US Air Force colonel ‘misspoke’ about drone killing pilot who tried to override mission

Colonel retracted his comments and clarified that the ‘rogue AI drone simulation’ was a hypothetical ‘thought experiment’

A US Air Force colonel “misspoke” when he said at a Royal Aeronautical Society conference last month that a drone killed its operator in a simulated test because the pilot was attempting to override its mission, according to the society.

The confusion had started with the circulation of a blogpost from the society, in which it described a presentation by Col Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton, the chief of AI test and operations with the US Air Force and an experimental fighter test pilot, at the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit in London in May.