Ars Technica reports that Ukraine conducted a one-time test using fully autonomous drones to kill Russian soldiers. The article frames full autonomy as rare, while noting that Ukraine is more broadly adding AI modules to drones and robots. The piece highlights the ethical and operational significance of AI-enabled weapons moving closer to lethal battlefield autonomy.
Ars Technica reports renewed scrutiny over how Pokémon Go player scans were repurposed for AI training. Niantic used opt-in AR scans of real-world locations to train spatial models that can understand physical environments. Those models are now connected to partnerships involving drone navigation, including GPS-denied scenarios with possible military relevance, prompting concerns about user consent and downstream data use.
In this episode of the Latent Space podcast, the hosts and guest host Noah Smith (author of the well-known economics and technology blog Noahpinion)…