The FAA launched its $875 million AI air traffic control system on Monday with a rollout that has the system, given the acronym SMART, beginning its work at the three major airports serving the Washington, D.C, region.
Is this one of the ways that we’re going to let AI kill us all?
“The FAA should not use my constituents as guinea pigs for an unproven AI air traffic control system,” Northern Virginia Congressman Don Beyer said, in a statement released by his office. “The safety of the 24 million people traveling through DCA each year must be the top priority. Residents of this region are still uncertain about air safety after last year’s fatal accident, and the administration did shockingly little to educate the traveling public about this development before implementing it in one of the most complex airspaces in the world.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who got his job because he was once on an MTV reality show, and then on Fox News, said this new SMART system will slash “frustrating delays, reduce stress on air traffic controllers, and lower travel prices.”
The Trump administration tells us that the new AI tech is not intended as a replacement for human air traffic controllers.
Beyer, though, said he was told today that controllers were not consulted on the design and development of the SMART system, and were not trained on it ahead of the rollout.
So, what, they came to work today, and were told, Hey, there’s this new thing?
“I was further informed that the air traffic controllers have been told the ‘SMART’ system can adjust schedules and potentially even routes,” Beyer said. “Despite outward appearances, the airlines reportedly were privately ‘panicking’ about the hasty implementation of this system. I do not know why the administration felt the need to race it into use, but it is unacceptable to use AI as a substitute for rebuilding the human-directed air traffic controller workforce.
“Dangerously rushing a system that holds Americans’ lives in its hands is not a good use case for artificial intelligence. I call on the FAA to immediately suspend its operation, at the very least until it is clearly established beyond doubt via air traffic controller feedback and independently verified stress testing that the technology is safe,” Beyer said.
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Chris Graham
