Latvia suggests that AI in Ukrainian drones may have failed: drones crashed in one place

In Latvia, Ukrainian drones struck empty oil tanks on several occasions in May, which may have been due to issues with artificial intelligence systems and navigation errors.

Modris Kairišs, head of the Autonomous Systems Competence Center at the Latvian Armed Forces, has suggested this in a comment to LSM.

According to him, the nature of the incidents—where the drones ended up in the same location multiple times—could indicate errors in the object identification algorithms. He suggested that the artificial intelligence systems might have mistaken the oil tanks for similar targets on russian territory.

“Drones that fly long distances are equipped with artificial intelligence technology. They search for targets that are pre-programmed into the drones. Therefore, it is possible that they crashed into oil terminal barrels, which visually resemble targets on Russian territory,” LSM quotes Kairišs as saying.

The LSM report also notes that the deviation of Ukrainian drones from their course and their entry into the territory of the Baltic states, particularly Latvia, may be linked to GPS navigation malfunctions and the influence of russian electronic warfare systems, which alter the signal and flight path of the drones.

Recall that Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys stated that russia is deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into the airspace of the Baltic states.

On May 19, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur reported that Baltic air defense forces shot down a drone that had entered Estonian airspace. It is likely that the drone was of Ukrainian origin.