An AI pilot has defeated a US Air Force pilot in a virtual F-16 dogfight in a "coming of age" moment for artificial intelligence.
The AI was able to was able to aim its guns more accurately during the high-speed dogfight than the human pilot. It also used moves that the human pilot had not seen before.
While this is a huge achievement and major breakthrough it still remains to be seen if this performance can be translated from a simulator to the real world of high stakes engagement.
Previous AI victories against humans have come in areas that are very rules based such as chess, Go, or image recognition. The reason this is so significant is that simulator battles have fewer rules and require a lot more flexibility of thinking.
Will this mean the end of human pilots? My sense is that is not the case in the short-term but might come sooner than we think. This could have huge implications for the military and the already suffering airline industry.