy Tool? How The Data Was Used And Who Owns It Now, Revealed

Explore how Pokémon Go's player-generated data has been used in advanced AI mapping systems, raising questions about privacy and data usage.

International Business Times UK · Mar 17

With over 30 billion images logged, Pokemon Go is using players' activity to train its spinout AI company to help GPS pinpointing: "I'm very focused on trying to re-create the real world"

"The urban canyon is the worst place in the world for GPS"

GamesRadar · Mar 16

Kojima Productions is teaming up with Pokémon GO creator Niantic for a new AR project

Kojima Productions has announced a new AR project in collaboration with Pokémon GO creator Niantic Spatial.

TechRadar · Sep 23, 2025

Pokemon Go creator Niantic partners with Hideo Kojima for a mysterious new AR project: "It's like the real Death Stranding in the real world"

Kojima "can't really speak about details yet," though

GamesRadar · Sep 23, 2025