Ukrainian startup builds AI drones for war

Yaroslav Azhnyuk, a 37-year-old computer scientist, runs two defense firms in Ukraine: The Fourth Law and Odd Systems. These companies are among the top producers of artificial intelligence powered drones in the country. Dozens of Ukrainian military units now operate their autonomous drone, the Lupynis-10-TFL-1. Azhnyuk argues that when one side has much higher capabilities, it creates an asymmetric advantage that can make forces 10,000 times more effective.

Azhnyuk spent years in Silicon Valley before returning to Ukraine. He previously founded Petcube, a company that sold one million smartphone cameras designed to watch and entertain pets. After Russia launched its full-scale war in 2022, he shifted his focus to defense. He described the change as moving from cameras that fling treats to cameras that fling explosives at occupiers.

The Lupynis TFL-1 combines a small, affordable first-person-view drone with an autonomous terminal guidance unit. The drone carries an onboard computer that takes control during the final 500 meters of flight. Azhnyuk notes this AI is different from large data center models or self-driving car software. It uses simple tools to recognize images and navigate autonomously or choose targets without human input. The company names its weapons after Ukrainian intellectuals persecuted by Russia, including the 20th-century poet Anatoliy Lupynis.

The Fourth Law team tests the drones daily in an overgrown field outside Kyiv. A team member using the call sign Stab demonstrated the system by locking onto a dilapidated car driven by an employee. The pilot, called Professor, selected the target and then let go of the control stick. The drone flew itself to the vehicle using a deep-learning neural network trained on hours of combat footage. Stab noted that the drone is hard to jam and that humans still select the initial target to prevent rogue behavior.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that AI could lead battlefield decisions as soon as next year. Russia is also deploying AI-enabled drones against Ukraine. Azhnyuk says his company’s drones are calculators rather than killer robots, comparing them to warehouses of artillery shells. He acknowledges that future drones may make their own target designations. For now, he says Ukraine must use AI in defensive scenarios because enemy systems make decisions in microseconds while human control takes minutes or hours.

The company continues to refine its technology in response to the immediate needs of the war. Azhnyuk states that if Ukraine loses, there will be no time to debate the ethics of AI. The primary focus remains on survival and utilizing the available technology to counter Russian forces.