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