Skip to Content
Artificial intelligence

A criminal gang used a swarm of drones to disrupt an FBI raid

Bad guys keep finding new ways to use the tech, and there is no easy way to stop them.

The news: According to Defense One, FBI agents were staking out an “unfolding situation” outside an undisclosed city in the US last winter when suddenly they were surrounded by drones that weaved and darted around the team. One agent said it “definitely presented some challenges.”

Details: Not only did the drones physically interfere with the operation, but they also filmed the action and uploaded the footage to YouTube so that other gang members could monitor the scene remotely.

Why it matters: From flying contraband into prisons to attaching explosive devices, criminals continue to find new uses for drones. The US military has technology that can jam the communication channels operators use to guide their vehicles, but that equipment hasn’t been tested in populated areas with easy-to-disturb cell towers. And once commercial drones can fly autonomously, some jamming techniques won’t even work. Maybe we need to revisit training drone-hunting eagles after all.

Deep Dive

Artificial intelligence

The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it

Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.

ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like.

New large language models will transform many jobs. Whether they will lead to widespread prosperity or not is up to us.

AI is dreaming up drugs that no one has ever seen. Now we’ve got to see if they work.

AI automation throughout the drug development pipeline is opening up the possibility of faster, cheaper pharmaceuticals.

GPT-4 is bigger and better than ChatGPT—but OpenAI won’t say why

We got a first look at the much-anticipated big new language model from OpenAI. But this time how it works is even more deeply under wraps.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.