The New York Times reported on April 23 that the US military is using the Ukraine conflict to test a new artificial intelligence technology that helps detect targets on the battlefield using drone footage,.

The research into the technology was initially picked up as a government contract by Google six years ago, according to the report. However, engineers and employees into the research, "Project Maven", objected to building an AI tool for military use, and the project was picked up by other contractors.

Now, according to the New York Times, the technology is being tested on the front line in Ukraine. "Western" and Ukrainian officers, along with some of the top US military contractors, are "exploring new ways of finding and exploiting Russian vulnerabilities".

So far, the results of the testing have reportedly been "mixed." While Project Maven allows commanders to identify the movements of Russian forces and use AI algorithms to predict their next steps, it has apparently been "difficult" to bring "21st-century data into 19th-century trenches".

The NYT says that it is also unclear if the new technology would even be able to change the course of the conflict, given Russia's ability to quickly adapt to technologies being used by the Ukrainian side.

The newspaper's source points out that nevertheless the Ukraine conflict remains "a bonanza for the US military" in the minds of American officials, and a testing ground for rapidly evolving technologies.

"At the end of the day this became our laboratory," Lt Gen Christopher T Donahue, who commands the US Army's 18th Airborne Division, told the NYT.

This is a further example of US and its ally, Britain, in their proxy war against Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder to further Anglo-US/NATO interests.

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