At Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, a test bed for a new kind of air force, Major Trent McMullen is a fighter pilot learning to fly alongside the XQ-58, a drone piloted by artificial intelligence. Think of this as "Top Gun AI."

"I've flown safety chase on it for several missions, messaging back and forth with the autonomy on board," said McMullen.

Maneuvering alongside an AI-piloted drone, he said, takes a bit of getting used to: "As humans, we fly very smooth, but it can roll and fly a little bit snappier than maybe a human pilot would," McMullen acknowledged. "It could be a little bit rougher a ride, but there's no human on board."

Artificial intelligence is on board, and now it is learning how to fight.

McMullen said the tasks assigned to AI might be to intercept an adversary airc

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