ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE’S GROWING ROLE IN MODERN WARFARE
David Kirichenko August 21, 2025
Nations are racing to integrate AI into military operations, with Ukraine and Russia at the forefront of developing autonomous systems for battlefield advantage.
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace, and the business of warfare is no exception. AI-enabled weapons are reshaping modern warfare with significant implications for strategic planning, battlefield operations, and the ethical employment of military force. Nations are racing to integrate AI into military operations, with Ukraine and Russia at the forefront of developing autonomous systems for battlefield advantage. But as they integrate AI into combat, one critical question remains: how much should we rely on it, and at what risk?
This concern is not just theoretical. As Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg warned, “This is the Oppenheimer moment of our generation.” Just as nuclear weapons redefined warfare in the twentieth century, AI-enabled weapons are now reshaping battlefields—most notably in Ukraine. Speaking at a Vienna conference on autonomous weapons, Schallenberg warned: AI-driven warfare could spiral into an uncontrollable arms race. Autonomous drones and algorithm-driven targeting systems threaten to make mass killing a mechanized, near-effortless process.
The AI Arms Race in Ukraine
Ukraine is already locked in an AI-driven drone race against Russia, with both sides leveraging autonomous technologies on the battlefield. Faced with Russia’s numerical superiority, Ukraine turned to drones early in the war, forcing Moscow to follow suit. In the Russia-Ukraine war, drones now account for roughly 70-80% of battlefield casualties. General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief, noted that many of Ukraine’s drones rely on commercial components and open-source software, enabling low-cost attrition warfare.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/ais-growing-role/
