Tuesday, October 31, 2023

War by do-it-yourselfers. Asymmetric warfare at its best.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/10/the-future-of-drone-warfare.html

The Future of Drone Warfare

Ukraine is using $400 drones to destroy tanks:

Facing an enemy with superior numbers of troops and armor, the Ukrainian defenders are holding on with the help of tiny drones flown by operators like Firsov that, for a few hundred dollars, can deliver an explosive charge capable of destroying a Russian tank worth more than $2 million.
[…]
A typical FPV weighs up to one kilogram, has four small engines, a battery, a frame and a camera connected wirelessly to goggles worn by a pilot operating it remotely. It can carry up to 2.5 kilograms of explosives and strike a target at a speed of up to 150 kilometers per hour, explains Pavlo Tsybenko, acting director of the Dronarium military academy outside Kyiv.
This drone costs up to $400 and can be made anywhere. We made ours using microchips imported from China and details we bought on AliExpress. We made the carbon frame ourselves. And, yeah, the batteries are from Tesla. One car has like 1,100 batteries that can be used to power these little guys,” Tsybenko told POLITICO on a recent visit, showing the custom-made FPV drones used by the academy to train future drone pilots.
It is almost impossible to shoot it down,” he said. “Only a net can help. And I predict that soon we will have to put up such nets above our cities, or at least government buildings, all over Europe.”

Science fiction authors have been writing about drone swarms for decades. Now they are reality. Tanks today. Soon it will be ships (probably with more expensive drones). Feels like this will be a major change in warfare.





Somehow, I doubt this will work.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/alliance-40-countries-vow-not-pay-ransom-cybercriminals-us-says-2023-10-31/

Alliance of 40 countries to vow not to pay ransom to cybercriminals, US says

Forty countries in a U.S.-led alliance plan to sign a pledge never to pay ransom to cybercriminals and to work toward eliminating the hackers' funding mechanism, a senior White House official said on Tuesday.





More on the EO on AI.

https://politico.com/news/2023/10/30/bidens-executive-order-artificial-intelligence-00124395

The politics of Biden’s vast new AI order

President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence, signed Monday at a White House ceremony, has something to address nearly every concern about the fast-moving technology — cybersecurity, global competition, discrimination and technical oversight of advanced AI systems.

The 111-page laundry list of priorities has drawn immediate support from both the tech industry and its critics. But the vast scale of the order also suggests an effort by the White House to paper over the growing tension between Washington’s rival AI factions — including some with significant pull inside the Democratic Party.

Most observers see three broad groups trying to influence AI policy. There are progressives who view AI as a threat to Americans, largely due to its impact on issues related to job security, civil rights and racial bias. There are the “longtermists,” who focus on the technology’s potential to one day produce deadly bioweapons or even exterminate humanity. And there are the AI hawks, who worry the emerging technology could undercut America’s national security and geopolitical hegemony.





Tools & Techniques. I still feel like a beginner...

https://www.bespacific.com/beginners-prompt-handbook-chatgpt-for-local-news-publishers/

Beginner’s prompt handbook: ChatGPT for local news publishers

A handbook for small newsrooms and local publishers, created by Joe Amditis (@jsamditis ) Assistant director of products + events Center for Cooperative Media amditisj@montclair.edu: “This handbook is designed to help local news publishers and journalists use generative AI tools like ChatGPT to improve their news products, workflows, and efficiency.”



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