As we move ourselves into the future, technology will continue to advance alongside us and integrate heavily into our lives. Already, we are surrounded by smart devices that secure our homes, monitor our health, or help us keep track of our busy schedules, but this is only the surface of how we integrate technology as we advance forward.

The onboarding and training programs that we go through when accepting a new job or learning a new skill will one day be fleshed out with these integrative technologies as well. We’ll be able to gauge things like competency, reaction, and decision making from just simply responding to stimulus provided by the devices around us. And naturally, such advancements would find a home in environments like the military. As part of our on-going partnership with the United States Air Force, we’ve been given some insights on their push to advance critical training with the aid of AI and VR.

Over the past few months, we’ve been given a glimpse of the USAF’s programs like Air Force Gaming which has served as a basis for connection, advancement, and community amongst Air Force personnel. This is a very human effort that builds up and trains airmen in a uniquely personal way. But to say that communal gaming is all that the Air Force has eyes for when it comes to gaming technologies would be incorrect.

With backing of $99 million, the Air Force has undergone extensive research into the realm of artificial intelligence and virtual reality training programs calling their project Flight Tonight. Flight Tonight is described as a human-guided effort to integrate AI into interactive gaming environments to help simulate combat scenarios and battle strategies at a more realistic scale.

Through the combination of AI and this gaming space, the aim is to reduce the Air Tasking Order cycle, a planning process that guides decision making and operations in the field. The human-guided element aims to use real experiences based on airmen encounters and scenarios so that the training is more deeply rooted into service members who undergo this training program. The AI integration aims to help facilitate the decision-making process by aiding members in factoring various variables that would otherwise stack the load of the Air Tasking Order.

A glimpse into the potential and goal of such programs can be seen through the Air Force’s integration of AI-based enemy pilots so that airmen can experience simulated combat. Aptima, Inc., an advanced engineering company specializing in training, has joined with the Air Force on a four-year contract to create a catalog of these AI-generated combat scenarios that aim to act as a library of training files for airmen.

Additionally, through programs like the U.S. Air Force’s E.C.H.O. or Enhanced Cognitive Human Ops, skills such as situational composure, reaction, and critical reasoning, can be tested and advanced in a controlled environment. E.C.H.O. is just one of the many ways that the U.S. Air Force can identify and promote the strengths of their airmen through advanced gaming tech. With the identification of strengths and weaknesses, potential and current airmen can see what areas they need improvement in or where they’re well-established, and instructors can then help tailor their training to better suit the airmen’s improvement in all aspects. Here’s a glimpse of our players giving E.C.H.O. a try and a specialist analyzing their results.

After personally experiencing E.C.H.O. myself, I can attest to the program's ability to ‘stress test’ your abilities, as the results did show me that my reaction and timing could be improved upon. With that, the outlook on AI and VR integration is bright in the military space, and those excited about these technologies or have a basis in gaming will likely find these programs enticing to experience.