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My pet theory... Some tiny but critical process holding up the Air Traffic Control network depended on data shared periodically between systems using a python script that emails the info using Outlook. It took 24 hours for the Outlook outage to catch up with the ATC data sync routine.
Icing in on the cake: They fired the guy who maintained the script in June as part of an AI cost savings initiative.
The symptom of the underlying issue is centers not receiving radar data
I can assure you, radar is not tied into Outlook
It will all be fine when ATC becomes ai
The FAA Is Rolling Out Its AI Air Traffic Tool Nationwide
That's a fucking great use case for machine learning. Do you know the burnout rate of atc controllers? Just watch the documentary "Pushing Tin"
SMART will not reduce workload on controllers. It would save some fuel and reduce delays
Want to reduce controller burnout? Pay them more. Train more controllers. Stop shutting down the government
In the way it is being used, it actually really is. But all the articles are presenting as if the pilots are going to be talking with a chatbot. My reply was tongue in cheek going with that.
I'm so tired of the excessive anti-AI hate, because I generally dislike AI but you have to jump on the bandwagon and hate everything NO MATTER WHAT or you get downvoted to fucking hell. I dislike AI, but I REALLY fucking hate the fucking moronic hivemind on this topic even worse.
So it's worth noting that the system in question DOES NOT CONTROL LIVE AIRCRAFT, but assists with planning. Humans approve the suggestions it gives for FUTURE ROUTE PLANNING, NOT REALTIME TRAFFIC.
So go ahead and hate on it, no worries, I don't care, but all this fucking misinformation about planes falling from the sky needs to stop. The idiots spouting that sound as stupid as Trump and his stupid word salad. Like remember the people seeking asylum, and because Trump only knows about "insane asylums", it somehow turns into him thinking it's crazy people trying to invade? Yeah, that's what the "AI CAUSING PLANES TO CRASH" spouting people sound like.
Be angry. Fight against the harm excessive datacenters can cause. But be RIGHT and don't be fucking STUPID.
The ground stop was caused by all, irbnearly all, 22 center facilities in the country losing access to radar and other critical airspace information
Towers and approach were able to continue operating effectively (although can't do much without center)
The AI tool, SMART was rolled out to centers on the same day. If something went wrong, the doomsday scenario is a nation-wide ground stop
There is no scenario where planes are falling out of the sky. You are the only one I've seen to suggest as much. It comes off as a disingenuous straw man
That can describe the SMART AI tool or ATC as a whole. Everything ATC says is a suggestion. Final authority, and responsibility, always rests with the pilot
I should also be clear here. I have no problem with AI tools helping ATC. ML is quite good for that type of work
Where I have an issue is the clearly political nature of this tool. It was rushed out for a cheap political win. If it caused this outage, there should be outrage
Forbthe record, I do also get annoyed with the kneejerk reaction that everything AI = bad. AI is here to stay, even though the inappropriate uses of is are unbelievably frustrating
Considering no one knows anything at this point I think it's just as crazy to say confidently that there is no connection
The official statement was that some systems got overloaded. Gee, I wonder if having a whole slew of new data going through them has even a possibility of overloading old systems?. Maybe not, could be unrelated, but it's not like you're a fucking brainless ape for considering it
Facts I'm confident in are:
The outage only caused centers to be unabke to perform their duties (tower and approach were able to continue operations), due to loss of radar and other instrumentation
SMART AI tool was rolled out to centers on the same day as the ground stop. It is not a tool used by approach or tower
The FAA did not provide any indication of the cause, which is unusual. Previous outages such as the ground stop in 2023, the FAA provided a reason within a few hours (this was the 2nd nation-wide ground stop since September 11, 2001)
As a note: I got this information from talking with my tower, so it's 2nd hand to begin with. Minor details may be inaccurate, but I stand behind the broad facts
Hey bud, the comment you are responding to doesn't say that AI is controlling live air traffic or causing planes to crash. Maybe you meant to respond to a different comment or thread, but you seem awfully worked up over what, in the context of your comment, is a straw man argument. We all had a day off from email thanks to Microslop, and it's at least a funny coincidence that there's a massive nationwide groundstop that seems to coincide with either Outlook being down and/or the FAA rolling out an "AI" tool. Let's all lower our blood pressure and have a chuckle at the situation, yeah?
K