Ukraine opens battlefield data access to allies’ AI models

By Max Hunder

KYIV, March 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine is opening access to its battlefield data for its allies to train drone AI software, the defence minister said on Thursday, as Kyiv seeks to harness the experience it has garnered fending off Russia’s four-year, full-scale invasion.

The move comes as militaries across the globe start to use automated systems which can guide drones to their targets without a pilot, or quickly analyse vast pools of data.

Foreign allies and companies have sought access to Ukraine’s datasets, as these are crucial for training models to recognise patterns, shapes and the behaviour of people and machines on the battlefield.

Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said a platform had been created to safely train AI models without giving away sensitive data, but which nevertheless provides constantly updating datasets and large quantities of photos and video footage.

“Today, Ukraine has a unique array of battlefield data that is unmatched anywhere else in the world,” he wrote on Telegram.

“This includes millions of annotated images collected during tens of thousands of combat flights.”

Fedorov, a tech-savvy ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine would benefit from speeding up the development of AI models which it can then use in its war against Russia.

“We are ready to work with partners on joint analytics, model training, and the creation of new technological solutions,” he said, adding that Ukraine wants to increase the role played by autonomous systems in the war.

When he was appointed in January, Fedorov laid out his plans to conduct a broader data-driven overhaul of Ukraine’s vast defence ministry.

Ukraine is keen to maximise its advantage from the experience gained from Europe’s largest conflict since 1945, as it strives to retain its allies’ interest and funding in the fifth year of full-scale war.

It has sent anti-drone specialists to four Middle Eastern nations this week after they requested Kyiv’s help in downing Iran’s vast barrages of Shahed UAVs.

Separately, top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said the military had to “increase the pace of development of effective unmanned vehicles” as the war “entered a new phase.”

“With the aim of countering enemy strike drones, platoons of drone interceptors are being created inside detachments of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Syrskyi wrote on Telegram.

(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Gareth Jones, Ron Popeski and Cynthia Osterman)