FAA Rolls Out AI Advisory System SMART Nationwide for Air Traffic Management
The FAA is expanding its $875 million cloud-based SMART AI system, which recommends routes, schedules and arrival orders, from Washington, DC airspace to all 22 air route traffic control centers. The agency says SMART rerouted 180 flights and saved about 10 minutes and 80 gallons of fuel per flight, while human specialists validate its recommendations and controllers can reject them. Airlines praised the rollout, but the controllers' union said it was not involved in design, testing or implementation.
Skynet Chance (+0.01 pp): Deploying AI in safety-critical national infrastructure slightly raises dependence on AI systems, and the union being excluded from design and testing is a minor oversight concern. Strong human-in-the-loop safeguards, with specialist validation and controller veto, keep the added risk small.
Skynet Date (no change): SMART is a narrow advisory optimization tool with no new capabilities, so it does not change the pace of AI risk development.
AGI Progress (+0.00 pp): This is a narrow predictive and optimization system applied to logistics and represents no advance in general AI capabilities.
AGI Date (no change): A government deployment of narrow AI does not affect the compute, algorithms or funding that drive AGI timelines.
<< All AI news for November 12, 2026
[ Get the daily index digest on Telegram → ]Related AI News
- OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Cyber Model as AI-Driven Vulnerability Discovery Outpaces Defenders
- US Government Restores Access to Anthropic's Cyber-Model Mythos 5 for Critical Infrastructure
- Anthropic Deploys Claude Mythos to Secure Global Critical Infrastructure
- NSA Deploys Anthropic's Unreleased Mythos AI Model for Cybersecurity Despite Pentagon Supply Chain Dispute