However, the drone has also pointed to a critical flaw in the Russian invasion, which is now entering its third week. Ukrainian forces used a remote Turkish-made drone called TB2 great effect against Russian forces, firing guided missiles at Russian missile launchers and vehicles. The paraglider-sized drone, which relies on a small crew on the ground, is slow and unable to defend itself, but it has proven effective against a surprisingly weak air campaign. surprise of Russia.
This week, the Biden administration also said it will deliver to Ukraine with a small US-made loitering ammunition called the Switchblade. This single-use drone, armed with explosives, cameras and a navigation system, has some autonomous capabilities but relies on a person to make decisions about where to engage.
But Bendett questioned whether Russia would launch an AI-powered drone with advanced autonomous capabilities in such a chaotic environment, especially in light of the country’s overall air strategy. How poorly coordinated it seems. “The Russian military and its capabilities are currently being rigorously tested in Ukraine,” he said. “If [human] ground forces with all their complex information gathering can’t really understand what’s happening on the ground, so how can a drone? ”
Several other military experts questioned the KUB-BLA’s purported capabilities.
“The companies that make these loitering drones talk about their autonomous features, but often autonomy includes adjusting flight and maneuvering to hit a target determined by the operator. determination, not autonomy as the international community defines automatic weapons,” said Michael Horowitza professor at the University of Pennsylvania who tracks military technology.
Despite such uncertainties, the issue of AI in weapons systems has become controversial of late because the technology is rapidly finding its way into many military systems, such as to help interpret input. from sensors. The US military believes that one must always make lethal decisions, but the US also opposes a ban on the development of such systems.
For some, the arrival of KUB-BLA suggests that we are on a downward spiral in increasing the use of AI in weapons, which will eventually remove humans from the equation.
“We will see a greater proliferation of such lethal autonomous weapons unless more Western nations start advocating a ban on them,” it said. Maximum Tegmarka professor at MIT and co-founder of Future of Life Institutean organization that campaigns against such weapons.
However, others believe that the ongoing situation in Ukraine shows how difficult it will be to use advanced AI and autonomy.
William Albert, director of Strategy, Technology and Arms Control at the International Institute for Strategic Studies says that given the success Ukraine has had with TB2, the Russians are not ready to deploy more sophisticated technology. “We are seeing Russian idiots being possessed by a system they should not be vulnerable to.”
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