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Comment by PittleyDunkin

14 days ago

> I have been tricked into working to contribute training data so that they can profit off my labor

You were playing a game without paying for it. How did you imagine they were making money without pimping your data?

47 comments

PittleyDunkin

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ipsum2  14 days ago

Niantic made 700 million dollars last year, mostly selling virtual game items.

  • PittleyDunkin  14 days ago

    Why would anyone think niantic would protect user-data from profit?

    • saxonww  14 days ago

      Sarcastically, no one should.

      Unsarcastically, a lot of people believe user data belongs to users, and that they should have a say in how it's used. Here, I think the point is that Niantic decided they could use the data this way and weren't transparent about it until it was already done. I'm sure I would be in the minority, but I would never have played - or never have done certain things like the research tasks - had I known I was training an AI model.

      I'm sure the Po:Go EULA that no one reads has blanket grants saying "you agree that we can do whatever we want," so I can't complain too hard, but still disappointed I spent any time in that game.

      22 replies →

    • brendoelfrendo  14 days ago

      I'm not a fan of the way you moved the goal posts here. You argued that Niantic would obviously use user data to fund game operations. Then we see that they don't actually need to do that, and that the game could fund itself. Then you argue that well, we shouldn't assume that they wouldn't try to monetize user data, shame on us. I agree that those who know how tech companies operate should be extremely pessimistic as to how users are treated, but I don't think that pessimism has permeated the public consciousness to quite the level you think it has. Moreover, I don't think it's a failing on the part of the user to assume that a company would do something in their best interest. It's a failing of the company to treat users as commodities whose only value is to be sold.

  • zelphirkalt  13 days ago

    But some numbers pusher somewhere saw an opportunity to make even more money and write good quarter number, padding themselves on the shoulder for a job welll done, without ever wasting a thought about any such unimportant thing as ethical implications...

yreg  13 days ago

In this case it's the other way around. Pokemon Go is profitable and funds the rest of Niantic, this AI innitiative included (for now).

(I'm not saying that they shouldn't use the game data for training.)