The future loyal wingmen of the United States Air Force are inching closer to becoming a reality, and more importantly, the artificial intelligence (AI) controlled aircraft could be on track to be as good as any human pilot. That was the assessment from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who recently took flight in an autonomously-controlled X62A VISTA (Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft), a modified F-16 Fighting Falcon
  • pop@lemmy.mlEnglish
    123·
    7 months ago

    Leader of the program says their products are awesome. News at 9.

    • CameronDevEnglish
      61·
      7 months ago

      They didnt even say awesome, just even. So presumably they cherry picked the test and still only got even…

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
        101·
        7 months ago

        Being on the level of a senior pilot is absolutely awesome. Also, this is not really relevant in practice. An AI controlled jet will be able to cope with much higher g loads than a human controlled one. That alone will give it an unsurmountable advantage even if the human pilot might theoretically be better. On top of that, dogfighting is a thing of the past anyway. Future aerial engagements will be decided by who fires off their missile first. Again, the AI will always be better at that.

        • CameronDevEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          Yeah, i mean, that kinda proves my point, the AI has some major physical advantages, but still only broke even? Seems like its very early days.

          I have heard the “dog fighting is a thing of the past” for decades at this point, they still keep building new fighters with guns. Im not yet convinced its true. With stealth and electronic warfare being more and more common, perhaps there will be a comeback?

          But I am no expert, i just like airshows :)

          • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            7 months ago

            In this particular case the AI didn’t have an advantage because the plane was designed with a human pilot in mind and only the controls were changed. The difference will come when systems are designed without pilots in the first place. Also, the current war in Ukraine has shown that dogfights are basically a thing of the past.

            • CameronDevEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              The F16 can out fly a pilot though right? It can pull 9g which will eventually overwhelm the pilot? Still has the reaction speed benefits though.

              Edit: i just remembered there is still a pilot onboard, so it probably isnt allowed to just pull 9g turns constantly.

              Has there been much fighter to fighter combat in Ukraine? I thought it was mostly drones and anti-air lately. Havent really been following it much.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    7 months ago

    For now. I’m sure it’s only a matter of months until they far exceed the capabilities of a human pilot. For one, they can pull off maneuvers that would kill a human pilot. For two, they can pull from the combined history of every combat mission ever flown.

    • sushibowl@feddit.nlEnglish
      4·
      7 months ago

      For three, it doesn’t ever get tired or emotional. And if the plane gets shot down you don’t lose a valuable experienced pilot. You can copy-paste this thing infinitely.

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        6 months ago

        Let’s make them an autonomous factory to self replicate. I for one welcome our new robot overlords.