I believe the path forward will be single pilot with a remote backup pilot/super dispatcher sitting at HQ.

I do not believe we will see fully autonomous, artificial intelligence aircraft until long after we are all dead.

There are many barriers to this of course, most of which have been discussed here already, but to me, cyber security is a big one. If the industry eventually goes towards single pilot with remote backup, I see cyber security being a very tough hurdle. I'm no computer security expert, but from what I see in the news, hackers are definitely winning the war over security. Virtually every company and government worth hacking, has been hacked. An aircraft with remote operating systems would be a prime terrorist target, and I don't think we can secure that properly.