Global superpowers and giant technology firms are scrambling for real-world data from the war in Ukraine to build next-generation AI models that will empower militaries in future conflicts. Videos of drone strikes and other sensor data are like “gold dust” for training AI, say experts. Last month, Ukraine signed a deal with the UK to share a vast treasure trove of data collected from drones, cameras and sensors since Russia staged its full-scale invasion.
It is claimed that the deal will make the UK the first foreign state to have access to Ukraine’s so-called “Avengers AI” model, which is already being used to identify adversaries and their equipment in real time and slash the time taken to stage attacks. The UK claims that the first fruits of this deal are about to be tested through a project that is turning buried fibre-optic cables into sensors to detect hostile intrusions at an unnamed UK defence site. How Ukraine became a drone factory and invented the future of war Peter Lee at the University of Portsmouth, UK, says the varied data will be immensely valuable in creating a wide range of defence and military tools, which will make both the UK and Ukraine more secure.
Add up everything that the UK has given to Ukraine over the last several years – this data is worth all of that and more.” Ukraine flies thousands of drones a day, both in the war zone and penetrating deep into Russia, and has a vast array of sensors on the front line. This data has long been fed into a government department known as Brave1, which analyses it with AI to find strategic weaknesses and opportunities. It feeds that information back to troops on the front line and defence contractors.
AI models can be used to autonomously steer drones to their targets, monitor thousands of video feeds and other sensors for tell-tale signs of adversaries’ movements, or analyse footage of attacks to spot design flaws in military hardware. The models can even plan strikes and pick targets. Numerous efforts are under way in Ukraine to use AI to eke out an advantage in all sorts of areas, including at the defence ministry’s “A1” organisation – which the Ukrainian government launched with UK government support in March, long before this latest announcement.
Lee says the possibilities are so compelling that it is almost certain that China is doing the same with Russian data, taken from the opposite side of the front line – and they probably had a head start. He thinks that, in the earliest stage of negotiations between Russia and China about military and intelligence support for the invasion, China will have raised the issue of data sharing. But a deterioration in relations with the US may be an incentive for Ukraine to create stronger ties with other allies.
Ukraine has long worked with AI company Palantir, and signed a data-sharing deal with the firm months before the agreement with the UK was announced. US company Clearview AI’s face-recognition technology has been used to find Russian spies operating in Ukraine, while another US firm, Scale AI, has used satellite data to identify Russian troop movements and detect building damage across Ukraine. Injuries from the war in Ukraine have forced the country to develop highly advanced prostheses and fit them in record numbers.
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