The AI system built into the F-35 stealth fighter jet is its own worst enemy, according to a recently released government report. The F-35, one of the most advanced vehicles of war ever made, is apparently being held back by an AI system called the automatic logistics information system, or ALIS for short.
When AI isn’t making the internet worse by generating tons of horrible music published by talentless scammers or telling people using chatbots to “please die,” it moonlights as a terrible tool tacked onto fighter jets that no one likes because it makes the jet a huge pain in the ass to use.
According to the report, which was brought to our attention by Gizmodo’s Mathew Gault, “ALIS is the backbone of maintenance support for the F-35 aircraft. Squadrons depend on it to support day-to-day flight operations and maintenance activities … ALIS demonstrated poor usability and impeded, rather than facilitated effective maintenance operations.” That’s a lot of fancy military speak for “this piece of shit sucks ass and I wish we’d never put it in there.”
ALIS was initially pitched as a cost-saving efficiency tool. The idea was to consolidate maintenance and flight operations using data from the jet’s sensors. Instead, it causes disruptions, frequently generates false alarms, and eats up way too much of the maintenance crews’ time as they have to deal with a variety of troubleshooting issues.
The Department of Defense noted that the system didn’t provide them with any useful information, which led directly to many F-35 technicians losing all trust in the AI system. They tried implementing their own software filters to help reduce a lot of these false alarms and the system was still a total piece of shit that never worked. Apparently, it only got worse with each new software update.
Military contractor Lockheed Martin, who put the stupid new system in there to begin with, is going to completely replace the ALIS system with a different system called ODIN, which stands for Operational Data Integrated Network, which is a cloud-based logistics software system designed to replace ALIS’s useless ass.
The post AI Made the F-35 Fighter Jet a Maintenance Nightmare appeared first on VICE.
The post AI Made the F-35 Fighter Jet a Maintenance Nightmare appeared first on VICE.
