NYT: A fully autonomous Russian AI drone run by an Nvidia minicomputer killed 3 civilians in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia

A Russian drone guided entirely by an experimental AI system killed three civilians — a 19-year-old student and two men aged 41 and 48 — at a gas station in Zaporizhzhia on July 6, according to a New York Times investigation. Ukrainian drone experts and forensic investigators examined wreckage from that and other Molniya drone strikes to reach their conclusion, though the wreckage from the fatal strike itself was not shown to reporters.

The drones reportedly fly toward a general target set by an operator, then select the specific object to hit — such as propane tanks — on their own using onboard recognition trained in advance. Investigators pointed to recovered Nvidia minicomputers and cameras, with no antenna present, as evidence of full autonomy rather than remote control.

Ukraine says Russia has tested such autonomous drones in Zaporizhzhia since May, while Ukraine's own forces are separately testing autonomous targeting systems in Crimea; no deaths have been reported from those tests so far.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.