China warns popular phone games may provide map data to train foreign military AI models

China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) has issued a stark warning to gamers, alleging that a company with overseas defense ties may be acquiring sensitive geospatial data through an augmented reality game. The agency highlighted media reports concerning the "militarization of civilian data," which suggest that billions of environmental scans from a popular mobile game are being utilized to train artificial intelligence models with potential battlefield applications.

The MSS stated in a social media post that an AI company connected to a prominent AR game had harvested user geospatial scans. These data, collected through players scanning real-world locations via their devices in exchange for in-game rewards, could be used to train spatial AI models. The ministry expressed concern that these models might be deployed for military purposes by the firm, which reportedly partners with a foreign defense contractor.

While the ministry did not directly identify the game or company, the details strongly align with recent controversies surrounding Niantic's augmented reality hit, Pokemon Go. Niantic Spatial, a spin-off company from Niantic, reportedly possesses nearly 30 billion scans from the game. This data has been used to train a 3D model capable of precise navigation, even when GPS signals are lost, according to reports.

The ministry's warning underscores growing global concerns over data security in the digital intelligence era. The potential "militarization of civilian data" serves as a significant alert regarding the challenges posed by the vast amounts of information collected through everyday digital activities and their potential misuse.

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The report has fuelled global concern over the ‘militarisation of civilian data’ and served as a warning of the growing data security challenges in the digital intelligence era.