Man VS machine: US Air Force confirms first successful dogfight against AI

KERN COUNTY, Calif. (WKRC) - The United States Air Force confirmed the first successful dogfight against artificial intelligence (AI).

According to The Verge, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) confirmed that an AI-operated jet faced off against a human pilot during a test dogfight carried out in September of 2023. Per the outlet, DARPA first began to experiment with the technology in December of 2022 as part of its Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program.

The goal of the project was to develop an AI system capable of autonomously flying a military jet, which also adhered to the Air Force's safety protocols.

Forces News uploaded video of the dogfight to its official YouTube channel.

According to The Verge, DARPA installed the AI system in an experimental X-62A aircraft after a series of simulations. The Air Force was successful in getting the AI-controlled jet into the air at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California, according to the outlet.

According to a video uploaded to DAPRAtv, the AI pilot made no violations of the training rules during the test campaign, which according to officials, "demonstrated the potential that machine learning has for future aerospace applications."

According to The Verge, human pilots were on board the aircraft and had controls to disable the AI system. Per the outlet, the pilots didn't need to disable the system "at any point."

The AI-controlled X-62A went head-to-head with a F-16 operated by a human pilot, according to The Verge, which reported that the jets got as close as 2,000 feet, while flying at 1,200 miles per hour.

The agency didn't specify which aircraft won the dogfight.

“Dogfighting was the problem to solve so we could start testing autonomous artificial intelligence systems in the air,” the chief test pilot at the Air Force’s Test Pilot School, said in a statement obtained by The Verge. “Every lesson we’re learning applies to every task you could give to an autonomous system.”

Per The Verge, DARPA has conducted 21 test flights, with additional tests planned through 2024.