Shadowing Practice: Will AI robots on the frontline mark the end of human soldiers? - BBC World Service - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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In February, Ukraine's military made an incredible claim about this robot.
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68 sentences
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In February, Ukraine's military made an incredible claim about this robot.
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For 45 days the drone rotated into combat duty and repelled enemy assaults.
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According to soldiers, the bot was able to hold off attacking Russians on the front line at some point last year.
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Then, in March, an even more incredible claim from Ukraine's president.
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For the first time in the history of this war, the enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms ground robots and drones.
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The new deadly robots designed and deployed in Ukraine were lined up on display.
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The message from the president was...
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The future is here.
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Zelensky's military also claims to have forced Russians to surrender using robots.
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Ukraine has become a testing ground for robotic warfare.
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This conflict, and others like Iran are propelling us towards a world where increasingly sophisticated robots designed to kill will become common on front lines.
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As the company commander says robots don't bleed.
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Is this really the future of warfare? And if so, what does it mean for human soldiers and the civilians impacted by conflicts?
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Uforce is a new Ukrainian weapons maker that's grown fast.
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It recently became a unicorn a company worth a billion dollars.
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Some of its land and air drones were used in the operations Zelensky revealed.
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Although they're not saying much about it.
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We met the firm at its London location, which is secretive and unbranded to protect it from potential Russian sabotage.
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So I can't go into specifics on the operation or how Uforce were involved but we've done over 150,000 successful combat missions since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Do you foresee a future where you've got more robots in a fighting squadron than humans?
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That could potentially happen so with the system you see here a control centre could have up to ten robots going into it at one time so it is potential where you could have more of these systems working together with one person overseeing them.
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The company says this drone has been used to destroy more than 150 Russian tanks.
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Russia too is deploying its own robots, for example to carry explosives into Ukrainian positions.
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And for years now it's matched Ukraine in the air with drones.
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I really consider Ukraine to be a major teacher in the future of national defence and armaments.
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It's a really impressive case study of how necessity breeds invention.
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In the US, another weapons startup Anduril caused a stir in February when it completed a test flight of its new fighter jet that has no fighter pilot.
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Like Uforce, Andurill Industries is part of a new wave of disruptive startups looking to reshape modern warfare.
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It's raised billions of dollars in funding and US military contracts.
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More established and larger defence giants like BAE Systems, Boeing and Qinetiq are also working on increasingly powerful unmanned robotic weapons.
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You've seen Ukrainian and Russian drones fight each other. So there is already a kind of robot-on-robot aspect of the battlefield.
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Seeing that play out increasingly on the land and maritime domain, I think, is extremely likely if not inevitable.
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At the moment, most military robots across all domains are being controlled by humans, but autonomy is accelerating.
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Uforce's land drones use aim-assisting software for shooting.
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And Anduril's drones can carry out the final stage of strikes on their own.
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I saw that it has a function where it can sort of kamikaze attack a target autonomously.
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Is that right? Yeah, that's correct.
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I was wondering about this though because that kind of the last 200, 300 feet, what if a kid runs out or something?
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These things have a wave-off feature.
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Now, of course, at one point or other it's all too late, but the speed they go, they're going pretty fast when they get down there.
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So, you know, unless you're Linford Christie running out there, you're not gonna be in the way.
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You're not concerned about something like this, you know, accidentally killing a civilian because it takes a decision and can't get out of that decision.
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This is where we keep the human in the loop.
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So that last thing they do will make the last check and press.
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The use of AI and robotics I believe, will reduce the amount of mistakes made in the battlefield.
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Humans need to eat. They need to sleep. And progressively, in a wartime situation, they get less sleep and they eat less, and they tend to make more mistakes.
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By using computing we avoid the ability to make mistakes through more of that, what we call the kill chain.
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The US administration is openly urging its military to embrace AI in all areas.
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We will win this race by becoming an AI-first warfighting force across all domains.
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In the Iran strikes, AI tools from companies like Palantir and Anthropic have reportedly played a major role.
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Aside from occasional military parades, Chinese weaponry developments are less well known.
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But a US Department of Defense assessment last year claimed that China's military is rapidly developing in emerging tech like drones and increasingly relying on AI.
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The whole reasoning behind militaries using AI systems is to increase the pace and accelerate, for instance, identification of It poses huge ethical and human rights risks and issues.
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We should never really be wanting to delegate life or death decisions to machines.
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There's another concern too.
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With killer robots able to think for themselves, what happens to safety if their handlers lose control of these deadly devices in, for example, a cyber attack?
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Well, anything can happen when you're hacked. What's important is how well you protect yourself from hacking.
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The cybersecurity around what we do is hugely important, as you might imagine.
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And to do that, we adhere to whatever government we work with.
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I work with the MOD.
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The MOD have a series of cybersecurity policies and rules that we must follow, and we follow them.
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Most experts say we are many years away from these autonomous robots becoming commonplace.
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Humans will always be needed on the battlefield, in some form, due to a key limitation that seems hard to change.
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You need a command link between the operator and the robot itself.
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That command link can be severed either by electronic warfare, by jamming, or if the robot has a physical connector, we're starting to see fibre optic cable being used to connect ground robots, as well as uncrewed aerial vehicles to their control stations, which is unjammable but can be severed by explosions by shrapnel, or even just by a pointy rock.
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There's another area of war that robots and AI will likely never replace us.
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While I really do expect these systems to become more and more integrated into combat, we have to keep in mind that robots destroying robots won't end wars.
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All wars ultimately end through some kind of political settlement when one side has suffered more cost and loss than it can tolerate and that will remain true whether the fighting ultimately is done by humans or by machines.
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Why practice speaking with this video?

This video offers a unique opportunity for English learners to engage with contemporary issues regarding artificial intelligence and warfare. By discussing the deployment of robots in combat, the speaker presents complex ideas in an accessible manner. This context not only improves comprehension but also helps learners articulate their thoughts on a relevant global topic. Speaking about advanced subjects like the role of AI in military operations can boost confidence, a crucial aspect for IELTS speaking practice. Engaging with this content through techniques like shadow speech allows learners to mimic the speaker’s tone, rhythm, and pronunciation, essential for enhancing fluency.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Several key structures within the transcript are excellent examples for learners:

  • Present Perfect Tense: Phrases like "have forced Russians to surrender" showcase how this tense connects past actions to the present, which is often used in reporting results in discussions.
  • Modal Verbs: Expressions such as "could potentially happen" illustrate the use of modal verbs to indicate possibility and speculation, which are vital in persuasive speaking.
  • Passive Voice: The statement "are being controlled by humans" highlights the passive structure, useful for focusing on the action rather than the subject. This can be particularly effective in formal speech and writing.
  • Conditional Sentences: Phrases like "if a kid runs out" help learners understand how to express hypothetical situations, a common structure in discussions.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Some words and phrases in the video may pose pronunciation challenges for English learners:

  • Autonomous: The pronunciation can be tricky; focus on breaking it down into syllables: au-ton-o-mous.
  • Surrender: Ensure the second syllable is clear. Practice saying it slowly to help improve English pronunciation.
  • Robotic: The stress falls on the second syllable, making it ro-BO-tic. Practicing this can enhance clarity when discussing technology.
  • Kamikaze: This term can be difficult; practice saying it like ka-mi-KA-ze with emphasis on the third syllable.

Utilizing a shadowing app to repeat and mimic these phrases can greatly assist in mastering their correct pronunciations, making speech more natural and fluent.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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