# Are we ready to fully automate air traffic control

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-ready-to-fully-automate-air-traffic-control/1013685>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 31, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-ready-to-fully-automate-air-traffic-control/1013685 "2025-01-31T17:27:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-ready-to-fully-automate-air-traffic-control/1013685/21 "2025-02-25T21:15:19Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> But the idea that 9/11 is some sort of useful example of “It couldn’t _possibly_ do that” falls IMO far short of convincing.

My question was an actual question, not a rhetorical challenge to the idea. 9/11 was unprecedented, and the entire air traffic control system had to respond in real time, with the added complication that there might have been even more planes that were being targeted. Maybe AI could have directed traffic more smoothly than humans, maybe that much traffic at once would have slowed things down, or maybe the whole thing would have crashed. Is there any way to game that out in a simulation? I don’t know.

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