Artificial intelligence has found a new purpose: piloting fighter jets.
What’s happening:
- The United States Air Force has confirmed that they have successfully used artificial intelligence to pilot a fighter jet against a human pilot in a dogfighting test flight
Why it matters:
- Artificial intelligence technology continues to accelerate at a rapid pace, which has led to new implications for everything from drug discovery to governments funding computing power
The intrigue:
- The United States Air Force had human pilots on board the fighter jet in case of emergency, but they never needed to once intervene during the entire flight or even temporarily deactivate the artificial intelligence system responsible for piloting the fighter jet
By the numbers:
- The fighter jet controlled by artificial intelligence was capable of flying at 1,200 miles per hour and getting within 2,000 feet of the other fighter jet being piloted by a human
- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has publicly stated that they have now tested artificial intelligence piloted fighter jets in 21 separate flights
