US Military Nearly Boards Chinese Ship

The U.S. military nearly intercepted and boarded a Chinese ship after an intelligence report falsely said it carried components for a nuclear weapons program. The report came from a Special Operations Command analyst who used an AI chatbot to synthesize the ship’s manifest; the chatbot misidentified the cargo. The episode unfolded during the U.S. war with Iran, when a clash with a Chinese vessel could have escalated into a U.S.-China armed conflict. The Pentagon has pushed AI into military intelligence, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promoting AI acceleration and dominance. Armed personnel were preparing to board, and aircraft were airborne, before officials rechecked the report and canceled the mission. It remains unclear whether the chatbot was commercial or government-built.