Simon Schuster is a journalist who has reported on Russia and Ukraine for over 15 years, most of that time as a staff correspondent for Time Magazine.

He was born in Moscow, and he and his family came to the United States as refugees from the Soviet Union when he was six years old.

After graduating from Stanford University in 2005, Simon returned to

Moscow to work as a reporter for the Moscow Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, and other

publications. His political coverage of Russia's descent into authoritarianism included numerous

profiles of Vladimir Putin and interviews with top Russian officials.

He has also interviewed and profiled the last three presidents of Ukraine.

Simon has spent years covering the war in Ukraine from both sides of the front lines.

The year after the annexation of Crimea, Russian authorities deemed Simon a security threat and banned him from

entering the country. Simon is the author of the 2024 book, The Showman, Inside the Invasion

that shook the world and made a leader of Vlodomir Zelensky. And he recently wrote the

Time magazine article, How Ukraine Gamefied Drone Warfare. He is currently at work on a new

book that examines the future of warfare and how the lessons and technologies that emerged from the

war in Ukraine are changing warfare and security around the world. Simon joins the podcast with

Kevin Ball to discuss drone warfare, AI-assisted targeting,

the gamification of drone combat, the rapid iteration cycle of drone innovation, new ethical

dilemmas in warfare, the coming proliferation of war drones, and the shifting balance of global power.

Kevin Ball, or K-Ball, is the vice president of engineering at Mento and an

independent coach for engineers and engineering leaders. He co-founded and served as CTO for two companies,

founded the San Diego JavaScript meetup, and organizes the AI inaction discussion group through

latent space. Check out the show notes to follow KBall on Twitter or LinkedIn or visit his website,

kball.l. LLC.

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