Ukraine is providing defense companies from allied countries with access to more than five million frames from the war to train artificial intelligence systems. The data was collected by drones and other military sources and is being used to develop autonomous unmanned systems.
The archive is part of the Avengers Labs platform. It contains video, audio and text data accumulated over almost five years of hostilities. Around 30 Ukrainian defense companies are already using the database to develop weapons and artificial intelligence software, reports The New York Times.
The first international agreement is with the United Kingdom. Up to 12 British companies will gain access to the platform, while Kyiv is also in talks with other countries. The data is provided free of charge, but the companies must grant the Ukrainian army licenses for any software developed with its help.
Companies Will Not Download the Military Footage
Access is restricted and provided in a secure computing environment. The companies work in what is known as a “sandbox,” without direct access to the entire archive and without the ability to download the raw data.
The platform contains labeled footage of tanks, artillery, air defense systems, infantry and aerial targets. The data was recorded during the day and at night, including with thermal imaging cameras. It includes images of tanks in winter, trucks in the dark and moments when drones were hit.
The goal is for the models to learn to recognize military objects in complex environments. After their accuracy has been verified, they can be integrated into control systems for aerial, ground or maritime drones.
From Target Recognition to Autonomous Weapons
The human eye may fail to notice a person among dark trunks, shadows and snow. A trained system, however, can mark the small silhouette and identify it as a potential target. These are precisely the kinds of situations used to train military algorithms.
Most artificial intelligence-powered drones currently in use still require a human to confirm the target before carrying out a strike. According to The New York Times, however, both Russia and Ukraine have already used a limited number of fully autonomous kamikaze drones.
The head of a company that developed a combat model through the platform claims that the rate of false signals during training was below 5%. “Whatever the doubts about AI killer drones, this weapon will continue to develop anyway,” he says.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who oversaw the development of Avengers Labs, has created an investment fund aimed at bringing a fully autonomous artificial intelligence weapon to the battlefield next year. Among the investors is Alex Karp, head of Palantir.
Opening up the platform also raises legal questions. International law still provides no unified answer as to how the Geneva Conventions apply to weapons that independently identify and select targets. Kyiv, however, views the mass of data accumulated during the war as a resource for accelerating the development of technologies for its defense.
Sources: unian.net, qz.com