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"Such technology represents the coming danger," cautions Serhiy Beskrestnov, who has just acquired a recently captured Russian unmanned aerial vehicle.

It was no ordinary drone as well, he discovered. Assisted by artificial intelligence, the drone is able to locate and attack targets on its own.

The consultant has examined numerous unmanned systems in his role as the nation's defence forces consultant.

In contrast to other models, the drone did not transmit or receive communications, causing it to be impossible to disrupted.

Both sides' militaries have both been experimenting with AI in this war, and in some areas are now using it, for finding targets, gathering intelligence and clearing mines.

For the Ukrainian army, AI has become indispensable.

"The military gets over 50,000 video streams [from the front line] monthly that get processed by artificial intelligence," says the deputy defence minister.

"It enables them quickly process this massive data, pinpoint objectives and mark them on a digital chart."

AI-Driven Technology as a Strategic Tool

AI-empowered tech is regarded as a instrument that improves strategic planning, optimize assets and ultimately save lives.

However regarding autonomous armaments, it is also transforming the battlefield.

Ukrainian soldiers already use AI-powered systems enabling unmanned aircraft lock on a objective and subsequently fly autonomously for the last few hundred metres until the operation concludes.

Signal disruption is impossible and shooting down such tiny airborne device proves difficult.

In the future these systems are expected to evolve into completely independent armaments that are able to detect and eliminate objectives by themselves.

An operator must do is press a button on a mobile application, notes a tech executive, chief executive of Ukrainian tech company.

The drone will do everything else, he says, locating the target, dropping explosives, assessing the impact and then returning to headquarters.

"And it would not even require flight experience from the user," he adds.

Defensive Drones and Future Advancements

Defensive unmanned craft with such autonomous capability might significantly enhance air defences against Russian remote strike aircraft, such as the notorious Shaheds.

"A computer-guided self-operating unit can be superior to a person in numerous aspects," says the executive. "It can be sharper. It detects the objective sooner than a person. It can be quicker."

The deputy defence minister indicates such a system is not yet available, but he suggests Ukraine is close to completing its creation. "We have partly implemented it in certain equipment," says the representative.

It's possible there will be many thousands of such systems deployed by the year 2026, predicts the developer.

Cautions and Dangers of Full Independence

However Ukrainian developers are cautious about completely relying on defence systems that rely entirely on AI, without any human involvement. The danger is AI may fail to differentiate a friendly fighter from a hostile combatant, as they may be wearing the identical attire, says an engineer, who declined to give his surname.

The firm produces remotely controlled machine guns, that use AI to automatically detect people and follow them. Because of worries about accidental attacks, he says they don't have an auto-fire option.

"We can enable it, but we must gain further expertise and additional input from the military units in order to understand the safe conditions to employ this capability."

Ethical Issues and Global Regulations

There are also fears that AI-driven technologies will violate the laws of armed conflict. How will they avoid injuring non-combatants, or tell apart soldiers who wish to yield?

For the deputy defence minister, the ultimate choice in these cases must be made by a human, although AI could make it "easier to decide". Yet it's not certain that nations or armed groups will follow international humanitarian norms.

Therefore counteracting such technologies becomes even more critical.

How can one halt a "mass of unmanned craft" when electronic warfare or using aircraft, armored vehicles or missiles proves useless?

The nation's highly successful "Spider Web" mission, when a hundred unmanned aircraft attacked Russian military airports last June, was probably assisted by AI tools.

Numerous locals fear that Moscow may replicate that tactic, not only on the front line but further afield too.

Ukraine's president cautioned the UN recently that AI was contributing to "the most destructive weapons competition in human history."

He urged global rules for the application of AI in armaments, and said the matter was "just as urgent as stopping the spread of atomic arms."