Diane Francis: The Frankenstein War

by Diane Francis, Editor-at-Large at the National Post, columnist at the Kyiv Post, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Eurasia Center and author, publisher on the Substack blog platform.

Source: Francis on Substack

Ukraine was the Silicon Valley of the former Soviet Union for decades, and it was mostly Ukrainians, not Russians, who put the first man into space and pioneered the development of artificial intelligence (AI), rocketry, aviation, IT, medicine, cybersecurity, and weaponry. Ukrainians invented the X-ray, the modern helicopter, the CD (compact disc), facial recognition, Grammarly, WhatsApp, and PayPal, and many other innovations. 

However, for decades, Ukraine’s world-class brain power was unknown and expropriated by Moscow. But now it is on display globally as Ukrainians have reinvented war technologically to prevent Russia from destroying their nation. A world-class army, air force, and navy have been forged from scratch with software, robots, and drones. At the helm of this transformation is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government, which harnessed the country’s computer science and software elite to defend the nation. 

But last week, Zelenskyy issued a warning to the United Nations that must be heeded: “We are now living through the most destructive arms race in human history because this time, it includes artificial intelligence (AI). Weapons are evolving faster than our ability to defend ourselves against them.”

Zelenskyy stated that the world must regulate these weapons before it’s too late. For Ukraine, this is not a theory but a lived experience. The country has fought successfully for more than three years and invented the world’s first AI-driven conflict. Ukrainian drones that think, artillery guided by algorithms, and autonomous targeting systems are no longer the future — they are deciding life and death every day on land, sea, and air. Others attempt to catch up. 

Thus, Zelenskyy’s message was blunt: “We need global rules — now — for how AI can be used in weapons. And this is just as urgent as preventing the spread of nuclear weapons,” he said. “War machines are being built by man that are beyond man’s control… It’s only a matter of time, not much, before drones are fighting drones, attacking critical infrastructure, and targeting people all by themselves, fully autonomous and no human involved.”

Theoretical warnings have been issued in the past about the dangers of uncontrolled AI. Elon Musk stated that AI poses a greater risk than North Korea and could potentially endanger humanity unintentionally. Late British physicist Stephen Hawking also believed that the development of full AI could lead to the end of the human race. 

But, most ominously, Russia’s Vladimir Putin commented publicly on AI’s potential for both opportunities and threats, suggesting leadership in AI would translate to global dominance. Currently, Moscow races to catch up with Ukraine. So does China.

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