The “tech-focused” Trump administration is “moving faster than any administration ever has” to replace ancient systems reliant on Windows 95, Phillip Buckendorf, CEO and founder of Air Space Intelligence (ASI), said during a discussion at the Breitbart News policy event “AI is Here: What to Fear, What to Embrace.”
Buckendorf spoke about the functions of ASI, which builds AI-powered software to help orchestrate critical infrastructure and national security operations — from air traffic management to combat operations. Host and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle pointed out that ASI recently secured an $875 million FAA production contract to deploy its technology to modernize America’s aging air traffic control system.
“We’re building AI systems that orchestrate physical assets, real physical assets, for the critical industries. So everything from air traffic control to how we power the energy grid to combat operations to logistics,” Buckendorf said, explaining ASI’s functions.
“I think Silicon Valley is very good when it comes to concentrating and over-indexing in certain industries. We’ve poured hundreds of billions of dollars into mastering text and words. I think what we will see next is getting AI into the real world, and that is going to be autonomous assets for combat. It’s going to be autonomous vehicles,” he said, noting that we are already seeing those things, but the orchestration of it is where ASI comes into play.
Buckendorf pointed to ASI’s recent contract to modernize America’s air traffic control system, observing that the Trump administration is moving fast on this technological front.
“You’ve just alluded to this a few weeks ago. We were awarded a major production contract to rebuild America’s air traffic control system, absolutely critical infrastructure, and this is an administration — the Trump administration is moving faster than any administration ever has,” he said.
“We were awarded the contract a few weeks ago. Last week, the first facilities had access to the technology. In September, we will have the world’s finest, the world’s greatest air traffic control facilities open up here over at the DOT. Usually, these are projects that take billions and billions of dollars and five to 10 years of research before anything goes live, and then usually it doesn’t work,” he said, noting that it is very refreshing to see an administration that is very tech focused, that has leadership that actually understands technology, that understands AI, and puts that technology out there to power the most important industries.”
He added, “It’s really important we have the best technology there,” explaining that the current technology is “ancient” — “Windows 95” ancient. The updated system, he argued, will be faster and safer, allowing air traffic controllers to see problems before they happen.
“Our users, they operate out of warehouse-like facilities, no windows, hurricane-proof building, and inside those facilities you have human operators that stare at static displays, and those displays are unfortunately sometimes 20, 30 years old. But the problem is that they are static; they show where aircraft are right now, and that means you see problems as they happen,” he said.
“Well, so now if we deploy AI systems, what we can do is what we’re doing for the FAA and air traffic controls, we can actually predict where aircraft are going to be, where’s weather going to be, and that changes everything,” Buckendorf continued. “That changes the fundamentals of the operation because now we see problems before they happen. That means we can solve problems before they occur, which means ultimately safer travel, more reliable travel, and a better flying experience to every American who flies.”
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