AI Counterforce: Ukraine's Strategic Win over Russia

The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the extensive use of AI systems have notably transformed the landscape of modern warfare. This war is seen by some as a precursor to new forms of conflict, thus introducing futuristic terms such as "algorithmic warfare," "hyperwar," and "mosaic warfare." 

While we haven't yet reached a point where AI entirely replaces human involvement in full-blown warfare, drone warfare has undeniably taken center stage. Unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as surface and underwater drones, have become essential components of the Ukrainian military's capabilities. Furthermore, the utilization of fire-and-forget weapon systems is on the rise, wherein AI-guided ammunition autonomously determines its trajectory toward the target and accurately identifies the specified object as designated by the operator.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg that makes it into news and reports. Various aspects of the unfolding battle are utilizing geospatial intelligence, facial recognition, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and logistics — all enhanced by artificial intelligence.

The protracted nature of the war has offered continuous opportunities for training and refining AI systems. While some of these technologies have been provided to Ukraine by its allies, particularly the United States, a considerable portion of the AI innovations have been developed by Ukrainians themselves. Even before the onset of large-scale hostilities, Ukraine had already been recognized as a significant IT hub, contributing 4% to its GDP.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a critical tool for Ukraine, deployed since the early stages of the ongoing large-scale war. One of the primary uses has been identifying individuals from images or videos.

AI played a pivotal role during last year's winter-spring assault on Kyiv, aiding in identifying the invaders involved in acts of genocide against Ukrainians in the Kyiv region. It also proved successful in identifying Russian soldiers engaged in looting. Ukrainian cyber resistance operatives were able to hack into a video surveillance system at a post office in Mozyr, Belarus, capturing images of Russian soldiers sending home stolen goods. This provided itemized records of the loot, including the intended destinations.

Independent Ukrainian IT specialists used this information to reach out to the looters' friends and family via social media, alerting them to the committed crimes. These photos and videos were disseminated online, inviting anyone interested to join the resistance against Russia’s aggression. 

Similarly, at the onset of the war, the identities of certain Russian military personnel involved in the shootings of Ukrainian citizens in towns like Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, and others were partially unveiled. Now, all this data is stored in respective archives, waiting for the moment when these Russian war criminals will face justice.

As a result, if an invader has ever been captured on a surveillance camera, and the images of their crimes have made their way online, they can be identified. This identification process doesn't necessitate large analysis centers with hundreds of staff members — AI effectively manages the search.

The process was significantly expedited when Ukrainian IT professionals gained access to Clearview AI, a platform from a private American company. This tool provides law enforcement agencies the ability to rapidly identify suspects from a database consisting of over 30 billion facial images. This database, regularly updated with photos and videos from social media, media outlets, websites, and other open sources, not only helps in identifying suspects but also victims. This is especially crucial when addressing war crimes committed in territories under temporary occupation, which are inaccessible to Ukrainian investigators. 

At the onset of the war, Hoan Ton-That, the co-founder and CEO of Clearview AI, penned a letter to the Ukrainian government, suggesting several potential uses for the platform. These included reuniting refugees, identifying war criminals, and assisting in the recognition of misinformation circulating on social media.

"Photos and videos are checked for social-media accounts using an American facial-recognition program, Clearview AI. So far, more than 7,500 suspects have been identified, according to the national police," read a statement from the company in 2022. This figure has since increased to 71,000.

Ukrainian IT professionals creatively harnessed the potential of the platform. The AI algorithm of the startup Reface expanded the scope of artificial intelligence, enabling it to identify specific enemy units in satellite imagery. They also succeeded in identifying individual Russian conscripts, despite the aggressor's government denying the deployment of conscripts to Ukraine.

The development of the instant identity verification application, dubbed “Who Are You”, serves as a unique extension of the previous use case. While this application is available to the public, its main users are soldiers at checkpoints, representatives of the National Police, and the National Guard. Assisted by AI, this tool can confirm the authenticity of a photo ID, its status (whether it's valid, lost, stolen, etc.), and even determine if the owner is listed as a terrorist, sanctioned individual, and so on, all within 10-30 seconds. 

The Who Are You app is particularly useful in regions close to active combat zones, where there's a high risk of infiltration by reconnaissance and sabotage groups, or collaborators into non-occupied territories. It's worth noting that this application will likely attract interest from police, customs, and anti-terrorism units around the world.

A small team of five Ukrainian developers had been diligently working on an application known as "Armor" designed to enhance the firing accuracy of tank crews. Over the course of its development, an idea germinated to expand the scope of the software. This led to the creation of the renowned platform "Griselda," which incorporated the project Deep State UA, a platform designated for sharing actionable data along the demarcation line. The collaborative team is composed of volunteers, demobilized military personnel, veterans, sociologists, programmers, and military experts. They are actively collaborating with the Special Operations Forces, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Defense's Innovation Center to further advance this AI project.

Thanks to Griselda, Ukraine now possesses the capability for high-speed data processing, secure storage, and automated data entry and transmission. 

This encompasses target coordinates and enemy positions, intelligence from all points along the front line, satellite reconnaissance data, and information on potential enemy infiltration movements in the rear. In essence, practically everything, including weather condition forecasts that commanders must consider, can be managed by the platform.

The platform deploys advanced technologies such as neural networks and automated analysis modules. Among other notable features of the system are radio message decoding modules, web scraping bots, and instantaneous viewing capabilities. 

Here are a few figures showcasing the capabilities of Griselda, made possible through the use of AI:

In conclusion, it's important to mention that Ukraine now has an arsenal of dozens of platforms and applications that help push towards victory. In terms of technology, Ukraine clearly outperforms the aggressor. In the military year of 2022, Ukraine sold its IT products and services abroad, earning $7.34 billion. This marks a 6% increase compared to 2021.