KYIV, Ukraine — Like many tech entrepreneurs in Ukraine, Yaroslav Azhnyuk turned to developing drone warfare after Russia's 2022 invasion. Drones have transformed the way wars are fought. Azhnyuk says artificial intelligence is making drones faster and more capable.
"When the other side has orders of magnitudes higher capabilities, it gives you an asymmetric advantage," he says. "It can make you 10,000 times more effective." Azhnyuk runs the Ukraine-based defense firms The Fourth Law and Odd Systems. They are among the top companies producing AI-powered drones in Ukraine.
Dozens of Ukrainian military units already use their autonomous drone, called the Lupynis-10-TFL-1. Russia is also deploying AI-enabled drones against Ukraine. AI warfare is part of a high-tech arms race that has many worried, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He has warned that AI could lead decisions on the battlefield as soon as next year. Azhnyuk told NPR that he acknowledges the concern over destructive weapons but says it's not specific to AI. "It has been with humanity since the invention of fire or steel," he says.
"Any kind of tool can be used for good or for bad. And in the end, it's the human that decides how to use that tool." Azhnyuk is 37, a gregarious computer scientist who hails from a family of scholars and scientists. NPR meets him in a conference room in Kyiv; for security reasons he asked us not to reveal much else about the location.
He worked for years in Silicon Valley and started several companies, including Petcube, which makes smartphone-powered cameras that use artificial intelligence to watch and even entertain pets while they're alone. "These cameras allow pet parents to watch pets when they're not at home," he says, "and fling treats to them and shine a laser toy for them. We sold a million of these devices that are quite popular in the U.S." After Russia launched its full-scale war, Azhnyuk, by then living in Ukraine, pivoted to the defense space.
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