National Defense

American AI Chips Now Power Russian Killer Drones

Vladimir Putin (Image via The White House)

Russia appears to be building weapons using American chips for artificial intelligence-guided military efforts against Ukraine.

Nvidia Jetson Orin computer chips were reportedly discovered within Russia’s AI-powered drones after Ukrainian intelligence examined the aftermath of military tests in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, the New York Times reported Monday. One of these drones targeted a gas station in an attack that killed two Ukrainian civilians and injured nine others, Ukrainska Pravda reported July 6.

The California-based AI giant said its chips are not sold in Russia and that it cannot track its sold products. 

“Our Jetson Orin modules are consumer-grade products sold to students, developers, and startups for a wide range of beneficial applications. They are not available in Russia and are not designed for military purposes,” an Nvidia spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Pre-owned Jetsons are available through many reseller channels. Although we cannot track products after they are sold, if we determine that any customer is violating U.S. export controls, we will take appropriate action.”

The Bureau of Industry and Security and Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

A new Russian drone, called the S-71M Monochrome, was also being used in military actions against Ukraine to test its abilities, Ukrainian officials said, according to the NYT. This drone allegedly features Jetson Orin chips.

Using AI chips, the Russian drones have the capability to loiter and identify specific objects to target, such as gas stations, The Moscow Times reported, in a video featuring the drones.

Russia began testing these drones in May and reportedly let Nvidia’s AI chips determine which targets to strike, according to the NYT.

The July 6 attack may have been the first reported case of an AI-led Russian military strike killing a civilian, according to Kateryna Bondar, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the NYT reported. These AI chips in the drones learn to identify rivers, military vehicles and people by studying thousands of images of these subjects.

Russian forces struck more than 246 Ukrainian gas stations since April, the majority of which occurred in June and July, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data. The strikes were intended to disturb Kyiv’s “transport logistics,” according to Russian media, the NYT reported.

Nvidia’s Jetson Orin chips are “the world’s most powerful embedded AI computers for generative AI, agentic AI, computer vision, and advanced robotics,” according to Nvidia’s website. These AI chips operate in the real world and are intended to power systems that can “watch, interpret and act on what they see,” an Nvidia blog post on Agentic AI said.