Have Chatbots Made Autonomous Weapons Available to Everyman?
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Can an average guy build a killer drone in his garage?
That’s the question reporter Matt Smith set out to answer over the course of 11 months armed with zero engineering background and only a handful of AI chatbots to guide him, in this collaboration between Mother Jones and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
His goal: a fully autonomous self-guided drone, one a theoretical evildoer could walk away from even as it continued carrying out its mission—with no humans involved. AI companies claim their models have built in limits or “guardrails,” but Smith wanted to see how well those would actually hold up.
It didn’t take much convincing. The chatbots handed him a shopping list—everything from propellers to an onboard computer—and walked him through the assembly and programming, coaching a man with the technical chops of an 11th grader.
Watch what happened next—and what it reveals about how close AI has brought us to a world where anyone can build an autonomous killer weapon.
Because if a guy with zero training can get this far, the question isn’t whether he succeeded—but who else is asking.
Credits:
Video by David Ritsher
Reporting by Matt Smith
Executive Producer Amanda Pike
Bulletin Editor John Mecklin
Read the full story at https://thebulletin.org/2026/08/ai-helped-me-almost-build-a-killer-drone/
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motherjones/
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Can an average guy build a killer drone in his garage?
That’s the question reporter Matt Smith set out to answer over the course of 11 months armed with zero engineering background and only a handful of AI chatbots to guide him, in this collaboration between Mother Jones and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
His goal: a fully autonomous self-guided drone, one a theoretical evildoer could walk away from even as it continued carrying out its mission—with no humans involved. AI companies claim their models have built in limits or “guardrails,” but Smith wanted to see how well those would actually hold up.
It didn’t take much convincing. The chatbots handed him a shopping list—everything from propellers to an onboard computer—and walked him through the assembly and programming, coaching a man with the technical chops of an 11th grader.
Watch what happened next—and what it reveals about how close AI has brought us to a world where anyone can build an autonomous killer weapon.
Because if a guy with zero training can get this far, the question isn’t whether he succeeded—but who else is asking.
Credits:
Video by David Ritsher
Reporting by Matt Smith
Executive Producer Amanda Pike
Bulletin Editor John Mecklin
Read the full story at https://thebulletin.org/2026/08/ai-helped-me-almost-build-a-killer-drone/
--
For more award-winning independent reporting, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motherjones/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/motherjones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motherjonesmag Close description