AI for air traffic control won’t be like concerning advanced models, Transportation head says
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy drew a distinction between the advanced AI models that have raised alarms from some tech executives and the new capabilities being deployed to overhaul management of the nation’s airspace.
Artificial intelligence tools have a major role to play in ongoing efforts to modernize the nation’s outdated air traffic control systems, but those technologies will operate differently — and with vastly more human oversight — than the powerful models that have raised new safety concerns in recent weeks, the Transportation Department’s top official said on Tuesday evening.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the National Artificial Intelligence Association, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy discussed the role that AI is set to play in the Federal Aviation Administration’s ongoing push to overhaul management of the nation’s airspace.
Duffy first announced the Trump administration’s modernization initiative in May 2025 following several high-profile plane accidents, including a deadly crash between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airliner near Ronald Reagan ...