(Bloomberg) -- Russian soldiers only live an average of 20 to 30 minutes on the battlefield because of Ukraine's artificial-intelligence attack drones, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday.
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"Our intelligence is consistent with some of the open-source reporting you may have seen in Ukraine: the average life expectancy of a Russian recruit right now, arriving on the battlefield in Ukraine, is estimated to be between 20 and 30 minutes," the Central Intelligence Agency chief said at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on Wednesday.
"That's because AI-powered drones have have gotten to be such specialized, low-cost killing machines," he added.
GLOBAL INSIGHT: Russia's War Edge Over Ukraine Narrows
While Russia has a significant manpower advantage over smaller Ukraine, Kyiv has limited Moscow's advances in part because of innovation with various attack drones. US officials have suggested Russia is losing around 7,000 soldiers per week. And Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said more than 80% of "enemy targets" were being destroyed by drones.
Ratcliffe's remarks come as Washington and its allies weigh new funding for Ukraine's drone programs and seek access to the technology behind the AI-guided systems.
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