U.S. Air Force Air Force pilots in the not-so-distant future could fly and fight together like Luke Skywalker and R2-D2. One of the Air Force’s top officials is confident the service’s secret new fighter jet will have an artificial intelligence copilot. The AI could take over key tasks, flying and fighting the plane, to prevent the human pilot from being overwhelmed. The U.S. Air Force's secret new fighter jet, which it designed, built, and tested in just one year, will feature some kind of artificial intelligence copilot—a trusted computer algorithm that human pilots can rely on to assume critical tasks in the air.