FAA lays out 'roadmap' for AI safety in aircraft
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a document it says will help assure safety in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in airborne and ground systems. The roadmap was developed following two years of meetings with industry stakeholders.
In 2022 and 2023, the FAA held a series of meetings to gauge industry priorities and hear opinions.
The agency notes that the aircraft and avionics industry has its eyes on AI image processing tasks, among others, but because artificial intelligence falls outside normal operations - i.e. a designer who can readily explain every aspect of system design - it must take a new approach.
The FAA established seven guiding principles to provide safety assurance in AI systems in aircraft and ground operations, including the need to use existing civil aviation processes and methods. The agency noted the focus of AI technology needs to be on safety assurances and what safety enhancements can be made. In addition, the FAA cautions against anthropomorphizing the technology.
"The system designer must delineate the responsibilities that are assigned to human beings as compared to the requirements that are assigned to systems and tools and must do so in a manner consistent with applicable aviation regulatory requirements and international standards," the FAA writes in its roadmap. "The responsibility for systems to meet their requirements rests with the system designer and AI developer, not the AI itself."