The 35th annual conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems 2025 in Görlitz, Germany

Alongside groundbreaking new hardware capabilities for existing and future facilities, we are entering a new era of optimisation and efficiency that will be driven by software innovation. The dramatic rise of practical artificial intelligence in recent years carries significant implications for how we effectively operate our future facilities, a trend that has already been in place for years with the general shift towards increasingly automated and remote facility operations. And yet, it is also clear that the best outcomes will come from the considered application of the most suitable approach for a given scenario, ranging across a spectrum from highly human-driven to completely hands-off.

Considering specific case studies of the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-2000), I will outline the approach taken in moving towards autonomous operations, especially in the realm of scheduling science observations for surveys. Our experience to date shows that telescope operations can be highly autonomous even with a relatively low level of AI, freeing up human resources and effort while increasing the overall efficiency and success of scheduling. I will also explore logistical, technical and sociological elements that we have identified as part of the process of increasing operational autonomy, with the goal of conveying our lessons learned for application to other contexts.

The true capability and potential of current and next-generation facilities will only be achieved if we seek to adapt and transform the ways in which we operate our facilities, treating the evolution of our operational models as a core and critical part of the technical innovation that will broaden and deepen the parameter space we can explore.