The CEO of Ukrainian defense technology company Ark Robotics has delivered a stark assessment of artificial intelligence in modern warfare, declaring that autonomy in defense is “greatly overhyped” while simultaneously warning that the industry has passed “the point of no return” on autonomous systems. Speaking under the pseudonym Achi for security reasons, the executive told Business Insider that less than 1% of frontline military operations currently involve true autonomy, despite widespread claims about AI-powered warfare.
The reality on Ukraine’s battlefield reveals a significant gap between autonomy hype and practical implementation. “Defense forces want a hundred percent reliability, and the AI is just not there,” Achi explained, emphasizing that human oversight remains heavily required for current systems. However, this doesn’t mean autonomous technology is being abandoned—quite the opposite. Ark Robotics is actively developing Frontier, an AI-powered system designed to coordinate thousands of aerial drones and ground robots with minimal human involvement.
Ark Robotics currently supplies autonomous systems to more than 20 Ukrainian brigades, producing ground robots including the M4 model and developing multi-platform coordination capabilities. The company, founded in Ukraine and now headquartered in NATO member Estonia, demonstrated Frontier’s potential by having a user remotely operate a ground robot 1,200 miles away from Denmark to Kyiv.
The definitional challenge around “autonomous” systems complicates the discussion. According to Achi, the term describes everything from basic navigation to systems that identify, classify, and act on targets without direction. A UK Royal United Services Institute report noted there’s no agreed-upon definition for autonomy levels. Kateryna Bondar, an AI and defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, confirmed that “fully autonomous warfare remains an aspiration,” though significant progress has been made in partial autonomy, particularly with drone technology.
Ark is pursuing autonomy on two levels: edge autonomy, where individual systems make independent decisions, and the more complex orchestration layer, where multiple robots coordinate tasks. The latter represents the harder challenge, requiring robust foundational technology. Western militaries, including the US Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative and the UK’s $5 billion investment in uncrewed systems, are racing alongside rivals Russia and China to develop these capabilities. Despite current limitations and ethical debates that restrict lethal autonomous systems, Achi believes autonomy has become “a prerequisite to be successful in the total drone warfare that is coming to all of us.”
Key Quotes
If we’re talking about real frontline usage, we are talking less than 1% where autonomy is present.
Achi, CEO of Ark Robotics, revealed this striking statistic to counter the widespread perception that AI-powered autonomous systems dominate modern warfare, highlighting the gap between industry hype and battlefield reality.
Defense forces want a hundred percent reliability, and the AI is just not there.
The CEO explained why human oversight remains essential in military operations, pointing to AI’s current reliability limitations as the primary barrier to wider autonomous system deployment in combat situations.
I think we already are past the point of no return. Autonomy is necessary.
Despite acknowledging that autonomy is overhyped today, Achi warned that the battlefield dynamics have made autonomous systems unavoidable for future military operations, suggesting an irreversible shift in warfare technology.
You can have all these fancy drones, but what is the use of them if you can’t really deploy them at scale?
Achi emphasized that the real challenge isn’t building individual autonomous systems but creating the AI-powered orchestration layer that can coordinate thousands of robots simultaneously, which is where Ark’s Frontier system aims to provide solutions.
Our Take
This article exposes a fundamental truth about AI development: the gap between capability claims and practical deployment. Ark Robotics’ candid assessment is refreshing in an industry often characterized by inflated promises. The 1% autonomy statistic should serve as a reality check for AI enthusiasts and investors alike. However, the “point of no return” framing is equally significant—it suggests that even imperfect AI autonomy has become strategically necessary.
What’s particularly noteworthy is the two-tier autonomy approach: edge-level decision-making versus network orchestration. This mirrors broader AI development patterns where coordination and integration challenges often exceed individual capability problems. The Ukraine battlefield serves as an unparalleled real-world AI testing environment, providing feedback loops that simulated environments cannot replicate. As Western militaries pour billions into autonomous systems while simultaneously restricting their lethal applications, we’re witnessing the collision of technological possibility, strategic necessity, and ethical constraint—a tension that will define AI governance across all sectors.
Why This Matters
This story reveals a critical disconnect in the AI defense industry between marketing claims and battlefield reality, with profound implications for military strategy and AI development. While less than 1% of frontline operations use true autonomy, the technology is simultaneously described as unavoidable for future warfare, highlighting the tension between current AI limitations and strategic necessity. Ukraine’s experience as a real-world testing ground for autonomous military systems provides invaluable insights that theoretical development cannot match.
The race for autonomous warfare capabilities involves not just Ukraine and its Western allies, but also adversaries like Russia and China, making this a geopolitical AI competition with national security implications. The billions in Western investment—including the UK’s $5 billion commitment and the US Replicator initiative—demonstrate that despite current shortcomings, major powers view AI-powered autonomous systems as essential to future military capability. The ethical and reliability challenges Achi identifies will shape how AI is deployed in life-and-death situations, potentially establishing precedents for AI governance beyond military applications. As autonomous systems become prerequisites for modern warfare, the pressure to solve AI reliability and coordination problems will likely accelerate broader AI development.
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