What do Ukraine’s robot soldiers mean for the future of warfare?

Ah, the future of warfare has arrived, and it's wearing a tracksuit and clutching a drone controller. Ukraine is cheerfully deploying ground robotics in combat, with 'human operators in control' — a phrase that's doing a lot of heavy lifting, like 'responsible gambling' or 'temporary tax cut.' What could possibly go wrong when we slap wheels and a camera on a weapon and call it a day?

Meanwhile, the international community is having a very serious debate about regulating all this — which is to say, absolutely nobody is having any debate at all. The article notes a 'lack of international debate on regulating AI in warfare,' which is about as surprising as finding out that a war zone is chaotic. We've got UN committees that can't agree on what to have for lunch, let alone on whether a robot should be allowed to decide who lives and dies. The only thing moving faster than these robots is the speed at which diplomatic efforts are falling apart.

So here we are: robot soldiers with no rules, human operators who might as well be playing a video game, and a world that can't even agree on the definition of 'autonomous weapon.' The gallows humour practically writes itself. At least the robots won't need coffee breaks — or face war crimes tribunals. For now.