Duffy: AI replacing air traffic controllers ‘not going to happen’
Duffy: AI replacing air traffic controllers ‘not going to happen’
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Publish Date: 2026-04-22 16:31:00
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pushed back on concerns that the department’s modernization push could replace human air traffic controllers with artificial intelligence tools.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Duffy said he sees potential for AI to make the nation’s airspace safer, while insisting human controllers will retain final authority in important decisions.
“AI is a tool, but we do not replace humans in how we manage the airspace. The final say, in anything we do, is going to be an air traffic controller,” Duffy told CBS News’s Kris Van Cleave.
“Am I going to replace a controller and have AI manage the airspace? The answer to that is hell no,” Duffy added. “That’s not going to happen.”
The Department of Transportation is undergoing a process of modernizing the air traffic control system, a $12.5 billion effort that includes replacing copper wire with fiber optics, upgrading radar and radios, and building some new centers to upgrade outdated infrastructure.
Duffy is now pushing for a second phase of the modernization effort — an AI system designed to help controllers spot potential bottlenecks weeks in advance and adjust flight schedules to prevent delays.
“This software will say, ‘Well, listen, we can see this 45 days out. Let’s move some of those flights a little bit later, or five, seven, 10 minutes earlier, and we can resolve the issue. And so then you are not delayed,’” Duffy said.
The request could cost up to $10 billion and would still need to be approved by Congress, CBS News reported. But Duffy said he hopes it could reduce near-misses by allowing air traffic controllers the space to prioritize emergencies and cut back on human error that comes when juggling multiple tasks.
“We have human beings navigating, managing the airspace, and as human beings, we can make mistakes,” Duffy said. “That’s why I want to give additional tools to support the air traffic controllers.”
Duffy said he hopes the technology…
