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US Military had close call after using AI for hallucinated intelligence report

https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/18/politics/us-military-ai-false-intelligence-china-ship
49•realsarm•57m ago

Comments

vegnus•46m ago
I hope I am alive for the history books of tomorrow.

"The Department of War (as it became known as), forewent it's traditional intelligence structure (the most expensive ever seen till that point), in order to have a private companies computer software generate viable targets for an upcoming operation. Believing that the software had real time updates on the current status and intelligence of the operation, as if it were some kind of oracle, the operation went as planned. Six schools, mistakenly identified as hostile targets (due to the heavy American bias in the softwares training data), were drone striked, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocents. Still, the people did nothing."

CodingJeebus•40m ago
I immediately thought about the Iran school bombings as well. The really insidious part of this to me is that AI gives the military a way to cover or deflect war crimes.

Does a horrific war crime like My Lai[0] get scrutinized and investigated in 2026 or do people just say "eh maybe AI gave them bad intel" and ignore it?

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre

nightski•10m ago
Since it's in quotes is that what was actually reported in the article? Or are you stating a hypothetical? Because if the school strike was actually AI led that is a big deal.
deadbabe•5m ago
It is exactly what happened.
Rebuff5007•5m ago
We know AI has been used to to target planning: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/04/anthrop...
_blk•9m ago
It's no secret that history is always written from a victor's perspective so I'm fairly confident that the history books of tomorrow are already being hallucinated today because AI is here to stay.
tacodestroyer•46m ago
Wargames: 2026
meep_meep_meep•15m ago
You guys wondered how AI could destroy the world? It could do this, but better and intentional.
nalekberov•11m ago
not AI, but idiots who use it for dangerous things.
meep_meep_meep•9m ago
Well that was intentional. All the integrations with the US military didn't happen by accident.

Edit: There's no way you're going to get these AI systems and not have them integrated with the military. It's a consequence of releasing this stuff on the world.

softwaredoug•10m ago
We’re going to learn a painful lesson

AI isn’t responsible. People are responsible.

It doesn’t matter if it’s code, writing, or military decisions. People can / should be held accountable. As soon as people choose to remove their own accountability, that’s when the bad stuff happens. Whether it’s slop code or innocent civilians killed in a missile strike

bonestamp2•8m ago
[delayed]
Rebuff5007•6m ago
If highly trained folks in the military that are literally choosing targets to bomb are succumbing to hallucinated AI slop, then what hope do the rest of us (e.g. students doing homework, a corporate analyst, a local journalist) have... dark times ahead
shimman•5m ago
Found this article by the FT way better than CNN on similar subject matter (how AI target is not helping the US military):

https://www.ft.com/content/686429c0-daf3-42a5-9b7c-7ff06eb29...

https://archive.ph/TFNjU

pixelesque•3m ago
But that was has nothing to do with the incident in the Middle East, it's a more general one.