AI Is Pulling the Trigger

Dear Reader,

Drones are getting a lot of attention right now.

And I’m not talking about the predator drones that probably come to mind that fly 30,000 feet in the air and are flown from afar by a nameless operator.

I’m talking about the little hand-held drones that you can control with a remote.

Amazon is trying to bring these into its delivery fleet, but according to a recent New York Times article, the company is failing miserably.

A decade ago, Jeff Bezos predicted that Amazon’s drone delivery would revolutionize deliveries. But today, its drones can be seen flying in just two cities and can reportedly only deliver a can of tomato soup in perfect weather conditions.

Drones are, however, revolutionizing the battlefield.

In war-torn parts of the world, like Ukraine and Israel, drone warfare is so commonplace that you can find videos on YouTube detailing the horrifying acts.

It’s like something out of Hollywood, but it’s frighteningly real.

I recently saw a video out of Ukraine that looked like trench warfare in WWI. A Russian soldier was trying to cross over barbed wire in “no man’s land” and a Ukrainian soldier popped up out of a fox hole and fired a few shots with his rifle. The Russian soldier dropped instantly.

There are dozens of videos showing grenades being dropped from the drones and Russian soldiers looking to the skies as if pleading for help.

When the Russia-Ukraine war started nearly two years ago, a lot of people thought Russia would just steamroll Ukraine. After all, Russia has a much larger military.

But with the help of these small drones (many of which are homemade), as well as advanced weaponry and critical supplies from the U.S., Ukraine has remained strong.

That’s because in war, communication is everything.

I’m somewhat of a history buff, with a focus on ancient battles. We can see how communication turned the tide of nearly every battle.

Going all the way back to ancient Greece, the Battle of Marathon comes to mind. In 490 B.C., the Persian army, led by King Darius 1, invaded Greece in order to expand the Persian empire. The Greek city-states, including Athens and Plataea, formed an alliance to resist the Persians. When the Persian army landed on the plain of Marathon, northeast of Athens, the Athenians, led by their general Miltiades, along with their Plataean allies, assembled to confront the Persians. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Greek hoplites advanced against the Persians. And, in a surprising turn of events, the Greeks managed to defeat the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. The exact reasons for their victory are debated by historians, but it's said that the Greeks utilized their superior infantry tactics and used their knowledge of the terrain to gain the upper hand. The Persian forces retreated and sailed away.

Back to the importance of communication, after their victory, the Athenians dispatched a messenger named Pheidippides to run 26.2 miles to Athens to bring the news of their triumph. Legend has it that Pheidippides ran the entire distance without stopping, burst into the assembly, declared, "Rejoice, we conquer!" and then collapsed and died from exhaustion.

Or what about Paul Revere’s midnight ride? The story of Paul Revere is one of the most well-known tales from the early days of the United States. In the 1770s, tensions were rising between the American colonies and British authorities, mainly because of British policies, such as the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. In 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in response to British actions, and the American Revolution was all but inevitable. On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, along with William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott, was sent on a mission by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to warn the colonial militias that the British troops were advancing to seize rebel munitions stored in Concord, Massachusetts. Revere and Dawes rode to Lexington and Concord, alerting the local militias along the way. The warning provided by Revere and the other riders allowed the colonial militias to prepare, and the first shots of the American Revolution were fired on April 19, 1775, in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The colonial militias managed to repel the British forces, marking the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

Another important form of communication used for centuries were homing pigeons. They were used extensively in both World War I and World War II to carry messages between troops in the field and their commanders. They provided a secure and reliable means of communication when other methods, such as radio, were unreliable or compromised.

Now, as we’re seeing in modern warfare, it’s all about drones and the critical information they can provide.

What we’re seeing now on YouTube looks like a video game.

I suggest listening to a recent Radiolab podcast episode called "Toy Soldiers," which details how effective these drones are on the modern battlefield in Ukraine.

They can relay enemy positions, drop bombs, and just plain scare the enemy.

Hamas is reportedly using the same tactics against the Israelis.

Drones are now replacing fireworks in many displays, as they can create beautiful colorful images in the skies.

Right now, drones are operated by humans…

But the podcast ends with a chilling question…

“How much longer will humans be the ones deciding to pull the trigger or not?”

Well, according to the experts, including our military and defense guru Jason Simpkins, this is going to happen within the next year.

Soon, it won’t be humans pulling the trigger but artificial intelligence…

Setting the stage for a massive shake-up in the $133 billion aerospace and defense industry.

The Department of Defense is already pouring money into the AI pilot race…

And Jason expects one tiny company not only to join industry leaders like Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman…

But to surpass them as its groundbreaking technology turns the entire military-industrial complex on its head.

Get all the details here.

Stay frosty,

Alexander Boulden
Editor, Wealth Daily

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After Alexander’s passion for economics and investing drew him to one of the largest financial publishers in the world, where he rubbed elbows with former Chicago Board Options Exchange floor traders, Wall Street hedge fund managers, and International Monetary Fund analysts, he decided to take up the pen and guide others through this new age of investing.

Alexander is the investment director of Insider Stakeout — a weekly investment advisory service dedicated to tracking the smartest money on the planet so that his readers can achieve life-altering, market-beating returns. He also serves at the managing editor for R.I.C.H. Report, a comprehensive service that uses the highest-quality investment research and strategies that guides its members in growing their wealth on top of preserving it.

Check out his editor’s page here.

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