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Can we think slightly more broadly? Targeting a stationary Tu-95 bomber with no protective measures in place is probably the easiest possible identification ta

Can we think slightly more broadly? Targeting a stationary Tu-95 bomber with no protective measures in place is probably the easiest possible identification task for a drone. A lot of kill/no-kill decisions are more subtle, or involve unknowns, possible nearby civilians, etc. Or look at this crazy FPV piloting job. You think AI could do this? Pilot maneuvers through an absolute maze of anti-drone nets to hit a moving truck. (essentially SFW; video terminates slightly before impact) https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/1l2aqxp/ukrainian_fiber_optic_drone_flew_through_a_gap_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/1l2aqxp/ukra... stressed, emotional, tired front-line private Drone operators are generally not on the front lines, and sometimes they are literally on the other side of the world sitting in a cubicle. They are usually specialists of some sort, not untrained privates.

CamperBob2 1y ago
Why couldn't AI do that? It's better than any human at this stuff.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
  Sometimes I feel like the entire AI field just never watched The Terminator.
  - CamperBob2 1y ago
    Whether it should is a different question. It certainly can.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  - ThrowawayR2 1y ago
    Campy, low budget action movies are not a sound basis for forming public policy.
- JohnBooty 1y ago
  You could certainly train AI to navigate that particular maze of netting, but I'm far from convinced you could train an AI to navigate a near-infinite variety of novel, hostile measures not present in the training corpus. It seems trivial to confuse a Tesla's AI. I'm assuming they're fairly near the top of the game when it comes to that, yes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MigIJXJx8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MigIJXJx8 This sort of intentionally hostile pathological case is of course rare in real-world driving. It will not be rare in warfare. And a drone has to operate fully in three dimensions, unlike a Tesla which is effectively operating in two dimensions. An autonomous drone will also have extremely constrained computing resources relative to a Tesla due to size/weight/power constraints.
  - CamperBob2 1y ago
    Self-driving cars are a political problem, not a technical one. We have self-driving cars on Mars. Autonomous drones, yeah, well... https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2025/lr/autonomous-drone-from-tu-delft-defeats-human-champions-in-historic-racing-first https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2025/lr/autonomous-drone-from-tu-d...
    - JohnBooty 1y ago
      Perseverance "self drives" at 0.1mph on a nearly flat, static landscape with zero other threats or moving objects. (Sure, it's a hostile landscape with regards to dust/temperature/radiation. And getting to Mars and landing safely is a fiendishly difficult task. But those aren't concerns of the self-driving system...) https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-perseverance-drives-on-mars/ https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-perseverance-drives-on... The problem space is truly not comparable to that of a drone that needs to navigate an actively hostile, evolving environment in three dimensions at two orders of magnitude greater speed.
WillAdams 1y ago
Drone operators seem to become quite jaded by their safety/removal from the theater of operations. c.f., https://notabugsplat.com/ https://notabugsplat.com/ and reporting of the use of this term by U.S. drone operators.

CamperBob2 1y ago

Why couldn't AI do that? It's better than any human at this stuff.

GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
Sometimes I feel like the entire AI field just never watched The Terminator.
- CamperBob2 1y ago
  Whether it should is a different question. It certainly can.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- ThrowawayR2 1y ago
  Campy, low budget action movies are not a sound basis for forming public policy.
JohnBooty 1y ago
You could certainly train AI to navigate that particular maze of netting, but I'm far from convinced you could train an AI to navigate a near-infinite variety of novel, hostile measures not present in the training corpus. It seems trivial to confuse a Tesla's AI. I'm assuming they're fairly near the top of the game when it comes to that, yes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MigIJXJx8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MigIJXJx8 This sort of intentionally hostile pathological case is of course rare in real-world driving. It will not be rare in warfare. And a drone has to operate fully in three dimensions, unlike a Tesla which is effectively operating in two dimensions. An autonomous drone will also have extremely constrained computing resources relative to a Tesla due to size/weight/power constraints.
- CamperBob2 1y ago
  Self-driving cars are a political problem, not a technical one. We have self-driving cars on Mars. Autonomous drones, yeah, well... https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2025/lr/autonomous-drone-from-tu-delft-defeats-human-champions-in-historic-racing-first https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2025/lr/autonomous-drone-from-tu-d...
  - JohnBooty 1y ago
    Perseverance "self drives" at 0.1mph on a nearly flat, static landscape with zero other threats or moving objects. (Sure, it's a hostile landscape with regards to dust/temperature/radiation. And getting to Mars and landing safely is a fiendishly difficult task. But those aren't concerns of the self-driving system...) https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-perseverance-drives-on-mars/ https://science.nasa.gov/resource/how-perseverance-drives-on... The problem space is truly not comparable to that of a drone that needs to navigate an actively hostile, evolving environment in three dimensions at two orders of magnitude greater speed.

WillAdams 1y ago

Drone operators seem to become quite jaded by their safety/removal from the theater of operations. c.f., https://notabugsplat.com/ https://notabugsplat.com/ and reporting of the use of this term by U.S. drone operators.