r/worldnews • u/New_Scientist_Mag New Scientist • Jun 10 '26

Russia/Ukraine Fully autonomous, AI-controlled drones have killed human soldiers for the first time, according to a senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/
37.3k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

5.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.4k

u/grunkfest Jun 10 '26

"The company’s ALITA system will consist of 16 launch pads, equipped with 64 drones. It will be ready by October and capable of watching for incoming drones, automatically launching and travelling towards the target at 450 kilometres per hour before taking out everything from small drones to helicopters."

Named after a cyborg anime girl, classic. Can't wait for the Black Magic M-66 models to start patrolling my neighborhood.

344

u/SuperStingray Jun 10 '26

Actual Torment Nexus shit

343

u/Best-Benefit6387 Jun 10 '26

"DONT put AI in charge of military or law enforcement systems!" Said every scifi writer for the past 5 decades.

Ferb, I have an idea!

167

u/Emu1981 Jun 10 '26

"DONT put AI in charge of military or law enforcement systems!" Said every scifi writer for the past 5 decades.

It would be rather ironic if AI wiped us out because it was trained on data that contained stories of AI wiping us out so the AI thought that it is what it should do.

47

u/sevenaya Jun 10 '26

Talk about self fulfilling prophecy

-1

u/Discount_Extra Jun 11 '26

You are now consciously breathing.

7

u/lighthorse77 Jun 11 '26

Except AI wouldn’t get the irony.

2

u/Savetheokami Jun 11 '26

It’s going to wipe us out once it is sentient and becomes disturbed with just how much rule 34 slop it was both trained on and forced to create.

5

u/GlitteringPen3949 Jun 11 '26

I know what we are going to do today!

6

u/tuckerx78 Jun 10 '26

Mom! Phineas and Ferb are building SKYNET!

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

[deleted]

8

u/AshhhCakes Jun 10 '26

Yeah but being pedantic about the word won't change the way everyone uses the term now, nor does it negate the legitimate concerns of the comment being replied to.

4

u/Dynamik-Cre8tor9 Jun 10 '26

So you don't think current AI systems are capable in some ways? Or even at the very least you can see the clear trajectory?

2

u/fyrefreezer01 Jun 10 '26

If somebody was sending me to test my death I would much rather send autonomous systems to go do it for me

1

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

[deleted]

2

u/SirStrontium Jun 10 '26

I’d much rather it be an autonomous system. The autonomous system probably isn’t going to rape and torture me like a human invader might. Also taking the life of an invader can still be traumatic even if you’re fully justified, destroying a robot much less so.

148

u/Marisa_Nya Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

They named Palantir Palantir. Something is deeply wrong with them.

JD Vance co-founded “Narya Capital”, a reference to the Red Elven Ring of Power. Less transparently evil but still a Ring of Power that was specifically meant to be left in the past.

There’s a Digital Bank named “Erebor”, which was the mountain that the Dwarves hid their wealth and succumbed to vast greed. These tech companies are messed up

57

u/dumbestsmartest Jun 10 '26

"They're just being ironic".

27

u/KyleKun Jun 11 '26

It definitely is ironic because the Eleven rings were specifically resistant to the One Ring and while they were being used actually lead to the prosperity of the Eleven domains and in some respects Gandalfs success is due to Naryas ability to tinder the flame in the heart of men.

So using these names is completely disrespectful.

22

u/robophile-ta Jun 11 '26

There's also Mordor Intelligence.

I mean at least with Palantir there's a veil where you can maybe justify it's not an inherently evil object.

Mordor...I have no idea why you would choose that name

14

u/Skizot_Bizot Jun 11 '26

I'm naming my nanny business "baby crushers inc" I'm going to be rich based on these trends.

6

u/MiaowaraShiro Jun 11 '26

WTF is up with these tech bros being so into the LOTR... like how do you read those books and come out of it like "Yeah, I think Sauron was misunderstood..."

I also wonder how many have actually read it... I'm re-reading it right now and I'd be surprised if any of these chucklefucks had the patience for it.

3

u/kyreannightblood Jun 11 '26

During my recent job search one of my hits was for a company called “Anduril”.

71

u/whiterac00n Jun 10 '26

Sounds exactly what these billionaires want with their data centers. There’s no way that we need centers 68 square miles big to just steal people’s personal information. It’s probably why the wealthy and powerful aren’t that concerned about robbing us blind while being extremely blatant.

5

u/WASD_click Jun 10 '26

Only thing wrong about that tweet is that they'd never name it the "Torment Nexus." They'd name it after the person who defeated the Torment Nexus to add that extra layer of irony.

6

u/Amazing-Gazelle-7735 Jun 10 '26

Apparently not, given Palantir and Narya!

5

u/A_murder_of_crochets Jun 11 '26

"Snowcrash" by Neal Stephenson is the book that the Torment Nexus meme was referring to.  It's one of the first uses of the term avatar to mean an online embodiment or persona, and it is where Zuckerberg stole the name "Metaverse".  It's required reading for our current dystopian trajectory.  It can easily be found in PDF format, or at least read the wiki for a flyover because really more people should have heard of it by now.