Flight simulators such as X-Plane 12 and Microsoft Flight Simulator, especially in its upcoming 2024 edition, strive to offer as realistic a delve into the world of flying aircraft as possible. If you decide to go all in and buy extra peripherals they can even be good enough to practice flying real aircraft on.

One area where realism has been sadly lacking is communication – especially communicating as you would with Air Traffic Control. It has, until now, been pretty much impossible to replicate a two-way conversation with a computerized Air Traffic Controller, either during take-off or approach or simply while flying through the skies.

Like most other things, AI could be about to change that, and despite a lack of enthusiasm about its appearance in games in general, flight sims could be about to get a huge boost in terms of realism.

Originally badged as SmartSky.AI the new AI-driven ATC will be called SayIntentions.AI due to a potential name clash with an aviation company,  and will launch on January 15th using a monthly subscription model (which will pay for the computing time needed to process the conversations). While not announced yet the cost is expected to be around $15-$20 per month, but there will be a free region for you to test it out to see if it is for you.

The launch is also going to be staggered, rolling out to a limited number of virtual pilots in the first instance to manage server load. You can sign up for the waiting list on the SayIntentions.AI website

SayIntentions.AI will work with both Microsoft Flight Simulator and X-Plane when it launches. As you can see from the video below, it is pretty impressive stuff.

Currently, the system uses the GPT-4 framework to listen and generate suitable responses with SayIntentions saying that it uses, “A combination of GPT-4 and our own secret sauce (to) make you feel like you’re talking to a real human. Hundreds of voices available, all trained with the cadence and speaking style of real ATC.”

Featured Image: SayIntentions.AI

Paul McNally

Paul has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision. He spent over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Has written gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the Daily Mirror. Former champion shoot ’em-up legend.