Pokémon Go scans were used to train AI that could guide military drones, report reveals

The data trove

Pokémon Go, the 2016 augmented reality hit, encouraged players to explore real-world locations to capture virtual creatures. In 2021, Niantic added an optional feature that rewarded users for scanning public points of interest such as statues and fountains with their phone cameras. By the time the company had spun off its AI division, it had amassed roughly 30 billion images of urban environments, each tagged with location and orientation metadata.

From playground to battlefield

Niantic Spatial, the AI company separated from the game developer in May 2025, used those scans to train "large geospatial models" that can recognize physical spaces. In December 2025, it partnered with Vantor, a defense contractor formerly known as Maxar Intelligence, to build navigation systems for drones operating where GPS is jammed or spoofed. The combined visual positioning system compares camera feeds against 3D terrain models, allowing drones and ground units to share coordinates without satellite signals. Vantor's product director, Peter Wilczynski, framed the urgency for the battlefield.

The modern battlefield will be composed of different systems, and you will want to update them quickly — putting new hardware online faster than new software.

The companies' defense

Both Niantic Spatial and Vantor insisted that the raw Pokémon Go scans were never transferred to the defense contractor. A Niantic Spatial spokesperson told Ars Technica that the foundation models "are the product of that training, not a copy of or a means of accessing the underlying scans." The data, the companies argue, was used only to teach AI systems to recognize spatial landmarks, a step removed from the footage that players uploaded.

The models are the product of that training, not a copy of or a means of accessing the underlying scans, which were of public points of interest such as statues and fountains.

Privacy and precedent

The revelation has revived concerns about the repurposing of consumer-generated data. While Niantic disclosed since 2019 that scans could improve its technology, many players scanned their surroundings, sometimes inside homes, without expecting a military application. The story echoes debates over whether tech companies should limit how training data is used once it leaves the consumer app, especially when it could feed autonomous weapons.