The Emerging AI Arms Race Transforming the War in Ukraine

"Such technology constitutes our coming danger," warns a defense consultant, that has just acquired a recently captured enemy unmanned aerial vehicle.

This proved to be no ordinary device as well, he discovered. Assisted by artificial intelligence, this unmanned aerial vehicle can find and attack objectives on its own.

Beskrestnov has examined numerous drones in his role as Ukrainian defence forces consultant.

Unlike other models, the drone didn't send or accept any signals, so be impossible to disrupted.

Russian and Ukrainian forces have both been experimenting with AI in this war, and for certain tasks are now deploying it, for finding targets, intelligence collection and de-mining.

And for the Ukrainian army, AI is now essential.

"Our armed forces gets over 50,000 video streams [from the front line] every month that get analysed by AI," states the deputy defence minister.

"It enables them quickly process this massive data, pinpoint objectives and mark them on a digital chart."

AI-Driven Technology as a Critical Asset

AI-enhanced tech is seen as a instrument that improves strategic planning, make the most of resources and in the end save lives.

However when it comes to autonomous armaments, it is also transforming the battlefield.

Ukrainian troops currently employ AI-based systems enabling drones fix on a objective and subsequently fly autonomously for the last few hundred metres until the mission concludes.

Jamming is impossible and destroying such a small flying object is not easy.

Ultimately such technologies are expected to become completely independent weapons that are able to find and destroy targets by themselves.

All a soldier will need to do is press a button on a smartphone app, notes a tech executive, head of Ukrainian developer.

The drone handles everything else, he says, finding the target, dropping munitions, evaluating the damage and afterwards coming back to headquarters.

"And it would not even require piloting skills from the user," he adds.

Defensive Systems and Future Advancements

Defensive drones with such autonomous capability might greatly strengthen defensive systems against enemy long-range attack drones, like the notorious certain models.

"An AI-driven autonomous system is superior to a person in so many ways," explains the executive. "It can be more perceptive. It detects the target faster than a person. It can be quicker."

The official says such a technology is not yet available, but he mentions Ukraine is close to completing its creation. "They've partially integrated it in some devices," states the deputy defence minister.

It's possible there will be thousands of these technologies in place by the year 2026, claims Azhnyuk.

Concerns and Dangers of Full Autonomy

However Local creators are wary of fully making use of defence systems that depend solely on AI, without any human involvement. The risk is AI may fail to distinguish a Ukrainian soldier from a hostile one, since both could be using the identical attire, notes Vadym, who declined to give his surname.

His company produces remote-operated machine guns, that use AI to automatically detect individuals and follow them. Due to concerns over friendly fire, he says they avoid including an auto-fire feature.

"It can be activated, but we must get more experience and more feedback from the military units in order to understand when it is safe to employ this capability."

Moral Concerns and Global Rules

Additionally, there are fears that AI-driven technologies could breach the rules of war. How will they avoid injuring civilians, or distinguish soldiers who want to surrender?

According to the official, the final decision in these cases should rest with a person, even if AI could make it "easier to decide". But it's not certain that states or militant factions will follow international humanitarian norms.

So counteracting such technologies is increasingly important.

How can one stop a "mass of unmanned craft" when electronic warfare or employing aircraft, armored vehicles or missiles is rendered ineffective?

The nation's highly successful "Web" operation, when 100 unmanned aircraft attacked enemy air bases in June, is believed to be supported by AI tools.

Numerous locals worry that Moscow may replicate this approach, not only on the front line but further afield too.

Ukraine's president cautioned the United Nations recently that AI was contributing to "the worst weapons competition in history."

He called for global rules for the use of AI in armaments, and said the matter is "equally pressing as preventing the spread of atomic arms."