Air Force & Navy 6th-Gen Stealth:  No… AI Will Not Replace Need for Human Pilots

by Kris Osborn,  President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Breakthroughs in autonomous navigation have developed in recent years, and the ability of drones and unmanned systems to increasingly perform a growing range of functions without needing human intervention is expanding.

This is well-known and documented, yet the technological progress raises the somewhat pressing and easily overlooked question of whether a manned NGAD 6th-generation fighter is actually necessary.

NGAD: Manned and Unmanned

Can unmanned systems, empowered by AI-generated computing, algorithms enabling autonomous targeting, maneuvering and flight path adjustments, and breakthrough kinds of data analysis, outperform any manned platforms?

The answer may, at least in some respects, be a clear yes, yet does that mean human consciousness and decision-making abilities are or will become obsolete and worthy of being replaced by AI-enabled algorithms?

Why can’t drones simply perform the entire range of missions intended for the Air Force’s and Navy’s 6th-generation manned platform? After all, the Air Force has already successfully flown unmanned fighter jets and even manned jets with an AI-enabled computerized co-pilot.

Manned-Unmanned Teaming

The reason there will still be a need for a manned platform, despite the rapid progress of AI-enabled computing, decision-making, and autonomy, is that there are attributes unique to human cognition that computers are simply not able to replicate. Certainly, AI-enabled high-speed computing can perform limitless amounts of procedural functions, analysis, and determinations without needing human intervention.

This is not only true at the moment but becoming increasingly true as technology continues to advance. However, there are specific elements of human cognition and dynamic decision-making, such as emotion, intuition, and other more subjective phenomena that computers simply cannot emulate.