An Instagram user has gone went viral explaining why he believes the popular mobile game Pokémon Go has, "Probably been evil the entire time."
In a video posted to his 300,000 followers, user Alex Pearlman, @PearlMania5000, explained that the game has been using data collected from its users to help train its artificial intelligence (AI) models.
"Niantic, the company that runs Pokémon Go, they released a report saying that they've been building a geospatial map using user data for over the last five years," Pearlman said, using an affect intended to imitate president-elect Donald Trump in a video that drew more than 632,000 likes since Nov. 23.
"They changed the terms of service, the TOS, they changed it. Nobody noticed because it was in the middle way above the whole agree button, and people agreed to it."
Pearlman added that the app has been, "Tracking your footsteps."
The user went on: "Every time you open up a camera to go catch a Snorlax, catch a Gengar, they've actually been using that photo to train their AI models," he said.
"Now they can look at any picture anywhere in the world, and they can go, 'We know exactly where that is.'
"And if there was ever a building that they didn't quite understand, they would just put a Pokémon gym there, and they would say, 'Hey, go run around in there, go Pokémon Go to that building real fast.' And people ran around there, and they did it. They collected it, and now they have all these maps."
The user added, continuing with his facetious tone, that commentators online were speculating that Niantic would use the technology to build robot dogs with guns.
What is Pokémon Go?
Pokémon Go is a augmented reality (AR) mobile game based on your location.
The game was developed by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and the Pokémon Company and released in July 2016, allowing players to explore real-world areas using their phones to find and catch virtual Pokémon and participate in battles and visit PokéStops and gyms located at real-world landmarks.
The game uses GPS and the device's camera to blend virtual creatures and objects into the physical world, encouraging outdoor exploration and social interaction among players.
Pokémon Go became a cultural phenomenon, amassing more than a billion downloads.
Are the Claims True?
The user was partially correct.
Niantic confirmed in a November blog post that it has been developing a, "Large Geospatial Model", for the past five years.
This involves using voluntary scans of real-world locations submitted by players of Pokémon Go and other Niantic games to enhance its Visual Positioning System.
Niantic's privacy policy states that location data and voluntary scans are collected, although the poster is correct that most users click through without reading the Terms of Service.
The scanning feature requires users to actively engage with specific locations to contribute data.
What's Inaccurate?
Pokémon Go does not, however, track users' footsteps for AI model training.
According to the Niantic blog post, the Visual Positioning System uses single images that players voluntarily scan to construct 3D maps. Regular gameplay, like capturing Pokémon without using the scanning feature, does not contribute to the AI model.
There also does not seem to be evidence that Niantic deliberately places Pokémon gyms to target unknown buildings for scanning. Gyms and PokéStops are generally tied to notable landmarks or locations suggested by players.
There is also, of course, no evidence that Niantic is building robot dogs with guns.
Newsweek reached out to Niantic requesting further comment by email on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Users React
Commentators were both concerned and amused.
"If it's free, you're the product," one top user wrote.
"We are speed-running into 'Black Mirror'," another added, referencing the popular tech-dystopian Netflix show.
A third user, however, had no plans to give up the app: "So [what] do you want me to do? NOT catch a Snorlax?"
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