FAA's New AI System Under Scrutiny After Ground Stop

The FAA expanded its new SMART artificial intelligence-based air traffic management system to all 22 regional control centers just three days before ordering a nationwide ground stop on Friday. Though the timing raised questions about the AI system's potential involvement, Air Space Intelligence and federal officials confirmed the ground stop resulted from telecommunications issues, not the SMART system itself.

The Federal Aviation Administration expanded a newly announced artificial intelligence program to all 22 of its air route traffic control centers on November 10, 2026, just three days before ordering a nationwide ground stop on departing flights on November 13. The timing sparked federal investigations and congressional concerns about the system's role in the disruption, though officials have not established any direct connection.

The AI tool in question, Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART), is designed to improve efficiency and reduce delays by shifting air traffic management from a reactive to a predictive approach. The system uses AI recommendations that FAA specialists review before implementing, with local facility leaders able to accept or decline suggestions. SMART was first deployed in September around Washington-area airports before its rapid nationwide expansion this week.

Air Space Intelligence, the contractor behind SMART, denied any connection to the ground stop in a statement Friday evening, asserting that the current disruption was "not based on or a result of the SMART system." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed this during a White House briefing, stating the AI system "isn't plugged in" to the affected systems and therefore could not have caused the outage. Duffy attributed the problem to aging digital infrastructure, specifically overloaded routers in the communications network serving all air traffic control centers.

Despite these official denials, the incident has intensified scrutiny of SMART's rollout. Congressional lawmakers had recently written to the Government Accountability Office questioning whether the FAA adequately evaluated risks associated with the system's AI capabilities, including potential interference with controllers' decision-making and the generation of inaccurate safety-critical information. The timing of the expansion-concurrent with deployment concerns-has made the SMART system an early focal point in discussions about modernizing U.S. aviation infrastructure.