KAI collaborates with companies to develop AI pilot for UAVs

KAI's Next-Generation Air Combat System conceives of autonomous UAVs, including small air-launched effects operating alongside and supporting high-performance manned combat aircraft. (KAI)

Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is collaborating with domestic and foreign companies in a bid to hasten the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based autonomous pilot system that can be deployed in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Initially, in March 2025 KAI announced that it secured a 9.87% stake in GenGenAI, a military data solution company based in Seoul. GenGenAI specialises in generative AI technology that will be used to train KAI's AI pilot model, which has been named K-AILOT. In a subsequent announcement in March, KAI announced a partnership with US-based company Shield AI to use that company's Hivemind Enterprise (HME) software suite to evaluate the ability of K-AILOT to conduct autonomous air operations.

With an investment of approximately KRW6 billion (USD4.2 million), KAI is now the second-largest stakeholder in GenGenAI. “With the investment”, KAI said that it will use GenGenAI's “high-quality synthetic data” to train AI pilot systems for use in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) combat systems.

KAI is developing a two-tiered MUM-T concept that it has said forms the “core” of its Next-Generation Air Combat System concept. In the system, high-performance ‘loyal wingman' UAVs with slaved smaller UAVs or air-launched effects (ALEs) that KAI calls “Adaptable Aerial Platforms” (AAPs) will operate alongside manned aircraft.

A GenGenAI spokesperson told Janes in March that GenGenAI “generates and supplies synthetic image/video imagery” that simulates data and information created by radar, electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems.