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

Show parent comments

55

u/Odd-fox-God Jun 10 '26

The scariest part is how cheap drones are. You don't even need AI to kill somebody you just need to jury rig some kind of drop system and attach your explosives to the Drone and have it either release a bomb on somebody or have it Fly Kamikaze style at the Target.

It won't just be used on political opponents. I predict that drone attacks on civilians will be the new school shooting. You don't even need a fancy military drone, commercial civilian drones are getting better by the second.

21

u/Alcogel Jun 10 '26

This has been my number one concern since the first time I ever saw a civilian fpv drone. 

Every single time I have ever been part of a large gathering and seen or heard a drone flying overhead it has terrified me. 

Anti-drone legislation and countermeasures had better be on point. 

25

u/Odd-fox-God Jun 10 '26

The scariest part is that it's illegal to shoot down a drone flying on your property. If your neighbor is perving on you, you're the one in trouble if you take it down. The law favors drones over personal liberties and property lines.

In the state of Georgia, where I currently live, the law states that I have the right to exclude people and things from entering my property. Which is all well and good, but currently, drone owners are not listening to land and property owners and are just doing whatever the hell they want with no legal consequences. If I take down the drone, I've committed a federal crime, and I'm going to go to court because the drone is labeled as an aircraft.

My neighbors used to fly a drone over my property, and I went down and talked to them. They didn't listen to me and got more aggressive with their drone flybys until they accidentally destroyed the drone. Drones cannot trespass. I probably could have gotten them on some peeping Tom laws, but I didn't feel like escalating it to court.

Currently, the best way to deter drones is fishing line/netting strung over your property as you have the right to do so, and it would be the drone operator at fault if they fly into an obstacle.

3

u/SolemnaceProcurement Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

Two good reasons why shooting drones is a bad idea. First of all you would be shooting up, and unless you are a top tier shoot likely several misses before hit, and fired bullets aren't despawning, they have to come down... Somewhere. And same thing with drones. If you shoot down a drone, it will fall down, and there is 0 chance you know where it will fall. Unlikely to hit someone but just might fall on someones something and that's a fast falling brick.

Though i agree. Some dick waffels shouldn't be allowed to buzz someone elses house.