The legal and R&D costs will be insurmountable. I'm the only one in my family in aviation- the rest are in software development and IT. They have a saying "artificial intelligence is just that-artificial." We have very little understanding of how the human brain works so developing a software system that can learn and adapt at the rate the human mind does is very far away.

Until the security question can be answered there should be 2 pilots up front. Germanwings is a great example. Suggesting that single pilot with remote backup automation could override that is absolutely ridiculous. What's to stop the pilot from reaching overhead and pulling both fire handles? Can a remote pilot take over and do a dead stick landing over the alps at the drop of a hat? Can AI? If your engine is on fire and you want to pull a handle do you want that to have to be approved by AI or the remote pilot?

I just don't see it happening. The biggest challege we have is the interface between man and machine. Simplifying that is more likely the future.