U.S. military's use of AI nearly led to war with China
Because the American military used artificial intelligence (AI) to compile an intelligence report, it nearly carried out an interception of a Chinese vessel, which could have provoked a military conflict, CNN reports.
In the spring of 2026, at the height of the war against Iran, they received information about a Chinese vessel in the Middle East allegedly carrying components for a nuclear program, and began preparing an operation to intercept it, the television channel noted, citing four informed sources.
Armed U.S. service members were preparing to board the Chinese vessel, and military aircraft were sent into the air, it is further indicated. Only shortly before the start of the planned operation did officials decide to examine the report in more detail, which had been prepared by an analyst of the U.S. Special Operations Command, and they discovered that the document had been created with the help of AI, which had incorrectly identified the vessel's cargo.
The analyst had requested from a chatbot intelligence information about the vessel's cargo manifest; this data had initially come from the U.S. Special Operations Command in the Pacific region. CNN was unable to determine whether this was a commercially available chatbot or a product developed by the U.S. government.
The bot combined data from open sources with classified information obtained through signals interception and stored in government databases, and drew an incorrect conclusion about the nature of the cargo on the vessel.
The analyst then again used artificial intelligence to format the conclusions obtained from the AI in the form of a credible standard intelligence report and passed it on to the command.
According to one of the sources, the report compiled in this way was «completely incorrect,» and it «nearly led to war,» since any U.S. operation against a Chinese vessel could have escalated into an armed conflict between the two countries.
The U.S. armed forces and intelligence agencies are actively introducing AI into practically all areas of activity – from the analysis of enormous volumes of intelligence data and the selection of targets for strikes to the resolution of more routine tasks such as budget planning, logistics, and supply chain management, CNN further notes. This is justified by the fact that AI helps the military make decisions faster in combat conditions – choosing targets for a strike or directions for redeploying forces.
The television channel also cites the opinion of officials that the United States cannot afford to fall behind in the field of AI implementation because of possible future confrontations with China or other adversaries capable of outpacing it. However, this incident underscores the serious risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence – a powerful, new, and as yet insufficiently studied technology – for selecting targets in wartime conditions.
In the United States in recent weeks, intense discussions about AI have been underway, prompted by a number of warnings from engineers and executives of technology companies. They fear that AI could escape human control, which threatens catastrophic consequences up to the death of humanity.
The incident with the Chinese vessel also points to the risks of people making catastrophic decisions based on inaccurate or misleading information from AI, CNN further notes.
Source: DW
