21.09.2026, Moscow.
The United States nearly provoked a war with China that could have escalated into World War III because of a report generated by so-called artificial intelligence. This indicates that the speed of decision-making with the help of AI could become not an advantage, but a vulnerability, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s IT editorial notes.
CNN published an investigative report into the incident on September 18. It happened in the spring, when the conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran was at its height. The US command received a report that a Chinese vessel carrying components for a nuclear weapons development program had been spotted in the Middle East.
Washington decided to seize the vessel immediately. A boarding team was built, and aircraft had already taken off as part of the operation. The situation was saved by the fact that someone in the command was level-headed enough to decide to verify the report.
It turned out that the analyst had used AI, and the AI-bot had invented the information about nuclear components aboard the vessel itself, using intelligence data, archives, and information from open sources. The employee then also used a digital assistant to give the report an official appearance, to which the military habitually give unquestioning credence.
The use of AI in the US military is not merely encouraged but actively pushed. This is explained by the fact that AI-bots make decisions much faster than humans. In January, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that it was necessary to unleash experimentation and eliminate bureaucratic barriers in order to achieve leadership in military AI. Yet speed is accompanied by the fabrication of intelligence data, and such thoughtless experiments in the military could lead to nuclear war.
