Google 4G balloons are guided by AI

35 Loon balloons already offer quality Internet connections to remote Kenyan areas. — Loon/AFP

Alphabet's 4G connection balloons have deployed new navigation systems using deep reinforcement-learning AI that is teaching itself to optimise navigation. The balloons can navigate the stratosphere in an autonomous and stable fashion, enhancing the Internet coverage of these floating cell towers.

It is the first time that such technology, resulting from a collaboration between Loon and Google AI, Alphabet's division specialised in artificial intelligence, is used in aerospace.