An AI Successfully Flew an F-16 Fighter Jet for 17 Hours

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about with AI taking over the world and mysterious objects flying through the sky, the U.S. military decided to up the ante by creating a bot that can fly a fighter jet by itself.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced on Feb. 13 that it successfully tested an F-16 test aircraft with an AI software that flew the aircraft for 17 hours. The plane, called the Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) X-62A, took flight in December 2022 at the Air Force Test Pilot School in California.

Though we’ve seen autopilot features be used on airplanes before, this marks the first time that a bot has ever taken control of a fighter plane—and could one day open the doors for fully autonomous and uncrewed jets piloted entirely by AI.

Read more at The Daily Beast.