[Opinion] Implications of AI and Pilot Aerial Combat Confrontation

Published 10 Nov.2020 12:00(KST)

Fighter jets in aerial combat represent the pinnacle of cutting-edge technology of their time. The mission performance of supersonic fighter pilots relies on exceptional instinctive senses combined with experience and knowledge accumulated through training, operating at the limits of human capability. However, in late August, an unexpected event occurred where artificial intelligence (AI) defeated a skilled pilot in a computer-simulated dogfight.

At the 'AlphaDogFight' F-16 fighter jet aerial combat competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the U.S. Department of Defense, AI achieved a clean 5-0 victory against a U.S. Air Force Top Gun pilot. Unlike traditional games such as Western chess or Eastern Go, which are static two-dimensional board games, fighter jet aerial combat takes place in a dynamic three-dimensional space, drawing significant attention. Beyond the simple fascination that AI surpassed humans, this program provided important implications from the perspective of future digital technology leadership and human-AI collaboration. It is regarded as opening a new horizon in the direction of AI technology expansion.

First, in the digital age, all participants are newcomers, so there is no concept of leaders or laggards, and it is possible to secure a leading position regardless of experience or scale from the analog era. The AI that ultimately won was developed by Heron Systems, a small-to-medium U.S. company. Heron's AI advanced to the finals against humans after a tournament with AI submitted by seven other companies. In the semifinals, it faced the AI from Lockheed Martin, the maker of the state-of-the-art F-22 and F-35 fighters. Defeating a giant company boasting top technology in military aircraft to reach the finals is truly a David versus Goliath story. Heron's victory implies that in the new world of digital technology, the position of technological leadership differs from that of the past analog era.

It is also important to understand the U.S. Department of Defense’s program planning intent. So far, there have been many popular events featuring AI versus human competitions in fields like chess, quizzes, and Go. Unlike those, the main purpose this time was to confirm AI’s potential as a tool supporting human pilots in future aerial combat. The U.S. military approaches future battlefields with the concept of humans and AI teaming up to fight enemies. The Army organizes units with soldiers and AI robots, the Navy forms fleets with manned and unmanned ships, and the Air Force creates squadrons with manned and unmanned aircraft. This program aimed to identify areas where humans and AI can complement and cooperate in the dynamic combat environment of aerial warfare. It offers insights into the fundamental relationship and cooperation structure between humans and AI in the future digital era.

AI is a core technology of the digital age. Just as the engine was to the Industrial Revolution and computers were to the Information Age, AI is expected to develop into an infrastructural technology across future industries and socioeconomics. Although some still view AI as a destructive technology destined to compete against humans, it is already integrated into various fields such as manufacturing, marketing, and research and development in Korean companies, yielding visible results. Essentially, AI is a tool created by humans, and the interaction perspective of “humans create tools, and tools create humans” is necessary. Andrew McAfee, an AI expert at MIT, emphasized the need to shift from the emotional viewpoint of “human versus machine” to “human and machine collaboration,” predicting that the core of human capability will be the ability to cooperate with machines.

The U.S. Department of Defense judges that cooperation between humans and AI is an essential factor for victory in future combat environments. Korean companies also need to understand the future business environment in the same context. The basic condition for survival and prosperity of companies in the digital age lies in the ability to collaborate with AI. At this point, adopting AI technology should be viewed not as an option but as a necessity.

Kyungjun Kim, Vice Chairman, Deloitte Consulting