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AI hallucination of Chinese nuclear components almost led to US military attack

But the military's overall use of AI seems to be accelerating.

RelxNews Staff18 September 2026 at 20:26 UTC1 min read
AI hallucination of Chinese nuclear components almost led to US military attack

The US narrowly avoided boarding a Chinese ship based on an "entirely false" US intelligence report generated with the help of AI tools, . That erroneous intelligence, submitted by a US Special Operations Command analyst, suggested the Chinese ship was transporting nuclear arms program components through the Middle East, according to "four sources familiar with the episode" cited by .

The US military was preparing to intercept and board the ship, with air support, before officials discovered a chatbot used in generating the report had "inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying. " One source told the AI-powered fiasco "almost started a war.

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