FAA Spends Nearly $4 Million on Palantir AI Tool for Runway Safety

The Federal Aviation Administration is spending nearly $4 million on an artificial intelligence initiative that uses Palantir Technologies' Foundry tool to analyze hundreds of thousands of records from government agencies and other sources. C. 5 trillion to the national debt through 2034.

A review of runway incursion data showed only three documented incidents this year, though the FAA said others were still being investigated or had yet to be added to its public database. In 2023 the annual number of such incidents more than doubled to 11, marking one of the worst years for airport incidents in the past decade amid a post-pandemic surge in air traffic.

Use of Foundry led the FAA to ban parallel landings at California's San Francisco International Airport after the program identified unspecified safety issues.

The tool would not have prevented the March collision of a plane and a fire truck at New York City's LaGuardia Airport that killed two Air Canada Express pilots, because it is designed to detect recurring patterns rather than single events with multiple contributing factors.

" Neither the FAA nor Palantir immediately returned Saturday inquiries from The Independent, and Politico reported that Palantir did not comment when contacted. Palantir is one of three companies vying for a $12 billion contract for the SMART air traffic management program.

The Air Current reported that Boston-based Air Space Intelligence was expected to win the contract over Palantir and Thales. U.S. Army contract worth up to $10 billion. The Department of Homeland Security entered into a five-year agreement with Palantir worth roughly $1 billion.