Transportation Secretary Duffy on concerns of AI replacing air traffic controllers: “That’s not gonna happen”

As the Department of Transportation begins the process of overhauling the country’s air traffic control system — a $12 billion undertaking — there are already plans to integrate artificial intelligence into it in the future. Addressing fears that AI is meant to completely replace air traffic controllers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CBS News, “that’s not gonna happen.”

“AI is a tool, but we do not replace humans in how we manage the airspace,” Duffy said. “Am I gonna replace a controller and have AI manage the airspace? The answer to that is hell no, that’s not gonna happen.”

What AI will do, according to Duffy, is help air traffic controllers move flights around to avoid delays by merging airline flight schedules with an FAA system.

“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.

Through the Big Beautiful Bill last year, Congress gave DOT $12.5 billion for air traffic control system upgrade. But as the Transportation Department works to implement those upgrades in various systems throughout the nation’s airports — which according to the department has already included replacing almost 50% of all copper wires, upgrading about 270 radio sites, installing new surface awareness systems at 54 airports to improve controllers’ ability to track planes on the ground, and transitioning 17 towers to electronic flight strips, replacing literal paper slips, to track flights — Congress still needs to pay for the  AI software, which has a possible price tag of $6 billion to $10 billion.

The push for funding comes amid a number of high-profile incidents involving apparent air traffic control mistakes, including a deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York City last month.

“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.”