Vantor Allegedly Used 30 Billion Pokémon Go Scans to Train Military Drone AI
Updated
Updated · Game Developer · Jun 11
Vantor Allegedly Used 30 Billion Pokémon Go Scans to Train Military Drone AI
3 articles · Updated · Game Developer · Jun 11
Summary
A Trouw report says nearly 30 billion Pokémon Go AR scans were funneled into technology now tied to Vantor, a defense-linked spatial intelligence company, for drone and robot navigation.
Those player-made videos helped build Niantic Spatial’s 3D mapping model, which can guide movement precisely even when GPS drops out—a capability with clear military value.
December 2025 marked Niantic Spatial’s partnership with Vantor; Vantor denied it would use Pokémon Go data but would not say whether its model had already been trained on that data.
Niantic had said in late 2024 that opt-in scans fed its Visual Positioning System and that players’ personal data had not been sold, but Trouw says the company has not clarified the scans’ exact role in Vantor’s model.
TU Delft ethicist Jeroen van den Hoven told Trouw the gamers’ scans likely accelerated military applications, sharpening scrutiny of consent and dual-use AI built from consumer game data.