<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed concerns regarding the use of artificial intelligence in a new air traffic control system on Thursday, assuring Americans that the Trump administration is “not outsourcing aviation to AI.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford unveiled the new AI-powered Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Trajectories, or SMART, system on Monday. The two showed a behind-the-scenes look at how the program works to analyze local weather patterns and flight path trajectories as they begin the federal rollout of the technology at Washington-area airports.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Media reports of the new AI-powered SMART technology have sparked online buzz about how the system fits with human air traffic controllers. Duffy sought to assure reporters Monday that humans are still in control of air traffic control.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I want to be clear: Humans control the airspace, humans make decisions,” Duffy said. “We’re just giving them way better technology, way better foresight. And so, we’re excited about what this is going to bring in aviation.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The SMART technology uses AI to assist human air traffic controllers by predicting weather patterns, airport capacity, and airplane travel. The program is part of a wider air traffic control system upgrade called the Flow Management Data and Services. Throughout his tenure, Duffy has prioritized the need for air traffic control system improvements, awarding a $875.6 million, 12-year contract to Air Space Intelligence to implement this new system in June.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Duffy called the technology a display of “predictive tools to help humans better manage the airspace.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“What we’ve thought through is: Let’s use the best technology possible, the best predictors possible, so humans can make the best decisions possible. And when we make the best decisions possible, that means you have less delays and you have less cancellations, which means your experience in the airspace is way better,” Duffy said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The program will first be deployed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, though the FAA plans to expand the technology nationwide.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Washington region has been at the center of the aviation conversation since a mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger flight descending into Reagan National Airport killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After the collision happened — just hours into Duffy’s tenure as transportation secretary — he vowed to modernize the technologies that regulate how airplanes communicate with one another and with airport headquarters.</p>