Chinese Air Force Pilots Pit their Skills against AI Opponents in High-Tech Simulator

The simulator was jointly developed by a PLA-AF brigade and unnamed research institutes, and has become a solid support in boosting pilots' combat capabilities, Chinese media reported.

The AI is learning from the pilots as it gathers data from each training session. "At first, it was not difficult to win against the AI. But by studying data, each engagement became a chance for it to improve," senior pilot Fang Guoyu attached to a brigade said.  He used a hard-thought tactics against the AI and finally beat it by a small margin, but in the next session, the AI used the same tactics against Fang to defeat him.

In addition to training pilots efficiently, AI systems are expected to be an integral part of China's future warplanes that would assist pilots with their combat decisions, observers said on Monday.

"The AI has shown adept flight control skills and errorless tactical decisions, making it a valuable opponent to hone our capabilities," Du Jianfeng, commander of the brigade, was quoted as saying. The brigade has been integrating simulated and AI-assisted training in daily training in recent years, he said.

The AI opponent forces pilots to develop more and more innovative tactics and make breakthroughs to win these simulations, the PLA Daily said.

AIs can not only help pilots improve in training, but also be integrated into warplanes and assist pilots in combat, for example, by calculating the best tactical options for pilots to choose by taking the whole battlefield situation into consideration, at a much better efficiency than a human brain under very complicated situations, a Chinese military expert told the Global Times on Monday.