Technological War: Robots Already Decide Who Lives and Who Dies

I've seen it happen gradually, year after year, and yet it still amazes me. Technological warfare is no longer a futuristic prediction: it is a frighteningly present and concrete reality. On the Ukrainian battlefields, they are already moving killer drones equipped with computer vision that fly autonomously when GPS systems are disturbed. They are guided by neural networks that interpret the landscape, exactly as a human pilot would.

Meanwhile, unmanned ground robots transport ammunition, evacuate the wounded, and push in the “dead zones” where no soldier wants to go. The warfare industry has found its new holy grail in computer vision: systems that can see, analyze, and decide in fractions of a second, radically transforming the way we fight, with machines deciding for themselves who lives and who dies.

Mechanical eyes that never close

Technological warfare has accelerated dramatically in recent years. It is no longer just about more powerful or precise weapons, but autonomous systems that are redefining the rules of the game, from surveillance to quality control in war production.

Systems equipped with this technology can identify intruders, track them through multiple cameras, and reduce false alarms. Drones equipped with computer vision are deployed to scan the terrain for snipers (which they can then eliminate) or enemy equipment (which they can then destroy), allowing for remote monitoring and control.

There is something deeply disturbing in this scenario: war, which has never been a human manifestation to be proud of, is becoming a completely inhuman manifestation. It is becoming more and more a video game with flesh-and-blood deaths.

The mind behind the machine

Secondo Cogent Infotech, the artificial vision is “an offshoot of the relentless advances in the realm of artificial intelligence, which has the powerful ability to derive deep insights from intricate visual data sets.” A statement that, translated from corporate parlance, means: we have created artificial eyes that see better than we do and synthetic brains that can process this information tirelessly.

In Ukraine, this evolution is manifested dramatically in the ongoing battle between Russian jamming systems and increasingly intelligent Ukrainian drones. jamming (signal disturbance) and the spoofing (sending false positioning information) have become central systems in this conflict. But that's not all.

Technological warfare, autonomous evolution

The Estonian company KrattWorks has developed drones called ghostdragon equipped with “an optical navigation system guided by a neural network, which allows the drone to continue its mission even when all radio and satellite navigation links are disturbed”.

In essence, the computer runs a neural network that compares real-time images with stored satellite images to determine its location. “Even if it gets lost, it can recognize certain patterns, like intersections, and update its location,” he explains. Martin Karmin, CEO of KrattWorks.

The autonomous decision-making capacity of these machines, as I expected at the beginning of the Ukrainian massacre, marked a point of no return in the history of human conflicts.

Armies without flesh (but not without blood)

On the ground, Ukraine announced the deployment of 15.000 Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to compensate for staff shortages. Secondo Forbes, there are approximately 50 types of approved UGVs, although only 10-15 are actually in regular service due to logistical challenges.

“Imagine taking a 1.000-kilogram machine to the front line,” he explains. Kateryna Bondar of the Wadhwani AI Center. “It’s a complex logistical issue, but using a UGV removes a person from physical risk.” Of course, a person who is a member of the military capable of deploying a UGV: not a soldier or civilian from the “opposing side.”

Technological warfare, the next step

The future of this technology is clear: “It’s all about autonomy and AI,” Bondar says. Using intelligent software would allow UGVs to navigate themselves, using images from autonomous drones flying overhead.

In this scenario, the human operator simply becomes a “mission commander,” who simply selects targets and approves the machines’ autonomous actions. Until when?

The twilight of the human

Prototypes of fully autonomous systems already exist in research laboratories. Of course, their widespread use on the battlefield will take a few more years, but the direction of technological warfare is clear and irreversible: machines are gradually replacing humans on the battlefield.

Are we paying enough attention to these developments? While we discuss ethical algorithms in the civilian field, on the military front research proceeds without brakes, creating increasingly autonomous and lethal systems.

War has always been terrible, but at least it was “human”. There was the possibility of pity, remorse, some resistance to crazy orders. With autonomous systems, these elements vanish. There will no longer be a soldier who refuses to shoot or who decides to save a wounded enemy. Only cold algorithms that execute commands with implacable precision.

The question is no longer whether machines will replace human soldiers, but when. And how much, too. Judging by the pace of progress in Ukraine (or in Palestine), that moment may be much, much closer than we would like to believe.