Commercial aviation pilots' readiness, predisposition, and openness toward new technologies and artificial intelligence

"We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter how we live, work, and relate to one another. The transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before in its scale, scope, and complexity. We do not yet know how it will unfold. Still, one thing is clear: the response must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders" (Schwab, 2016).

In January 2024, the "Safe, effective and Efficient Pilots and Technology" survey was launched on the HUMAI RESEARCH channels. The targeted respondents were professional commercial airline pilots.

Divided into four sections - Demographics, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence and Pilots - the survey is built up on consolidated and renowned scientific models, like the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1980), the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1986; Davis, 1989) and the Technology Readiness Index (Parasuraman, 2000).

Its objective is to comprehend and diagnose professional pilots' predisposition and openness to accept technological evolutions in the cockpit.

This questionnaire is part of a broader research aiming to investigate the relationship between pilots, as operators in demanding and highly complex environments, and the most advanced, cutting-edge technologies, including AI.

Despite the usual pilots' enthusiasm toward advanced technologies, incorporating AI in the cockpit raises many questions and concerns.

By nature, pilots are positively inclined to welcome any new functionality that allows them to improve their operational efficiency, skills and the safety of the operations. When well-designed and developed in sharing, they consider technology an empowering extension to amplify and improve their professional competencies.

Calling McLuhan (1964) into question, technology provides man with prostheses to enhance his abilities and functional appendages to carry out tasks and cope with difficult situations. Technology extends human capacities, enabling them to address critical scenarios efficiently and in less time, improving situational awareness and facilitating more informed decisions.

It is crucial to highlight that AI must be designed and utilised to complement human skills, never as a replacement (Belloni, 2024). Conversely to AI, which is exclusively responsive to the data available, human capabilities are more extensive. Man can "imagine, anticipate, feel, and judge changing situations, which allows them to shift from short-term [actions] to long-term" plans and strategies (De Cremer & Kasparov, 2021). He makes the difference when emotional intelligence or high-skilled innovations are requested and in making critical decisions (Yang, 2018).

With this research, the author aims to investigate how to design and develop artificial intelligence as an instrument at the disposal of the human element - and not the opposite - to maintain him as the essential and irreplaceable central core of the system. The author also believes that preventing such a complex and ethically delicate topic from being exclusively in the hands of actors with specific interests is of primary importance.

AI, like other technologies developed on the airliners over the decades, will undoubtedly be decisive in facing the intricacies of future challenges.

As reported by EASA, "The complexity of the aviation system is continuously increasing; […] new technologies are rapidly emerging in the aviation market" (EASA, 2018).

The expected massive growth of air traffic driven by an increase in transport of passengers and cargo demand, the improved precision requested for aircraft trajectories, the need to make safe, efficient and economic decisions in a short time, capable of taking into account increasingly more variables, cannot avoid relying on intelligent technologies.

The introduction of intelligent technological equipment into the cockpit will inevitably be progressively implemented in different ways, and since pilots will be the end users, their active contribution is essential.

In today's scenarios, it has become vital and can no longer be postponed to connect the world of pilots, researchers, and industry to cooperate to develop the cockpit of the future together.

Pilots must be called upon to share their needs with scholars and other stakeholders to shape a manageable technology capable of coping with future complexities.

Although technology is nowadays very advanced, it is still unable to think like humans. Therefore, man is the best technology capable of coping with the unexpected and unprecedented (Reason, 1990), a characteristic state of contemporary complexity. Only human operators are able to find inspired outside-the-box solutions (Maurino et al., 2016) to face contemporaneity and its intricacies.

AI will be increasingly crucial in implementing professional and human abilities, assisting pilots in making intricate decisions, backing them in solving complicated problems and supporting and tailoring training to individuals based on their strengths and weaknesses. It will help to monitor and alert pilots on their cognitive status in a system where overload is increasingly critical.

That is why we must develop AI as a human-friendly, intuitive technology well understood and accepted by its end-user.

References

Belloni, G. (2024). AI enhances airline pilots' abilities and decision-making processes, putting them back at the heart of the operational processes. Humai Research.

EASA (2018) Notice of Proposed Amendment 2018-07(A). Update of ORO.FC — evidence-based training subtask. RMT.0599. European Aviation Safety Agency. Cologne, Germany.

Davis, D. F., Bagozzi, R. P. Warshaw, P. R. (1989). User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models. Management Science. Vol. 35, No. 8, pp. 982-1003.

Davis, D. F., (1989). Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology. MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 319-340.

De Cremer, D., Kasparov, G. (2021). AI Should Augment Human Intelligence, Not Replace It. Harvard Business Review.

Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Addison-Wesley.

Fishbein, M., Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. Psychology Press.

Maurino, D-E-, Reason, J., Johnston, N., Lee, R.B. (2016). Beyond Aviation Human Factors.

Safety in High Technology Systems. Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group.

McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Signet Books.

Parasuraman, A., Colby, C.L. (2000). Techno-Ready Marketing: How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology, The Free Press.

Schwab, K. (2016). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond. World Economic Forum.

Yang, S. (2018). Comments from young scholars: Can machines completely replace humans in manufacturing processes? Frontiers Engineering Management Journal. 2018, 5(4): 541–547.