⚡️🇺🇸🇨🇳 — EXCLUSIVE: The US military had a close call after a false intelligence report generated with the help of artificial intelligence nearly triggered an operation to intercept a Chinese ship suspected of transporting nuclear weapons components, according to an exclusive CNN report.

The report circulated across the US military this spring during the war with Iran and set off alarm bells, prompting plans to intercept the vessel, with armed personnel preparing to board and military planes in the air. Officials dug deeper just before the operation and found the report was generated by AI, with a chatbot inaccurately identifying the cargo. One source said the report was "entirely false" but "almost started a war."

➡️ A special operations command analyst had queried a chatbot about intelligence reporting on the ship's manifest from US Special Operations Command Pacific. The bot fused open-source intelligence with secret signals intelligence and reached the conclusion, after which the analyst used AI again to package the findings into a standard intelligence report and disseminate it. It was unclear whether the chatbot was commercial or a government product.

➡️ The episode underscores risks as the US military pushes AI into nearly every facet of its work, from analyzing raw intelligence and selecting targets to logistics. Officials say there is no single set of standards for verifying AI-generated information, and multiple sources warned that AI in targeting is ramping up with no real guidance for preventing civilian casualties or fratricide. One source said: "AI allows you to get to a bad idea faster."

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