Artificial Intelligence Is the Next Top Gun

A few months ago I was at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab in suburban Maryland, where I serve as a senior fellow. A group of us -- mostly retired four-star military officers -- were there to witness a computer-simulated dogfight of a unique character: man against machine. I was seated next to retired Admiral John Richardson, who until last fall had been chief of naval operations, the highest-ranking officer in the fleet. We were both skeptical that the artificial intelligence program that would be piloting one of the virtual aircraft would be able to outfight the human pilot, call sign "Banger," from the Air Force's equivalent of the Navy's legendary TOPGUN fighter-tactics instruction program. It was a remarkable blend of software development, AI, modelling and simulation, combat-aircraft dynamics and controls, and advanced video production -- it felt like watching an ESPN sports event.