Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says officials are examining whether the new AI-supported air traffic control system contributed to the communications failure behind Friday's nationwide ground stop, CNN reports.
Asked about the system by CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House on Friday 13 November, Mullin said: "We're looking at that." He added: "We're taking a look. We're working with our counterparts throughout all agencies."
Mullin has not said the system was the cause. His remarks describe an investigation, not a finding.
This is the first time an official has publicly connected the AI-supported system to the inquiry into the ground stop. As we reported earlier, the FAA expanded SMART, an AI-supported air traffic planning tool, to all 22 air route traffic control centres on 10 November, three days before the ground stop. Neither the FAA nor Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had linked it to the outage.
Mullin did not name SMART in the remarks reported by CNN. Whether the system played any part in Friday's failure has not been established.