- Home
- Ukraine...
Ukraine startups are creating an army of killing machines – AI experts are worried
Struggling with manpower, overwhelming odds and uneven international assistance, Ukraine hopes to find a strategic edge against Russia in an abandoned warehouse.
An ecosystem of laboratories in hundreds of secret workshops is leveraging innovation to create a robot army that Ukraine hopes will kill Russian troops and save its own wounded soldiers and civilians.
Defense startups across Ukraine — about 250 according to industry estimates — are creating the killing machines at secret locations that typically look like rural car repair shops.
Ukraine currently has semi-autonomous attack drones and counter-drone weapons endowed with AI and the combination of low-cost weapons and artificial intelligence tools is worrying many experts who say low-cost drones will enable their proliferation.
Technology leaders to the United Nations and the Vatican worry that the use of drones and AI in weapons could reduce the barrier to killing and dramatically escalate conflicts.
Human Rights Watch and other international rights groups are calling for a ban on weapons that exclude human decision making, a concern echoed by the U.N. General Assembly, Elon Musk and the founders of the Google-owned, London-based startup DeepMind.
“Cheaper drones will enable their proliferation,” said Toby Walsh, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “Their autonomy is also only likely to increase.”
Employees at a startup run by entrepreneur Andrii Denysenko can put together an unmanned ground vehicle called the Odyssey in four days at a shed used by the company. Its most important feature is the price tag: $35,000, or roughly 10% of the cost of an imported model.
Denysenko asked that The Associated Press not publish details of the location to protect the infrastructure and the people working there.
The site is partitioned into small rooms for welding and body work. That includes making fiberglass cargo beds, spray-painting the vehicles gun-green and fitting basic electronics, battery-powered engines, off-the-shelf cameras and thermal sensors.
The military is assessing dozens of new unmanned air, ground and marine vehicles produced by the no-frills startup sector, whose production methods are far removed from giant Western defense companies'.
A fourth branch of Ukraine’s military — the Unmanned Systems Forces — joined the army, navy and air force in May.
Engineers take inspiration from articles in defense magazines or online videos to produce cut-price platforms. Weapons or smart components can be added later.
“We are fighting a huge country, and they don’t have any resource limits. We understand that we cannot spend a lot of human lives,” said Denysenko, who heads the defense startup UkrPrototyp. “War is mathematics.”
One of its drones, the car-sized Odyssey, spun on its axis and kicked up dust as it rumbled forward in a cornfield in the north of the country last month.
The 800-kilogram (1,750-pound) prototype that looks like a small, turretless tank with its wheels on tracks can travel up to 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) on one charge of a battery the size of a small beer cooler.
The prototype acts as a rescue-and-supply platform but can be modified to carry a remotely operated heavy machine gun or sling mine-clearing charges.
“Squads of robots … will become logistics devices, tow trucks, minelayers and deminers, as well as self-destructive robots,” a government fundraising page said after the launch of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces. “The first robots are already proving their effectiveness on the battlefield."
Mykhailo Fedorov, the deputy prime minister for digital transformation, is encouraging citizens to take free online courses and assemble aerial drones at home. He wants Ukrainians to make a million of flying machines a year.
“There will be more of them soon,” the fundraising page said. "Many more.”
Denysenko’s company is working on projects including a motorized exoskeleton that would boost a soldier’s strength and carrier vehicles to transport a soldier’s equipment and even help them up an incline. “We will do everything to make unmanned technologies develop even faster. (Russia’s) murderers use their soldiers as cannon fodder, while we lose our best people,” Fedorov wrote in an online post.
Independent readers are independently-minded global citizens. They are not defined by traditional demographics or profiles, but by their attitudes. In today’s increasingly fragmented world, communities value real facts and frank opinions delivered first-hand from a non-biased news brand that they can trust. Armed with information and inspiration, Independent readers are empowered and equipped to take a stand for the things they believe in.
- https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/ukraine-startups-are-creating-an-army-of-killing-machines-ai-experts-are-worried/ar-BB1q0puH?ocid=00000000
Related
Zuckerberg admits Biden-Harris administration 'pressured' Facebook to censor Americans
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to resist White House pressure on censorship, revealing in a damning letter how the Biden administration "repeatedly pressured" Facebook to censor accounts promoting COVID-19 misinformation.
NewsBoeing employees ‘embarrassed’ as Elon Musk’s SpaceX tasked with saving stranded astronauts
NASA has announced Elon Musk’s SpaceX will be tasked with saving two stranded astronauts, leaving Boeing employees “humiliated”.
NewsStorm re-signs star with ridiculous record
The Storm could unleash their secret weapon in the finals, with one player who’s been rewarded with a long-term extension looking to extend his incredible NRL record.
NewsBatten down the hatches: Strongest cold front this winter set to lash Victoria
Authorities are warning Victorians to secure loose items and park their cars away from trees as destructive winds are forecast for the state from midnight on Tuesday.
NewsDonald Trump suggests he might back out of debate against Kamala Harris
Donald Trump is threatening to withdraw from a scheduled presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
News’Consequences’: Albo’s protest warning
The Prime Minister says there will be “consequences” if people walk off the job as part of nationwide protests in support of the CFMEU.
NewsGeorgia governor demands removal of MAGA election board members after alarming votes
Georgia governor demands removal of MAGA election board members after alarming votes - Donald Trump recently praised the right-wing coalition on the Georgia state election board
NewsI changed my lifestyle to make part-time work possible
Working long hours had left me feeling exhausted and burnt out. Making an effort to be thrifty has allowed me to work part time.
News