There is speculation among readers here that AI will soon replace flight attendants. Honestly, I don’t think that will ever happen for many major safety reasons. True, I do use AI in my work to streamline and make operations efficient, but the system is not and will never be perfect. In fact, it still makes major mistakes, so I don’t think AI will be able to replicate the job of cabin crew on board. Why so?
Before I begin, it’s best to understand the primary duties of flight attendants. Their primary duties involve ensuring the safety and security of all passengers on board. Hence, flight attendants deal with human lives and their safety on board. That is what they train for intensely, not just once but every year. While common people might think “AI can serve food,” that is not the case, as food and beverage service is not the primary duty of flight attendants. So, let’s take it from the premise that the job of flight attendants is to ensure your safety on board. Safety is non-negotiable and paramount in the aviation industry.
AI Still Makes Huge Mistakes
I doubt AI will ever be perfect and 100% flawless. Hence, no matter how you program AI to evacuate more than 100 passengers in less than 90 seconds from a burning aircraft, it can still make mistakes that lead to lives lost. I use different AI-powered systems, and sometimes when you command it to do something, it still doesn’t follow what you tell it to do. It’s far from what a human being can do. And even if you unload your emotions and anger on AI, let’s not forget that AI does not have emotions.
Emergencies are not only limited to emergency landings or crash landings but can also include medical emergencies of all sorts. If a passenger complains of chest pains on board, how quickly will AI-powered FAs work to ensure the passenger is saved?
AI Does Not Have the Human Spirit
If there’s one thing human beings have that AI doesn’t, it’s the human spirit. In an emergency, AI may only do so much, unlike human beings who can go beyond their fears and what they were trained to do to rescue passengers. During the incident involving Asiana flight 214 in San Francisco, you saw flight attendants carrying injured passengers on their backs, bringing them outside the aircraft, and returning to the burning aircraft to rescue more. Do you think AI-powered flight attendants will be able to do this?
Also, every passenger has different stories, and knowing how to empathize and understand these passengers is essential. With AI lacking that emotional factor, how can it provide comfort to these passengers? How can it share a light conversation with a lonely passenger traveling alone who longs to talk to someone? There are just so many things that human beings can do that AI cannot, which are essential in every flight.
So, will AI-powered cabin crew replace human cabin crew? Definitely not. AI can assist but never replace. Human beings can connect emotionally with fellow human beings; AI cannot. Human beings understand and can empathize with what fellow human beings are going through; AI cannot. Human beings are ready to go above and beyond to help others, which AI definitely cannot do. And of course, there is nothing like knowing that in every flight, there is someone, a human being, who genuinely cares for you.
If there’s one thing that human beings have that AI doesn’t, it’s the human spirit. And it’s with this human spirit that helps keep air travel the safest form of travel nowadays.
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
