This Is Not A Drill with Gavin Esler

New Weapons for New Wars – ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE goes to war

September 17, 2026·45 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Completing the four-part series from This Is Not A Drill… Warfare is evolving faster than ever in this dangerous world. Gavin Esler explores a new generation of weapons and how they’ll fight – or prevent – the next wars. This time: Artificial Intelligence is reshaping everything and its effects on warfare are already profound. Hyper-fast intelligent systems can bring together drones, conventional missiles, air power and defences – but at the expense of human judgment. Will A.I.-augmented warfare outrun human control and the rules of war? Will the colossal computing power A.I. requires mean that data centres will become crucial assets? And what happens when A.I. misidentifies a civilian building as a military target?  Gavin Esler talks to: • Major General (Ret.) Mick Ryan of the Australian Army, author of The War for Ukraine and the Futura Doctrina Substack • Michael Horowitz, Senior Fellow for Technology and Innovation at the Council on Foreign Relations • Dr Neda Bolourchi, non-resident fellow at the Institute for Global Affairs • Dr Jessica Dorsey, assistant Professor of International Law and co-director of Realities of Algorithmic Warfare project at Utrecht University.  • Peter Apps, global defense columnist for Reuters, British Army reservist and author of The Next World War Buy books through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund This Is Not A Drill by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too. • ⁠Support us on Patreon⁠ to keep This Is Not A Drill producing thought-provoking podcasts like this. • Find out if you’re owed on car finance at ⁠refundclub.co.uk/drill⁠ • Refund Club is a trading style of Sandsford Law Limited, authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA no. 8008114). Checking is free. A fee is payable only if your claim is successful. Eligibility: car finance taken out in the UK between 2007 and 2021. The average claim is around £829 per agreement; this is an average and not a guarantee of the amount you will receive. You can also claim yourself for free by contacting your lender or the Financial Ombudsman Service. ⁠refundclub.co.uk/drill Written and presented by Gavin Esler. Produced by Robin Leeburn. Original theme music by Paul Hartnoll – https://www.orbitalofficial.com. Executive Producer Martin Bojtos. Managing Editor Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor Andrew Harrison. This Is Not A Drill is a Podmasters production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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