AI takes over F‑16: Pilot's role is reshaped by tools

Subtitle: From the cockpit to algorithms, how tools change decision makers

AI has turned F-16 pilots into vassals of algorithms. This is not science fiction, but something DARPA and the U.S. Air Force have done this year. Don't tell me the nonsense that "AI helps humans achieve greater value"-in essence, AI directly cuts off a piece of people's initiative. You still think you are the protagonist of fighter jets? Now you are just an action validator sitting in front of the screen, and decisions have long been left to the code in the cloud.

Let's start with a golden sentence: "Once a tool is smart enough to make decisions for you, you become a nutrient for the tool." This sentence applies not only to the Air Force, but also to you writing code, you holding meetings, and you using Notion to record daily life. Upgrading tools does not make you more free, but frames your choices and keeps you farther and farther away from real decision-making.

DARPA's AI air combat test has taken this matter to an extreme-in March this year, Lockheed Martin broke the news (参考链接): two F-16s, one "veteran" was controlled by a human pilot, and the other "VISTA" was completely piloted by AI. The results came out quickly. AI put humans at a disadvantage in high-kinetic confrontations, with fast speed, fierce judgment, and no procrastination in actions. You call this a victory for efficiency? Efficiencism is essentially that people's initiative is deprived of by machines. If you don't believe it, look at how people's roles change after every process is automated.

pilots become action confirmers in front of AI

After taking a look, you understand that the key to this test is not how good the AI can fly, but that the pilot's decision-making power is completely ignored. The F-16 was originally the main battlefield for pilots. Its large thrust, sensitive maneuver, and movements all relied on the intuition and experience in the cockpit. What you have to do is make an instant decision under high pressure-whether to roll, pull or dive. As a result, after AI was launched, humans only had the right to "intervene"-whether they could take over, whether they should confirm the algorithm's actions, and whether they could pull the brakes at the last moment.

This is how tools reshape people: you were originally a core player, but now you have suddenly become a "supervisor within execution boundaries." Some people call this "human-machine collaboration", but I think it is more like "human-machine deprivation": driven by AI, people's decision-making changes from dominance to supporting roles.

Let's look at the details again-in the data released by the U.S. Air Force, the AI system responds twice as fast as a human pilot; in a simulated confrontation, AI can process enemy aircraft flight trajectories, weapon configurations and terrain obstacles in 0.1 seconds, and every decision is kept in a complete log. This is not something a human can do. In essence, no matter how fierce a pilot you are, you cannot stop the high-speed reasoning of the algorithm. You say it's not complicated, but it's interesting to think about it further: pilots become overseers of algorithms, and machines dominate the battlefield.

QKPFX1 The Cost of QK Efficiencism: From Active to Passive

To put it bluntly, the greatest value of AI tools in the Air Force scenario is not to "improve human capabilities", but to directly replace human decision-making. You've seen a lot of efficiencyism in Silicon Valley: we advocate automation, process optimization, and no human intervention. The more automatic the tool, the less freedom a person has. F-16 pilots originally represented the highest level of on-site decision-making ability-but now they rely on the judgment of an algorithm that allows machines to fly for you, shoot for you, and hit for you.

I thought the same before: the more advanced the tool, the greater the power of the person. But the reality is that every automated node is depriving people of choice. If you look at the development process, CI/CD makes code online very quickly, but engineers 'control over the online environment is declining; if you look at the financial industry, algorithmic trading has reduced traders to executors of backtest indicators; if you look at medical imaging, AI diagnosis has turned doctors into "stampers" who acknowledge algorithm results. Don't be deceived by "collaboration", the truth is that the initiative is being eroded.

This is interesting-is the tool a "booster" or a "tame"? DARPA says AI is the pilot's "auxiliary system", but in the end, the protagonist is no longer human. Do you still remember the 2018 Tesla Model 3 "Autopilot Out of Control" incident? Drivers have become "algorithm monitoring posts", and when an accident occurs, they are still asked "Why didn't they intervene?" Isn't this a typical backlash from efficiency-the smarter the tool, the more passive the person is.

tools reshape people's roles: workplace, healthcare, development are all the same

Thinking along this line of thinking, the Air Force's AI is not a special case. All "efficiency tools" are quietly rewriting the role of operators. You think AI is a "smart assistant", but in fact you have become a "smart tool supplier". For example, product managers: Now you use Notion and Flowchart to automatically generate requirements documents, and decisions rely entirely on back-end algorithm recommendations. Are you a decision-maker? Hard to say. So are engineers. GitHub Copilot writes code faster than you, but you end up with mergers, deletions, and PR confirmation-the real "front line of thinking" is taken away by tools.

The medical industry is more typical. After AI imaging diagnosis was launched, doctors became "judges of abnormal data", and complex decisions have been framed by algorithms. "Judgment" has become "stamp if there is no abnormality". No matter how professional a person is, he cannot break through the limits set by the tool. The real question is not what AI can do, but how much initiative you have left after using the tool.

To put it counter-intuitively: tool upgrades do not make you stronger, but make you an extension of the tool. You think you are using tools, but in fact the tools are using you.

steelman: What did the opposition say? What did they go wrong?

Someone will say: "The best tools are meant to focus people on higher-level decision-making. AI just helps you get rid of the underlying actions." That sounds right, but the problem is that "high-level decision-making" itself is shrinking. When you are in the cockpit, you are tearing down the detailed decisions and then constantly fine-tune them with experience and on-the-spot intuition. AI takes over the whole set, and the underlying decisions disappear directly. The remaining "advanced decisions" are actually "algorithm abnormal alarms"-not you choose, but you respond passively.

Take another layer-efficiency people will say: "Then you can choose not to let AI take full control, or you still have the right to intervene." But the right to intervene and the right to lead are not the same thing at all. You can cut off AI in extreme situations, but you can't change that AI has integrated its ability to dominate battlefield decision-making into its own logic. Pilots become "responsible persons after the event" rather than "real-time commanders." The same truth is applied in other industries. Once AI tools become mainstream processes, the human role can only retreat to the edge.

Others use the theory of "optimal human-machine collaboration" to explain it: AI is responsible for calculation and people are responsible for induction. The reality is that AI has comprehensively surpassed humans in induction and judgment, and the tool itself is the center of new decision-making. Look at OpenAI's GPT-4o multimodal upgrade in April this year-it can directly perform on-site data summary, action prediction, and automatic process triggering. Manpower is no longer able to compete and can only retire to the "exception confirmation position". You say this is not a reinvention, what is it?

Scene: David in the cockpit

David is an F-16 pilot in the U.S. Air Force who just completed a round of AI air combat simulations in December last year. During training, he was sitting in the cockpit of the VISTA model, and a new real-time data screen was added to the left side of the instrument panel-displaying the "optimal tactical actions" determined by the AI. Every time an enemy plane approached, the screen flashed "Pull up after 1.2 seconds, dive after 3 seconds, lock on target after 5 seconds." David's operating space was reduced to a "confirm/reject" button. He instinctively wanted to try the old-school sideslip, but the screen warned that "sideslip is risky and it is recommended to follow the algorithm." After the game, David's tactical notes were only "monitoring the output of the algorithm and confirming the next step."

After returning to the base, he told the training officer: "I used to decide how to fly, but now it is the AI who tells me how to fly. I am only responsible for monitoring." The official replied: "This is a system upgrade. In the future, you will be responsible for supervising AI, not operating the aircraft." This is not an efficiency improvement, but a role shift-the pilot has become the shadow of the algorithm.

This happens repeatedly in engineering teams: after the process is automated, everyone becomes a "tool operator." Do you remember the last time you made a full decision?

Cross-Border Analogy: Developer Tool Anxiety

When talking about tools reshaping roles, I thought of the current situation of developers. In 2015, GitHub launched automated CI/CD, Copilot exploded in 2019, and the replacement rate of AI code farmers will rise sharply in 2024. Engineers were originally decision-makers across the chain, but now they have become "tool-embedded operators." Originally you had to design, write code, debug, and go online, but now you are responsible for "consolidating PR, confirming test reports, and responding to tool exceptions."

A friend who is doing technical architecture in a large factory complained: "We are not engineers, we are supervisors of automated processes." The smarter the tool, the more illusory the person's dominance will be. Do you remember last year after LLM automatically generated code, engineers discussed "Who needs Junior?" The essence is that roles are reshaped by tools, and the initiative becomes devalued assets.

Motif: Tools reshape the person who uses the tool

The core point of this article is only one sentence: "Tool upgrades do not make you more free, but make you a part of the tool ecosystem." AI's takeover of the F-16 is just the beginning, and you will encounter the same role migration under any automated process. The golden sentence is for you: "When tools start thinking, you can only be responsible for supervision."

At the end of the day, AI is not your assistant, but your receiver. Are you still fantasizing about "human-machine collaboration"? When collaboration becomes supervision, the initiative has shifted. You are in the cockpit, you are in the conference room, you are in the development platform-the roles are all the same, reshaped by tools, proactively devalued, and outsourced decision-making power.

I bet this will escalate, and the next wave of automation will turn more professions into "nutrients in the tool ecosystem." You asked me what I think? Initiative becomes scarce, and smart people are becoming supervisors. This is not that AI kills people, but that tools turn decision-making power into algorithmic assets.

After all, maybe we will only be tamed by tools and become the kind of "nutrients" needed by tools. All this is not in the future, but in the present.

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