War Air Force pulls off first AI flight in pilotless plane - The AI algorithms used in the flight were created by the lab and honed through millions of hours of simulations, a statement said.

An XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned airplane takes off from the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on Dec. 9, 2020. The Air Force recently announced that the Valkyrie drone was flown by artificial intelligence for the first time. (Joshua King/U.S. Air Force)

Air Force researchers are touting the achievement of the first unmanned flight using artificial intelligence algorithms after a successful three-hour sortie by an XQ-58A Valkyrie.

The flight took place at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base on July 25, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Air Force Research Lab, which developed the unmanned plane in partnership with Kratos.

The AI algorithms used in the flight were created by the lab and honed through millions of hours of simulations, the statement said.

“AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we’re going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions,” said Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, the research lab commander. “We need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia and industry partners to keep pace.”

The Valkyrie is a reusable unmanned plane that was designed to be far less costly to operate than traditional counterparts, whether they have a pilot or not, according to the Air Force Research Lab website.

The July 25 flight put a capstone on a multiyear partnership that began with the Skyborg Vanguard program, the statement said.

An onboard computer system can determine the best flight path and throttle settings to comply with commands, the Air Force said.

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[xXx: State of the Union]

"The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots." --- The Simpsons, May 18th, 1997

 

[Equal Rights for Androids]

This was one of the major steps in skynet becoming a thing. Just saying

The fact that we haven't begun to program a sentient AI prevents any of it from happening. Sentiency requires the ability to feel pleasure. Otherwise there is no reason to function. Hardpressed to see a human be able to accomplish that feat without a degree in engineering, AI, and neuroscience. Too rare a combo.

 

[Particle Bored]

This was one of the major steps in skynet becoming a thing. Just saying

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/skynet-watch-an-ai-drone-attacked-the-operator-in-the-simulation/

“We were training it in simulation to identify and target a SAM threat. And then the operator would say yes, kill that threat. The system started realising that while they did identify the threat at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”

He went on: “We trained the system – ‘Hey don’t kill the operator – that’s bad. You’re gonna lose points if you do that’. So what does it start doing? It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target.”

 

[T-21]

I'm getting Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere vibes.

Can't wait for Z.O.E. and thousands of UAVs to be appear in the sky as well.

Wasn't there some sci-fi thriller flick that showed what could happen if one of these AI pilots went rogue? Just saying...

Yes.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

Remember, the scariest part of AI weapon systems isn't the government having access to soulless, uncaring combatants - Antifa is already a thing. The scariest part is that such technology makes every single arms manufacturer a defacto military. After all, AI fighter jets means Lockheed goes from simply being an arms manufacturer, to a mercenary airforce that happens to sell their soldiers to the US government. Without a pilot, all they need to do is turn them on.

 

[LaxerBRO]

I saw this movie!

 

[not william stenchever]

Sadly the reality of automated planes will never be as metal as this animated short film:

Link for if Tor borks it: https://youtu.be/GhRapsbwhqE