Report: Pokemon Go video scans may have been used for AI drone training

A report by Dutch outlet Trouw alleges that nearly 30 billion location scans made by Pokémon Go players have been sold to Vantor, a military drone technology company, for AI training. Niantic Spatial—a spinoff from Pokémon Go developer Niantic—owns the scans and has used them to train a 3D navigation model for military drones and robots. Vantor denied it will use Pokémon Go data but declined to confirm whether the model was already trained with it. Niantic previously stated players' personal data has not been sold, though the exact role of Pokémon Go scans in Vantor's system remains unclear.

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Appeared in 2026-06-12.