AN AI pilot has managed to beat a human fighter pilot during a battle in the air.
The historic breakthrough in defense technology saw the robot-driven aircraft outmaneuver a human-operated fighter jet during a simulated air combat exercise.
An AI pilot flew the Gripen E during the air battle[/caption]
The robot-driven jet conducted three advanced test flights[/caption]
The pilot who flew Gripen D was beaten out by a robot[/caption]
The event marked a major leap forward in AI warfare capabilities.
High-technology Swedish company Saab partnered up with German AI company Helsing to complete the feat.
They announced that three advanced test flights had been completed this week.
The flights ran under Project Beyond – a government-backed initiative to integrate AI into real-world fighter operations.
Tests were conducted between May 28 and June 3, as reported by NeedToKnow.
Each one featured Helsing’s AI pilot agent, named Centaur, which was placed inside a Gripen E fighter aircraft.
Centaur was put up against a human pilot who flew a Gripen D, and it was a Beyond Visual Range aerial battle.
BVR refers to a military strategy and technology where combat engagements occur at a distance.
The target is not directly visible to the pilot or observer.
It was reported that the official outcome was inconclusive.
However, the AI demonstrated real-time decision-making, complex maneuvering, and threat engagement autonomously.
Peter Nilsson, head of Advanced Programmes at Saab, stated that this was an “important achievement” for the company involved in defense, aviation, and aerospace.
He said, “This is an important achievement for Saab, demonstrating our qualitative edge in sophisticated technologies by making AI deliver in the air.
“We are excited to continue developing and refining how this and other AI agents can be used, while once again showing how our fighters will outperform faster than the opponent can evolve.”
What are the arguments against AI?
Artificial intelligence is a highly contested issue, and it seems everyone has a stance on it. Here are some common arguments against it:
Loss of jobs – Some industry experts argue that AI will create new niches in the job market, and as some roles are eliminated, others will appear. However, many artists and writers insist the argument is ethical, as generative AI tools are being trained on their work and wouldn’t function otherwise.
Ethics – When AI is trained on a dataset, much of the content is taken from the Internet. This is almost always, if not exclusively, done without notifying the people whose work is being taken.
Privacy – Content from personal social media accounts may be fed to language models to train them. Concerns have cropped up as Meta unveils its AI assistants across platforms like Facebook and Instagram. There have been legal challenges to this: in 2016, legislation was created to protect personal data in the EU, and similar laws are in the works in the United States.
Misinformation – As AI tools pulls information from the Internet, they may take things out of context or suffer hallucinations that produce nonsensical answers. Tools like Copilot on Bing and Google’s generative AI in search are always at risk of getting things wrong. Some critics argue this could have lethal effects – such as AI prescribing the wrong health information.
The project was funded by the Swedish Defense Material Administration.
It is part of the country’s larger concept program exploring future fighter systems.
Other global fighter programs often operate on 10 to 15 year development cycles.
Helsing has claimed that its AI agent was fed the equivalent of 30 years’ worth of experience every week through simulator training.
This is also the first known instance of AI being tested in real air combat situations involving operational aircraft, rather than test planes or simulator-only environments.
The human-operated fighter jet couldn’t beat the pilot agent called Centaur[/caption]
The flights were put on by a government-backed initiative to integrate AI into real-world fighter operations[/caption]
