‘We just launch it and we know everything will be dead,’ said a drone maker and technology supplier.
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So, human decision-making and judgment were removed for what is being characterized in the source report as a one-off test mission. That we are only hearing about it two years after the fact perhaps reflects on the gravity of engaging the Terminator Mode of the drones for (perhaps) the first time in an actual battle.
🇺🇦 Ukraine is training AI to hunt enemy drones, using data from actual combat.100+ companies now access real battlefield footage via @BRAVE1ua Dataroom: thermal & visual feeds of aerial targets, multiple sensors, day/night, all weather — scenarios as close to real combat as it… pic.twitter.com/hmX8KVuYf2 June 11, 2026
As the source notes, there is no official ban on using autonomous weapons that can kill without human intervention. However, last year the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, called for this red line to be drawn. The argument is that removing human judgment from warfare risks human rights. Moreover, at this stage of the development of this technology, AI-driven systems are frequently in the news for the mistakes they make.
Interestingly, Ukraine actually has a ban on fully autonomous final-stage targeting of humans by its drones. Other officials at the press conference where Kokhanovskyy spoke indicated that government decision-makers were in talks with defense companies about flexing the rules. However, it is likely not the first/only country to have crossed the Rubicon and allowed AI drones to inflict casualties on enemy soldiers.
Ukraine’s new AI-guided laser destroys Shahed suicide drones in seconds from 3.1 miles away
Autonomous mobile drone swarm killer created in trilateral US defense company collab
Apache helicopter's 'loyal wingmen' support drones to be used for precision strikes, other duties
Academics speaking to the New Scientist offered some interesting angles on the news of Terminator Mode-engaged drones being let loose on the battlefield. One described the news as horrendous and a theft of human dignity. Another concluded that the 2024 AI-drone attack near the cities of Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar must have demonstrated that it is better to keep humans in the loop for military effectiveness.
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- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/ukraine-used-10-ai-controlled-terminator-drones-to-kill-russian-soldiers-two-years-ago-marking-first-autonomous-killings-of-humans-senior-ukrainian-defense-industry-figure-confirms-this-autonomous-watershed-was-passed-in-2024#main
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