For better or worse, it’s an AI world, and we’re all just living in it. Yes, even if that world is the world of Pokémon GO. Via the folks at IGN, we’ve learned that Pokémon GO developer Niantic is currently creating an AI designed to auto-complete real-world locations. This is done with a limited amount of information, using data collected by Pokémon GO players. It seems this is but a new form of ChatGPT. But instead of text, it’s actually applied to the physical world. What this AI does is train on what real-world places look like, using that data to produce information on what real places it has not seen yet may actually look like. Here’s what Niantic had to say about their latest technology:
Imagine yourself standing behind a church. Let us assume the closest local model has seen only the front entrance of that church, and thus, it will not be able to tell you where you are. The model has never seen the back of that building. But on a global scale, we have seen a lot of churches, thousands of them, all captured by their respective local models at other places worldwide. No church is the same, but many share common characteristics. An LGM [Large Geospatial Model] is a way to access that distributed knowledge.
This is all able to exist because users are constantly scanning their surroundings while using Niantic’s apps, chief among them Pokémon Go. According to Niantic, they currently have 10 million scanned locations all over the globe. Not to mention, one million usable with its VPS service. They get around one million new scans every single week, containing hundreds of discrete images. Right now, this is all used for the wholesome fun of Pokémon Go. We’ll see what tomorrow brings with this kind of new technology in use for something less fun.
