Ride the Lightning

China Says Its AI Can Beat Human Pilots in Battle

June 29, 2021

Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology reported on June 24 that Chinese state media claimed that a Chinese AI system had successfully defeated human pilots during simulated dogfights. According to the Global Times report, the system had shot down several PLA pilots during a handful of virtual exercises in recent years.

Observers outside China noted that while reports coming out of state-controlled media outlets should be taken with a grain of salt, the capabilities described in the report are not outside the realm of possibility.

Last year, an AI agent defeated a U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot five times out of five as part of DARPA’s AlphaDogfight Trial. While the Global Times report indicated plans to incorporate AI into future fighter planes, it is not clear how far away the system is from real-world testing. Now, the system appears to be used only for training human pilots. DARPA now is aiming to test dogfights with AI-piloted subscale jets later this year and with full-scale jets in 2023 and 2024.

Five times out of five? Yikes. Mighty scary stuff . . .

Hat tip to Dave Ries.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
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