An AI defeated human fighter pilots in an air combat simulator (2016)

The article doesn&#x27;t say anything about what data the AI had. Did it have full access to the simulation, or did it have to &quot;see&quot; the opponent&#x27;s plane, the terrain etc a bit more like it would in real life?<p>That could make a big difference. It&#x27;s easy to make a self-driving car for instance if you can feed it the position of every other car in the world, with their movement data, and all other obstacles.

The real kicker is that an AI controlled aircraft wouldn&#x27;t be as limited in manoeuvrability as one that has to sustain a human.

&quot;just defeated&quot; but should have a 2016 tag.<p>Paper link for those interested : <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.omicsgroup.org&#x2F;journals&#x2F;genetic-fuzzy-based-artificial-intelligence-for-unmanned-combat-aerialvehicle-control-in-simulated-air-combat-missions-2167-0374-1000144.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.omicsgroup.org&#x2F;journals&#x2F;genetic-fuzzy-based-arti...</a><p>(from a June 2016 press article : <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;magazine.uc.edu&#x2F;editors_picks&#x2F;recent_features&#x2F;alpha.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;magazine.uc.edu&#x2F;editors_picks&#x2F;recent_features&#x2F;alpha.h...</a> )

Love this! My least favorite part of sci-fi is that the heroes are always buzzing around in some advanced fighter aircraft. Crap, they might as well ride around on sci-fi horse and joust like knights. The era of the fighter ace is as gone as the age of horse cavalry--it would be great if the Pentagon figured this out before squandering literally $1T (not an exaggeration) on the Joint Strike Fighter.

From reading:<p>Amazing that the AI was running on a Raspberry PI... I&#x27;m amusing image processing happens on a &quot;low resolution&quot;. Also, this seems to be interesting:<p>&quot;They tackled the problem using language-based control (vs. numeric based) and using what’s called a “Genetic Fuzzy Tree” (GFT) system, a subtype of what’s known as fuzzy logic algorithms.<p>States UC’s Cohen, “Genetic fuzzy systems have been shown to have high performance, and a problem with four or five inputs can be solved handily. However, boost that to a hundred inputs, and no computing system on planet Earth could currently solve the processing challenge involved – unless that challenge and all those inputs are broken down into a cascade of sub decisions.”<p>That’s where the Genetic Fuzzy Tree system and Cohen and Ernest’s years’ worth of work come in.&quot;<p>&quot;The training happend on a 500$ commercially available computer&quot;<p>&quot;It uses linguistic input instead of numeric input&quot;<p>Can i conclude that ( after reading the article), that the training matches &quot;situations&quot;&#x2F;&quot;variables&quot; to words. Eg. The enemy is far, close. The friend is behind me&#x2F;in front of me&#x2F;above me and then i go up&#x2F;down&#x2F;do a roll.<p>Multiple generations later, some linguistic variables are left away, so only the necessary ones remain.<p>From the comments on Reddit ( <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;CredibleDefense&#x2F;comments&#x2F;4q8h8z&#x2F;paper_on_ai_in_air_combat_genetic_fuzzy_based&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;CredibleDefense&#x2F;comments&#x2F;4q8h8z&#x2F;pap...</a> )<p>&quot;This is not another opinion piece vaguely arguing how AI will &quot;one day&quot; replace pilots. The authors seem very cognizant of all the challenges and complexities. They clearly limit and define the scope of their work.&quot;<p>&quot;This &quot;research paper&quot; is a commercial. The expert fighter pilot is an employee of the company and his job is to promote it.&quot;<p>None the less, gonna read on some Fussy Logic :p - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tutorialspoint.com&#x2F;artificial_intelligence&#x2F;artificial_intelligence_fuzzy_logic_systems.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tutorialspoint.com&#x2F;artificial_intelligence&#x2F;artif...</a><p>Edit: Link to previous HN discussion -- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11993366" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=11993366</a>

#OldNews, this article is from 2016.<p>&gt; What sets ALPHA apart is the genetic fuzzy tree decision system that can calculate an opponent’s movements or strategies 250 times faster than you can blink.<p>That&#x27;s just not fair.<p>One more comment, can this thing (ALPHA) land an Airbus A320 on the Hudson?

For some of that, there&#x27;s some old and quite solid math -- differential game theory. See, say, Rufus Isaacs, long a professor at Johns Hopkins and who IIRC did his first work at a US Navy lab and see also Avner Friedman.

Why spend resources developing AI for a plane designed for Humans? I&#x27;d imagine that AI on cheap drones&#x2F;missiles vs traditional human fighters would be a more interesting simulation.

Current fighter planes are limited in their design to accommodate a slow-thinking, living human being. A plane can&#x27;t reach certain acceleration, has to provide life support, space and computing power to cockpit instead of just functional components and armaments. When AI is polished enough, fighter planes will go the way of horse and carriage.

On top of that, it will make things much cheaper cutting the need to carry an extra 90~kg (the pilot), a huge interface with commands that must be operated by the pilot and a cockpit to carry him. Not to mention the human errors, and efforts invested in training them.<p>Humans will most likely be used in &quot;decision-making&quot; roles.

A side effect of employing AI to pilot war aircrafts, like with smaller drones, is that there won&#x27;t be families in grief for the loss of their kid pilot on the attacking side, so that warmongering politicians will get public approval of campaigns a lot easier.

This is like that movie where US pilots have to battle a super advanced AI stealth drone.<p>AI really should have no place in military but it&#x27;s going to happen. Some spineless fucks are going to spread their legs for a 5 star general to sell their company.<p>The defence industry is in the business of killing humans and you play a direct role by selling your knowledge and skills to make it more efficient. Fuck that shit.