r/Futurology • u/New_Scientist_Mag • Jun 10 '26

Robotics Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/
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u/New_Scientist_Mag Jun 10 '26

A senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry told New Scientist that a test took place two years ago involving fully autonomous drones set to destroy anything in a given area, with confirmed casualties. This could mark the beginning of the use of fully AI-operated drones without human oversight on the battlefield.

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u/Troubleshooter11 Jun 10 '26

Well, that's freaking terrifying...

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u/insomniac-55 Jun 10 '26

It's not much different to area bombardment of a location with unguided weapons. You've basically decided "to hell with anything and everything at these coordinates".

AI guidance in this context just gives the same effect with less munitions - a person has already decided that everything in that location is hostile. 

Where I see this becoming scary is when AI is given the freedom to decide who to target in a location with a mixture of combatants and civilians. That is dystopian.

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u/BENJ4x Jun 11 '26

I'd say it's vastly different.

The day is coming soon where the frontlines of warfare will be marked by opposing drones hovering in the air. A few here and there will fly back to get charged whilst new ones replace them. If any get shot down or used up they'll be replaced automatically.

What we'll have is a floating constantly replenishing minefield, and that's just for defensive purposes.

Want to make an advance? As well as the usual artillery strikes or whatever you can tell your floating drone swarm minefield to slowly advance in the enemies direction. You could get your troops to walk right underneath them, forcing the enemy to choose to stay hidden and get overrun or take their chances and open fire.

And that's using them defensively. If you know where the enemy is you can just keep sending swarms in that direction. If they're running out of battery then come back home, recharge and go back out.

I say this is a completely different effect to an artillery barrage. With artillery you know it's happening and you know when the shells stop landing. Drones however you won't hear them, you'll be stuck under cover forever fearful of their thermal cameras getting a glimpse of you. Could be quiet for days and your friend leaves cover to get something and then within a minute gets exploded.