ALPHA, an artificial intelligence developed by the University of Cincinnati has beaten retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee who tried his skills against ALPHA’s superior algorithms.
ALPHA also defeated all other AI’s available at the Air Force Research Lab and any other volunteer human experts. The contests were in a high fidelity air combat simulator.
The most notable aspect was that ALPHA achieved all of its superiority running on a Raspberry Pi.
The feat of defeating Lee was no mean achievement. Gene Lee, an instructor, is experienced in aerial combat having trained with numerous U.S. Air Force pilots. Other achievements by Lee are being an Air Battle Manager who has fought numerous AI opponents in air combat simulations since the 1980’s.
Not only was Lee unsuccessful in winning against ALPHA, but he also could not win even when ALPHA’s aircraft was impeded in speed, sensor use, missile capability and turning.
According to Lee, he was surprised at how ALPHA was reactive and aware. It knew how to defeat every shot as if it was aware of Lee’s intentions. ALPHA also reacted to Lee’s changes in flight and missile deployment. ALPHA seamlessly changed from defensive to offensive actions as required.