The Federal Aviation Administration expanded a new artificial intelligence tool called Strategic Management of Airspace, or "SMART," to 22 air route traffic control centers across the country on Tuesday. The system merges about 200 data streams covering flight paths, schedules, weather and other factors onto a single platform, aiming to anticipate airspace constraints and other issues.

Days later, the FAA announced a nationwide ground stop at 4 p.m. Friday, citing "extraordinary circumstances." The agency did not immediately link the travel disruption to the new system, though a source told the New York Post the stoppage was potentially caused by an upgrade to new software.S1

Another report describes the FAA ordering the nationwide ground stop because of air traffic control outages.S2