The US military has carried out the first ever dogfight between a human pilot and an AI-controlled fighter jet.
The computer-controlled F-16 jet took on a manned F-16 aircraft in aerial combat at Edwards air force base in California in September last year, the US air force has announced.
Travelling at speeds of up to 1,200 miles per hour, the two jets practised both defensive and offensive scenarios as well as within-visual-range combat, known as dogfighting. At one point they came within 2,000 feet (610 metres) of each other.
Footage of the nose-to-nose air combat released by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) shows the two jets weaving in and out of one another as they streak through the sky.
Called the X-62A Variable Stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA, the autonomous aircraft is a modified version of an F-16 that has been fitted out with an AI programme.
Since it was first built in December 2022, the jet has been taken out on at least 21 test flights, totalling more than 17 hours of flight time and the first time machine-learning has been used to pilot a fighter jet.
During flight, the AI algorithm on the jet analyses data and makes real-time decisions, a process
called machine learning, that mirrors the way in which fighter pilots hone their instincts over years of practice.
Carrying out a dogfight
between an AI-powered jet and a human marks a “transformational moment in aerospace history”, DARPA said in a statement.