Thibaud Hue / Photo credit: Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP 06:55, June 06, 2023

Every day, Europe 1 looks at an idea or a problem in your daily life. Imagine, a cockpit in which the pilot does not need to drive the aircraft either to take-off or landing. The only need is to supervise the movements calculated by the computer. And you, would you be ready to board a plane controlled by artificial intelligence?

An unmanned aircraft? It's not quite science fiction anymore since artificial intelligence could soon take control. The idea is gaining ground and bristling the feathers of pilots' unions who fear being replaced. To put it simply, artificial intelligence would take control of take-off and landing, all supervised by a captain. Would you be willing to board a plane run entirely by software? Europe 1 went to Orly airport to ask you the question.

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A suitcase in hand, Céline has just landed from Morocco. Without a pilot, she reportedly refused to board the plane. "We would have preferred them to be humans and we would have taken the boat. In the coming years, maybe we will trust robots more, but for now no." For his part, Stéphane takes off in an hour. With artificial intelligence, he would be much more reassured. "When you look at Rio-Paris, etc., every time, it's human mistakes. It's not crazy to think about putting an artificial intelligence that can fly a plane," he says.

"We just don't have enough drivers"

According to Xavier Tytleman, an aviation safety specialist, the use of unmanned flights is inevitable. "Today, we have air traffic that will certainly be multiplied by three or four in the coming decades and we simply do not have enough pilots. Flight schools cannot provide a sufficient number of pilots to meet this growth in need," he told Europe 1.

But for Arthur, this new device must rhyme with a price reduction. "You don't pay the driver all that, so logically, it will be cheaper. I'll be for artificial intelligence if it's cheaper," he said. Desired tickets at very low prices, even if everyone hopes that it will not be at the expense of security.