The US military nearly launched an operation against a Chinese ship in the Middle East after an intelligence report wrongly claimed it was carrying components linked to a nuclear weapons programme. The report was later found to have been created with help from an AI chatbot, which had incorrectly identified the ship’s cargo. CNN reported the incident, citing four sources familiar with the incident.
An "entirely false" AI-generated intelligence report "almost started a war" between the US and China, according to US officials, as concerns regarding the use of the technology in military scenarios rise among experts.
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Military operation was already underway
The report circulated among US military officials this spring, during the war with Iran, and quickly raised concerns. The US military began preparing to intercept the Chinese vessel. According to sources, armed military personnel were getting ready to board the ship, while military aircraft were already in the air.
Officials only discovered the problem shortly before the planned operation. They looked more closely at the intelligence report and found that a Special Operations Command analyst had used an AI chatbot while examining information about the ship.
The chatbot had wrongly identified the material listed in the ship’s manifest. The exact cargo that was misidentified remains unclear. One source described the intelligence report as “entirely false” and said it had “almost started a war.”
How the AI mistake happened
The analyst was working with intelligence about the ship’s manifest that had originated from US Special Operations Command Pacific, based in Hawaii. The analyst asked a chatbot to examine the information. It is not clear whether the tool was a commercial AI chatbot or one developed for the US government.
The AI system combined open-source information with secret signals intelligence available in government systems and reached the wrong conclusion about the ship’s cargo.
The analyst then used AI again to turn the findings into a standard intelligence report. The report was circulated to military officials, giving the incorrect information the appearance of an established intelligence assessment.
Any US military action against a Chinese vessel could have created a serious confrontation between Washington and Beijing.
Growing use of AI in the US military
The incident highlights the risks of using AI in military and intelligence operations, particularly when decisions have to be made quickly during a war.
The US military is increasingly using AI to process huge amounts of intelligence, help identify targets and decide where military assets should be deployed. AI is also being used for less sensitive work such as budgeting, logistics and supply-chain management.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth launched the Pentagon’s “Artificial Intelligence Acceleration Strategy” in January to speed up the military’s adoption of AI. The strategy calls for wider access to AI tools across the department and aims to put advanced AI models in the hands of around three million civilian and military personnel.
No common safety standards
However, officials say AI use across the US military and intelligence community remains decentralised. Different agencies and units are using different systems, instructions and safety standards. There is also no single system for checking whether information produced by AI is accurate.
The incident also raises concerns about AI hallucinations, when a chatbot produces information that sounds convincing but is false. Sources said similar problems have appeared elsewhere in the intelligence community.
One source said AI is also putting pressure on analysts to produce intelligence more quickly, increasing the possibility of mistakes. Some younger analysts who have grown up using these tools may be more willing to accept AI-generated information without questioning it
The incident involving the Chinese ship shows how a simple AI error, when passed through a military system without enough checks, can turn into a potentially dangerous international crisis.
