More than two dozen lawmakers asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to pause the use of a new AI tool in the Washington area to assist air traffic controllers, citing safety concerns.
The lawmakers, including Democratic Representatives April Delaney, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Don Beyer, said in a letter they were concerned with the FAA pilot project "as we have not seen any safety evaluation and testing reports, nor have we been made aware of any efforts to train aviation safety personnel on how best to use the tool."
The letter seeks an answer by Oct. 19. "Air traffic control leaves zero margin for error," Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday, calling for the pause.
Last month, the FAA began using a new software-based AI tool that uses predictive analytics to improve how flights are managed.
"We are deeply concerned about the integration of any AI-enabled system into air traffic control systems, where decisions are literally a matter of life or death," said the letter that was also signed by Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Jamie Raskin, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Kweisi Mfume.
FAA awards $875 million contract for SMART system
The FAA in June awarded an $875 million, 12-year contract to Air Space Intelligence for a system dubbed Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories, or SMART, which uses data to analyze airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, airspace conditions, and operational constraints to predict traffic flows and identify potential conflicts before they occur.
The FAA is initially using the AI tool in the airspace around Washington, D.C. and plans to gradually expand it to other parts of the country.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday called the tool essentially "dumb AI" and emphasized that controllers, not the software, remain in charge. "Air traffic controllers will always control the airspace. This is just giving additional tools for controllers to better manage weather and other issues," Duffy said on Fox Business' "Big Money in the Morning."
The system uses over 200 data streams, creates data visualizations, and produces scheduling recommendations for operations experts to consider passing along, but the US Department of Transportation said it does not involve active management of planes in the sky.
FAA Administrator touts benefits of AI in airspace management
"It's going to be transformational," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told Reuters earlier. "We'll make much better decisions if we have better decision-making tools."
The plan is to initially use it to more effectively reschedule flights that were canceled due to bad weather, with plans to expand to other tasks such as strategically coordinating schedules and trajectories before aircraft depart.