The News
Companies sitting on mountains of user data essentially hold the gold that AI models need for development.
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, is creating an AI model that can navigate the real world, using the geospatial data it has collected from millions of Pokémon hunters, it said in a blog post last week.
What it calls a “Large Geospatial Model” will predict what physical structures like churches and statues look like based on what it knows about existing ones, similar to how a large-language model can produce text after digesting mounds of written material.
The company said it will aid in the development and use of augmented-reality glasses, robotics, wearables, and autonomous technologies, though others have theorized about darker use cases.
The coming model — arguably a smart use of Niantic’s data reserves — is also a reminder that “free” is never free in tech.
It echoes the likes of Meta and Microsoft, which have pulled from their own data stockpiles to train their generative models.