I asked this question in another thread but I think it belongs here.
I only use the AI to handle comms (once in the air). I may have to leave the cockpit (coffee refills - my flight attendant refuses to complete their tasks 
). I’ll set the AP in these cases as I no longer trust my co-pilot. He seems to get easily confused with up from down…
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I can only answer for myself here of course, but: as a flight simulation beginner (coming from the “Falcon 3.0 aera”) I am currently most interested in mastering the various flight systems of the A320neo - that includes the autopilot, catching the glide scopes, navigating in bad weather etc.
Of course there is some “flying” in between as well, especially to enjoy the landscape. But learning to master the autopilot etc. is currently what I am in for.
And as already pointed out earlier: AI and the autopilot are two completely different concepts: the “artificial intelligence” (AI) mimics a second pilot (co-pilot), whereas the autopilot actually simulates - well, the autopilot from a real airplane.
UPDATE: I sometimes let the AI (“co-pilot”) handle the radio chatter: “Swiss 123, please expedite your climb to flight level 220” - yeah, like I care 
I haven’t solved this issue either Must be some labour union thingie LOL 
Question is related to the AI (Artificial Intelligence?) Co-pilot. I am curious as to why users choose Odd-Job over using the AP (auto-pilot).
I have attempted to let Odd-Job taxi in a couple times. Did a fine job of following the marshal’s instructions until he misunderstood the crossed batons to mean “park behind me”, at which point he opened the throttle and accelerated into the side of the terminal.
Sometimes, I think AI stands for Amoebic Intelligence
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I fly manually quite frequently. I’ve been a casual user of the Flight Simulator series going all the way back to the Sublogic days, but I’m no pilot. So when 2020 came out and I first was able to just create a flight plan and let the AI just do it, I liked having it on in the background while working. It’s not a huge issue for me, just one feature I miss since it broke.
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And there is the basis for my question. Learning to use and understand the autopilot, I can completely understand. I would say thay qualifies as “flying”.
My question however is WHY use the AI Co-Pilot when enroute and NOT use the AP. It’s not like you are helping him gain the experience he needs to advance his career.
I also use him to handle the radio on trips where I am crossing multiple zones. Saves all the otherwise meaningless mouse clicking.
I often have a flight running in the background while doing other tasks around the house. I, however, set up the flight plan, take-off, set the autopilot and transfer radio to the AI. It’s the only way I could justify a 4-6 hr flight to my wife. My log book reads… departure CYDQ, honeydew, arrival CYYV, 3.6 hrs.
My question still stands, why use the co-pilot for the flight? Are you leaving the departure AND arrival/landing to him as well?
For me, the AI feature allowed to control more aspects of the flight itself (AP, ATC, climb, descend, approach, etc.). The feature was included and worked up until the Japan update. I enjoy and fly exclusively the A320 (FBW mod) rather than the GA aircraft. It allowed me to take off, then hand over control while I did personal real world stuff (work, errands, sleep, etc). Was beneficial for long haul routes like over the pond, across continents, etc. When the Japan update hit, all hell broke lose with the AI Control stopped working (doesn’t turn right) and AP broken on several aircraft. While Asobo has addressed some of the AP function and trying to fix them, the AI Control bug has gone untouched. Have submitted multiple tickets and voted on forums, but it is not being addressed and fixed by the developers. Just disappointing that you pay for a game, and something gets broken by the developer, and they don’t fix their mistakes. While I might have patience to fly short routes, the A320, B787, and B747 are designed for longer flights than I’m willing to manage and babysit.
I did use the AI Co-Pilot radio if I was in cruise, had the AP on, and was away from the sim.
I no longer use the native ATC but I use a similar feature that is included in Pilot2ATC.
Understood.
However, since you generally fly the A320,
the autopilot is designed to do exactly that. Granted, when using the autopilot you need to be present till you are cleared to your cruising altitude and again to manage the descent. I guess it probably wouldn’t work if you were trying to catch some sleep, but otherwise…
That’s a valid point – and only takes the slightest bit more effort to get going. Now, I just need to let go of the fact that they broke something that was working before, but that has nothing to do with a Flight Sim but software engineering which is a very different discussion 
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Yes, but most every modern day airliner can do that too (747, 787, etc.). When creating the IFR plan, the game automatically programmed the FMC to allow AP engagement once you take off. I liked to taxi, take off, engage the AI (AP), walk away, and then around the time I knew I needed to be back, sit down, descend, manage approach and stick the landing, before heading to the gate. Not watch in horror of my airliner crashing, porpoising at cruise, or rock violently because of the AP that Asobo programmed it to be.
To me, Asobo offered the feature and it worked for the most part in my experience, for a time, until the Japan update.
You asked why, so I gave you my reason. To me, it was a feature I enjoyed using and would like to experience working again. Just frustrated, like others be it this, AP, CTD, and the other bugs currently plaguing the game.
Copilot AI might be used for a demo-real. I am betting there were big plans for E3 before virus shut all that down.
AP is to lessen the pilot’s workload.
Would be nice if I had the same AP in game as in aircraft. That would allow some muscle memory being developed. But, that is for down the road.
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I will add my two cents because ai is very important to me. In P3D there is a payware called super traffic board and with that addon you can pick an airline from a traffic board and it would center on that plane and you could watch that plane from gate at departure airport to gate at arrival airport. The airport was alive with correct models and liveries as well. You would not have to do any actual flying so it’s letting the sim do all the work. It doesn’t matter how far the flight is or where it is. You could watch a plane fly over scenery for hours and hours. I really enjoyed that and it made the whole game for me.
Now MSFS comes along and I “thought” it would improve the game to be like P3D but way better. I was looking forward to busy airports with correct planes coming and going. When MSFS was released there were some new commands and terms and I am still in the dark about some of them. The first thing I noticed was an ai pilot screen that when selected would fly the plane for you just like in P3D. I also noticed the lack of ai traffic but I thought at least with this ai flying thing I could see all the scenery and new detailed airports.
This worked okay on release day and I enjoyed at least that feature. When updates were announced I thought then it would improve what was missing for ai. After the second update the ai control did not work and the lack of traffic is still an issue. Update after update and it’s still not fixed and I am really upset by this. I have asked in forums about this but I mostly get responses like why did you buy a flight sim if you don’t want to fly a plane or you should stick with P3D. This has discouraged me from posting anymore about this and now I just wait in the shadows for an update that will fix the ai for me.
Now with MSFS there are new terms related to ai and I am not clear on them. One confusing this is there is an ai co pilot and there is also autopilot which are not the same thing. I believe ai control is what I am looking for and not autopilot. With autopilot you have to know how to land a plane and what controls on the aircraft mean. I don’t know anything about that and I don’t really care to learn. This also gets me some mean responses on forums.
So that’s the importance of ai and what I use it for. For some of us it’s everything and for others it’s a non issue and has no importance over something related to actual flying. I feel this is not important to asobo either. The worst thing of all is that this ai control feature worked fine on release and now it doesn’t. I don’t understand how this has been overlooked update after update. Sorry about the long post, I didn’t realize I had so much to vent about.
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For those still interested, looks like AI has been fixed in the most recent update.
Sort of. It works “better” at least.
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I actually use AI because I am a blind simmer, and the sim narrator feature isn’t fully developed yet to interact with the cockpit and other things. I try to use autopilot when possible, however the AI does fly aircraft that don’t have AP okay, like the Cessna 152.
I’m confused about some keyboard shortcuts, such as "autopilot on with alt+Z, and the autopilot master with simply Z, which I know from P3D. What’s the difference?
AI comms are useful. I like the assisted checklists but they are incomplete for most aircraft.
I think of the “AI co-pilot” as a missed opportunity. In MSFS we only have the option for all-or-nothing control (and it usually ends badly in my experience). Ideally the AI would do what a co-pilot is supposed to do: set the autopilot, MCDU, operate gear and flaps and call speeds. There are addons that do this, but I would happily have traded a few aircraft to have this functionality in MSFS out-of-the-box. To be fair, I have never seen this done right in another sim either.
What do you use AI for?
Comedic entertainment when I am bored.
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