{"id":11447,"date":"2024-05-30T22:40:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T05:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=11447"},"modified":"2024-05-31T13:49:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T20:49:31","slug":"ai-based-fighter-pilots-now-for-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=11447","title":{"rendered":"AI based fighter pilots – now for real"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back in 2016, I wrote about how a grad student created a fighter pilot AI that was able to defeat a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel<\/a> Gene \u201cGeno\u201d Lee. It was so good that it didn’t do it just once. It shot him down every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward just 8 years and now there is the real thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The US military has tested an AI-controlled F16 named X-62A in a dogfight with an actual test pilot. The Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or “VISTA” for short, is essentially a modified F16 fighter jet controlled by AI that has previously conducted multiple test flights to demonstrate the capabilities of its artificial pilot (via The Telegraph<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press release<\/a>, the USAF Test Pilot School and DARPA revealed that they initially tested various defensive maneuvers with the AI controlled jet to establish initial in-flight safety, before engaging in air-to-air simulated combat with another F16 in the skies above Edwards air force base in California last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not clear if the tested dogfights were limited purely to aerial combat maneuvers with simulated weapons fire or how it did against live pilots. However, a previous AI developed by Heron Systems as part of a DARPA tournament was able to defeat a human pilot<\/a> in five out of five tested scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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