Pokémon Go players thought they were catching Pikachus.
They were actually building the nervous system for robot civilization.
500M humans. 30B images. Zero consent forms.
The game was the harvest.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/10/1134099/how-pokemon-go-is-helping-robots-deliver-pizza-on-time/
@geeknik @olivia On the one hand this is a really clever use of a game to crowd source location information at scale. When Go came out I commented to my wife that this was going to create a treasure trove of data.
On the other hand fuuuuuck that is invasive, I had no idea it was sending back photos!! People use this game in their homes!
I didn't read the full article, but I last played the game a little over a year ago. And at the time, the only photos I *knew* it was sending in were ones where it encouraged you to "scan" a poke stop. If it's not more than that, then this may not be as useful as you might think.
MOST players were resistant to use that feature and generally avoided it at all costs. (It felt creepy)
geeknik
Jocelynephiliac 
ChloChloaca