Drones have shaped the Ukraine war. Are ‘killer robots’ far off?

In Russia's war in Ukraine, the use of drones – for surveillance, correcting artillery fire and dropping weapons on the enemy – has become increasingly important, especially for the Ukrainian army.

The drones used so far are believed to have all been controlled by humans but experts say the technology for fully autonomous weapons exists. Are so-called ‘killer robots’ that take to the battlefield inevitable?

In this episode: 

• Alex Gatopoulos (@AlexGatopoulos), Al Jazeera's defence editor
• Toby Walsh (@TobyWalsh), professor of artificial intelligence, University of New South Wales

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K. Li and our host, Halla Mohieddeen. Amy Walters, Alexandra Locke and Chloe K. Li fact-checked this episode. Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.

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