US military forces came close to boarding a Chinese vessel in the Middle East this spring after an intelligence report falsely claimed the ship carried components for a nuclear weapons program.

The report, prepared by a US Special Operations Command analyst, incorporated output from an AI chatbot that misidentified the ship's cargo. The chatbot combined open-source intelligence with classified signals intelligence, leading to the erroneous conclusion.

Preparations advanced quickly. Armed personnel stood ready to board, and military aircraft were airborne before officials reviewed the report more closely and identified the AI involvement. The operation was halted at the last moment.

One source familiar with the episode described the intelligence as "entirely false" and noted that it "almost started a war." Any boarding of a Chinese-flagged ship risked direct confrontation between the United States and China.

The incident unfolded during the ongoing US military campaign against Iran. The analyst had queried the chatbot about a ship manifest originally reported by US Special Operations Command Pacific in Hawaii. CNN reported that four sources confirmed details of the near-miss.

The episode highlights vulnerabilities in the Pentagon's accelerating adoption of AI tools for intelligence analysis. Officials have not identified the specific chatbot used or clarified whether it was a commercial product or a government system.

No details emerged on the ship's actual cargo. The event underscores the need for rigorous human oversight in AI-assisted military reporting amid heightened global tensions.