MOSCOW

THOUSANDS OF NORTH Korean troops fighting for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin show all the signs of being AI drones, says a technological warfare expert.

“They remind one of the Terracotta Army discovered in the grave of the first emperor of China about fifty years ago,” says Liddell Tzu, whose book on strategy for the post-nuclear age, Me Tzu, is said to be obligatory reading at West Point and Sandhurst. “Basic drones are being overtaken by more sophisticated robotic equipment. Whispers from Pyongyang of AI soldiers who stood guard at the presidential palace have been doing the rounds since Donald Trump’s last administration. Western intelligence has been trying to get hold of evidence of their existence but without success. They’re said to basically self destruct when killed on the battlefield, so the technology will not fall into enemy hands. All you’re left with is a covering, everything else is mush. Only by capturing one can we get a look at what makes them work. But they’re programmed to die rather than be captured. Hence the large loss rates in combat. I wouldn’t take too much solace from that, it could mean they have so many, and can produce them in such numbers, that losses don’t matter.”