--- title: "US Military Nearly Started World War III After AI Chatbot Hallucinated Nuclear Weapons Aboard a Chinese Ship" description: "An intelligence analyst submitted a completely fabricated report that very nearly led US troops to raid a Chinese ship." date: "2026-09-18" modified: "2026-09-18" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/us-military-intelligence-wwiii-ai-chatbot-hallucinated-nuclear-weapons-china" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Ethics" - "Military" - "Science & Energy" --- # US Military Nearly Started World War III After AI Chatbot Hallucinated Nuclear Weapons Aboard a Chinese Ship ![An F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, prepares to take off.]() *U.S. Navy via Getty Images / Futurism* With so many talks about AI's potential to someday wipe out mankind with some spooky bioweapon, it seems many have overlooked the catastrophic risk that AI is actually posing in the here and now. Bombshell new reporting [by *CNN*]() revealed a horrifying episode stemming from the US Special Operations Command Pacific which almost kicked off World War III. According to the reporting, US military officials aborted a planned raid on a Chinese ship sailing in West Asia after the original intelligence report undergirding the operation turned out to be hallucinated by generative AI. The tragicomedy unfolded like this: a special operations command analyst used an AI chatbot to put together a report on the cargo held in this particular Chinese ship. The chatbot — which has not been identified — hallucinated the kind of cargo being transported, flagging it as nuclear weapons. After receiving those fake details, the analyst then used AI again to package them up into a standard military intelligence report, the kind trusted by top military brass to make crucial decisions. Following the report, officers prepared and may have even launched an operation to intercept and seize the vessel. As numerous sources told *CNN*, US planes were in the air and armed soldiers were actively preparing to board the ship when the AI hallucination was discovered. As one source told the publication, the intelligence report was "entirely false," and "almost started a war" with China. The entire thing calls into question the rapid pace with which AI has been shoved into every corner of the US government, from [transit regulation]() to the [Pentagon]() and every office in between. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been particularly gung-ho about unleashing "military AI" at all levels of the US armed forces. Such tools have already been used in the [bombing of Iran](), and the as yet-ongoing [air strikes]() [on fishing boats]() in the Caribbean. As Hegseth's grand AI experiment rolls ahead, we can likely expect more stories of close calls and devastating intelligence failures in the months ahead. "AI in targeting is definitely something that is ramping up," one military source told *CNN*, "and there is no real guidance for how having a human in the loop will prevent civilian casualties or fratricide." **More on AI:** *[Iran Drone Strikes on Amazon Data Centers Are Permanently Deleting Customer Data]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()