The tech giant says it does not sell the devices in Russia, but they are widely available on resale markets. When purchased that way, they are virtually impossible to track.
The miniature Nvidia computer that Ukrainian officials say Russia has used in fully autonomous A.I.-guided drones is an inexpensive model designed for civilian robotics and machine vision applications, according to the company.
Ukrainian forensic examiners recently found the minicomputer, the Nvidia Jetson Orin, in the wreckage of drones launched by Russia’s military in apparent tests of a self-targeting system in the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency showed New York Times reporters two such guidance systems that included damaged but still recognizable Jetson computer components. Air defense officials said that a drone with one of the systems killed three people in an attack in Zaporizhzhia on July 6.
The Russian weapon is a new step in the use of A.I. in combat. Earlier A.I.-guided drones had a “human in the loop” safety button that required a live pilot to confirm a target. Those systems used artificial intelligence only in the last several hundred yards of a drone’s flight to help make them impervious to radio signal jamming.
The Russian drones tested in Zaporizhzhia from May to July, by contrast, left the strike decision entirely to the Jetson Orin computer, according to an analysis of the chip by Ukrainian investigators. The Red Cross and other rights groups have opposed allowing computers to find and strike targets on their own.
