It's called ALPHA and is an artificial intelligence made by Psibernetix, a company founded by the University of Cincinnati in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory. According to the reports published by Journal of Defense Management, ALPHA is one of the best fighter pilots on the planet.
In simulations dogfight with some former Air Force instructors flying thousands of hours behind them, ALPHA would never have been shot down. Indeed, he would have gone on the counterattack of his human counterpart.
ALPHA is currently defined as "the most aggressive, reactive, dynamic and credible AI ever created".
During the first tests, ALPHA fought with several simulators, the same ones currently used by the Pentagon to train its pilots. Specifically designed for the dogfight, his archive collects all the maneuvers of his digital and human adversaries: statistics, simple and complex decision models, real and simulated maneuvers.
What distinguishes ALPHA is that the transition from defensive elusive actions to offensive ones takes place instantly. ALPHA is based on a decision-making system called "genetic fuzzy tree", the fuzzy logic algorithm. His approach involves the subdivision of a complex problem X into sub-activities. These include all the tactics adopted by man. By relating to variables, artificial intelligence makes complex decisions with extreme speed.
ALPHA, according to the data, calculates the best maneuver in a complex and dynamic environment, 250 times faster than its human opponent. The aspect that most fascinates researchers is the reactive capacity. The adaptive AI reacts instantly by calculating the possible intentions of the opposing driver.
ALPHA appears to have been designed for a cyclical flight profile for constant defensive and offensive actions. In fuzzy logic, the system basically calculates an immense web of predictions for a possible action / reaction. Priority is provided by context analysis.
In Journal of Defense Management it is specified that "the current primary objective of Alpha is to serve as an intelligent hostile force for training pilots within the Advanced Framework for SIMulation".
The fate of ALPHA is clear. The Air Force Research Laboratory envisages its implementation in a real cell within the 2025. Meanwhile, new aerodynamic models for the physical platform are being evaluated. The AI, meanwhile, will continue to expand its capabilities, serving as testers for the Air Force Research Laboratory prototypes. The first operational step within the next five years when ALPHA will serve as a follower in a mixed crew, so as to learn the tactical decisions in real contexts.
Considering that between the development and experimentation of the military and what is shown to public opinion there is a gap of about 20 / 25 years, ALPHA could already fly for some time in an even more powerful version.
(In the photo EDI, acronym for Extreme Deep Invader, artificial intelligence A-UCAV, Advanced Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, in the film Stealth of the 2005)
