The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is just as dangerous as the invention of nuclear weapons. AI pioneers are warning that the technology must be brought under control while it's still possible. In November 2017, a short, eight-minute horror film went viral on the internet. The dystopic Slaughterbots" depicts attack drones equipped with facial recognition software infiltrating the U.S. Congress and universities and selectively killing senators and students who have spoken out against corruption. The film never makes clear who is behind the attacks. Or perhaps a cutting-edge arms manufacturer producing new AI-powered weapons, led by a young, charismatic CEO who markets autonomous killer drones as the future of warfare. The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 10/2026 (February 27th, 2026) of DER SPIEGEL. Slaughterbots" was made as a warning.

There have always been two sides to the Meta CEO. But since the beginning of Trump's second term, the nice side has taken a back seat. Ruthlessness is now the name of the game. January 31, 2024, is an uncomfortable day in Washington. An icy wind is whistling around the corners of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, right next to the Capitol. Inside, the atmosphere is not much more welcoming. Indeed, it feels downright hostile. In the large hall, women and men are holding up signs - silent, in mourning and protest. On them are pictures of girls and boys, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. Harassed, sexually abused, mistreated on social networks on the internet. Many of the children have died from the consequences. And the man primarily to blame is said to be the one sitting in a blue suit in the front row: Mark Zuckerberg, 39 years old at the time. His usually radiant boyish face is expressionless.

Fifty years after her death in New York, Hannah Arendt has become the most popular philosopher of our time. For good reason: Her views are just as timely as ever. It must be so nice to play Hannah Arendt. No fewer than five actresses are on stage this evening at the Deutsches Theater Berlin to portray the philosopher. The piece is an adaptation of the graphic novel by American illustrator Ken Krimstein about the philosopher's life, called The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt," combined with scenes from the famous interview that journalist Günter Gaus conducted with Arendt in 1964 for German public broadcaster ZDF. The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 49/2025 (November 28th, 2025) of DER SPIEGEL. They play Arendt and a few of her contemporaries, the philosopher Martin Heidegger, the writer Walter Benjamin, her husband Heinrich Blücher. There is a great deal of speech in the play, especially from Arendt herself. The places of her life are ticked off, her ...

Increased defense spending is a boon for Germany's ailing industrial sector. Numerous companies, even those with no previous military experience, are now hoping to get in on the act. Visiting the works of Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH is like taking a trip back in time. Way back in the 16th century, copper used to be produced at this site in the northern Harz Mountains, not far from eastern Germany' tallest peak, the Brocken. Today, slabs of steel up to 35 centimeters thick are piled up in front of the factory halls, delivered from the blast furnaces and converters of parent company Salzgitter, less than an hour's drive away. What is happening behind the factory walls, though, is part of a new hype that has gripped Germany's crisis-ridden industrial sector. A hype which many are hoping will be enough to revive it.

Artificial intelligence is becoming a permanent element in the world of work, with Silicon Valley calling it the dawning of a new age. Many people are afraid of losing their job, but Germany is well-prepared. In the northern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana, right next to the prison on the outskirts of Shreveport, looms a gigantic building of concrete and steel. Welcome to the future," reads a colorful greeting painted on the wall at the entrance, right next to the obligatory American flag. It is 9:30 a.m., a busy time of day. Yet the halls and corridors of SHV1, as the building is referred to internally, are completely empty of people. A blueprint for the future," as the site manager calls it. The Seattle-based company operates the largest fleet of industrial robots in the world, more than a million of them, and many are outfitted with artificial intelligence, helping them to lift, sort, search, weigh and scan. Guided and directed completely by AI. Without the massive use of this technology," says Aaron Parness, a former NASA aerospace engineer who now heads up the retail giant's AI robotic department, we would be a different company." The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 41/2025 (October 2nd, 2025) of DER SPIEGEL. Amazon, though, also employs people. But their role is changing rapidly.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears uninterested in peace in Ukraine, and there is no end to the war in sight. Kyiv has increasingly reached the conclusion that the country must do all it can to guarantee its own security. The Russians have yet again shifted their tactics, says Sokil. Several months ago, they would send small units into battle, but now, it is often just single soldiers operating on their own. And they are no longer looking to fight, preferring instead to just sneak forward and wait for air support, says the Ukrainian major. Their FPV drones are everywhere," he says, using the common shorthand for first-person view." On a mild, late summer night, Sokil is resting at a farm on the western edge of the Donbas, taking a drag from his cigarette.

Russia has continued to provoke NATO and the EU. The drone incursion into Polish airspace earlier this month has Western leaders scrambling for answers. Putin, meanwhile, has made it clear he won't be backing down any time soon. NATO fighters shot down at least three of more than 20 Russian drones that flew into Polish airspace. German troops monitor the airspace over Ukraine around the clock. Night after night, they see Russian drones deployed across the region, with increasing numbers recently turning up in the western part of the country. On a recent Tuesday night dots began appearing on the troops' radar screens - hardly unusual here in the southeastern corner of Poland at the Rzeszów airport.

Not only that, but information is suddenly everywhere, people are losing trust in news outlets and there is a growing exhaustion with crisis reporting. Serious journalism is under greater pressure than ever before. How is DER SPIEGEL reacting? Quite some time ago, an email landed in my inbox from a former DER SPIEGEL editor. He wanted to pitch me a story and, as I quickly realized, stir things up a bit. Then, a couple of months ago, he approached me personally on the sidelines of an event in Hamburg, perhaps because I still hadn't shown much interest. He said we should meet up for a tea or something harder." He is plagued, he told me, each and every week by the wrenching, agonizing decision as to whether he should cancel his subscription to DER SPIEGEL - dismayed by what he described as an incipient decline under the dictates of late-capitalist sales imperatives" he had observed at his former employer.

Rückert's focus, though, is on more proactive AI applications that can make decisions on their own and control processes. Such AI agents, she believes, will give industry a boost comparable to the erstwhile advances triggered by smartphones and the internet. If a machine breaks down, the agent will check if the same problem has already been experienced in a different Bosch factory, examines handbooks and scans shift logs – before then proposing a possible solution within seconds. For more complex tasks, several agents can be combined, which then communicate with each other. Comprehensive use of such tools, says Rückert, can translate into millions in savings for individual factories.

The whistleblower confirmed to DER SPIEGEL that all Clothoff employees work in countries that used to belong to the Soviet Union. That is consistent with the fact that all of the company's internal communications that DER SPIEGEL has in its possession are completely in Russian, and the company's email service is also based in Russia. The four central players declined to respond to attempts by DER SPIEGEL to contact them for the story published in December 2024. A person named Elias did get in touch, however, claiming to be a spokesperson for the app. He said the four people mentioned above were unknown to him.