If there’s something pilots really don’t like, it’s when someone else does things without them knowing exactly what, when and why. There’s a reason you separate pilot flying from pilot monitoring.
Automated systems are obviously crucial but they need to be so reliable and predictable that the pilot can form a mental model of how they work. If not, even simple systems like MCAS can wreak havoc. It’s like having a silent copilot fiddling on the controls - even the ”right” decision can cause problems. This is similar in AVs - when you have L3 autonomy you end up in awkward inbetween split-brain in-between states, that can result in new failure modes.
> Maybe in the future wars will involve sending multimodal LLMs in charge of fighter jets
Probably not LLMs but yeah, it feels like this is the type of tech that belongs in a UAV without life support systems. We are probably in the last generation or two with humans in the cockpit anyway.
If there’s something pilots really don’t like, it’s when someone else does things without them knowing exactly what, when and why. There’s a reason you separate pilot flying from pilot monitoring.
Automated systems are obviously crucial but they need to be so reliable and predictable that the pilot can form a mental model of how they work. If not, even simple systems like MCAS can wreak havoc. It’s like having a silent copilot fiddling on the controls - even the ”right” decision can cause problems. This is similar in AVs - when you have L3 autonomy you end up in awkward inbetween split-brain in-between states, that can result in new failure modes.
> Maybe in the future wars will involve sending multimodal LLMs in charge of fighter jets
Probably not LLMs but yeah, it feels like this is the type of tech that belongs in a UAV without life support systems. We are probably in the last generation or two with humans in the cockpit anyway.