Former Google CEO Allegedly Developing Suicide Attack Drones For Ukraine War

Artificial intelligence has been one of the buzzwords of the year, finding roots in numerous applications especially in the private sector with software features and large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. However, one of the things that has not been talked about as much, but is still prevalent, is the utilization of AI in the national security and defense industry. While there may be more legitimate uses that can help save lives or prevent accidents, one former Googler may be looking to use it to develop suicide drones to take out targets regardless of connectivity.

This month, Forbes reported on billionaire tech CEO Eric Schmidt who has been building a network of LLCs to concern a startup dubbed White Stork. While White Stork is not reportedly a public company, it is seemingly an open secret that it exists and is developing “a mass-producible drone that uses artificial intelligence for visual targeting and can function in zero-comms environments created by GPS jamming.” This comes as no surprise given Schmidt’s public support for drones being used as weapons, especially in Ukraine, which is relevant to the White Stork name given that is the national bird and “sacred totem” of Ukraine.


Sarah Emerson and Richard Nieva of Forbes explain (paywalled) that Schmidt has been published on several outlets explaining the use of things such as a “kamikaze drone,” which are “cheap aircraft can loiter on the battlefield before being dispatched to disable or destroy their targets.” Similar rhetoric was mentioned in a more recent op-ed, but curiously, none of these articles reportedly explained Schmidt’s business interests in the matter. Further, it would seem that little is known about Schmidt’s possible related meetings with Ukraine’s leaders in government and technology.

At the end of the day, you can draw your own conclusions about using AI to do target recognition for attack drones. Suffice to say, though, it appears as if someone is living out their Tony Stark fantasies. Perhaps this is the first step to privatizing world peace, or burning everything to the ground, but either way, it seems we are forgetting the golden rule of "don't be evil."