Die Morgendämmerung der automatisierten Kriegsführung: Künstliche Intelligenz wird der Schlüssel zum Sieg in der Ukraine und anderswo sein

[SS from essay by [Eric Schmidt](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/eric-schmidt), CEO and Chair of Relativity Space and Chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project. He previously served as CEO and Chair of Google and is a co-author, with Henry Kissinger and Craig Mundie, of *Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit;* and [Greg Grant](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/authors/greg-grant), Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. He previously served as Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, and as a speechwriter for Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, and Chuck Hagel.]

When Russia first launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the conflict drew comparisons to wars of the twentieth century. Tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery dominated the battlefield, and both sides’ infantry were dug into trenches. We witnessed this old-school style of war when we made our first visit to Ukraine in September 2022. Since then, we have made regular trips to Ukraine, affording us firsthand insight into a monumental transformation: the beginning of a new kind of warfare.

In summer 2023, the commander of Ukraine’s Third Assault Brigade’s Drone Unit, whom we’ll call Fil (not his real name), told us that a new weapon had begun to change the conflict: first-person-view drones. These small, cheap, maneuverable quadcopters transmit real-time footage to their operators and detonate kamikaze-style on their targets. That year, Ukraine flooded the field with thousands of them and [Russia](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/regions/russia) soon followed suit. Today, hundreds of thousands of these drones fill the Ukrainian skies.