AI-Assisted U.S. Intelligence ‘Almost Started a War’ with China Over False Nuclear Deliveries to Iran

An artificial intelligence-assisted U.S. military intelligence report falsely claimed that a Chinese vessel in the Middle East was transporting components connected to a nuclear weapons program, nearly prompting American forces to intercept and board the ship during the war with Iran, according to a CNN investigation. Four people familiar with the episode told CNN that the intelligence report immediately raised alarms within the U.S. Armed Forces, which began preparing an operation against the Chinese vessel. Armed personnel were reportedly preparing to board the ship, while U.S. military aircraft were already in the air.

The operation was halted only after officials examined the underlying intelligence more closely and discovered that the report had been generated with assistance from an AI chatbot. The chatbot had incorrectly identified the material being carried by the vessel. CNN was unable to determine what the ship was actually carrying. One source described the resulting intelligence assessment as “entirely false,” while adding that it “almost started a war.” An American operation against a Chinese vessel could have created a direct confrontation between Washington and Beijing, potentially escalating well beyond the original incident. The incident occurred in the spring while U.S. forces were conducting military operations against Iran. 

The episode reportedly began when an analyst associated with a U.S. special operations command examined intelligence concerning the ship’s manifest. The information originated with U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific in Hawaii. Rather than relying exclusively on conventional intelligence-analysis procedures, the analyst queried an AI chatbot about the information. According to CNN’s sources, the chatbot combined publicly available information with classified signals intelligence held by the U.S. government before reaching its erroneous conclusion about the ship’s cargo. The analyst subsequently used AI a second time to transform the findings into a standard intelligence report. [MORE]