'Almost started a war': Democrats demand probe into AI-assisted intel report

WASHINGTON, DC: After a controversial defense report prepared with AI assistance ignited severe backlash, Democratic leaders are now demanding a probe into the matter.

Several Democratic senators have written a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton on Saturday, September 19, regarding the extent of AI adoption by agencies.

Democrats demand probe into AI intel failure

A group of Democratic senators have urged the government watchdogs to launch a probe into a series of mistakes in US military targeting plans caused by artificial intelligence.

In the letter, the close call with a Chinese ship in the Middle East was cited as an example of recent events that “have given us growing concern about the extent to which agencies under your oversight have prioritized acceleration of AI capability adoption and ‘experimentation’ over effective governance.”

In the letter, Sens Mark Warner, Jack Reed and Chris Coons called for an “immediate investigation by relevant Inspectors General, with a higher degree of public transparency in the ultimate findings, given the impacts these perceived failures have on public confidence in our intelligence and warfighting missions.”

AI-generated report was entirely false

A defense report was circulated across the US military, claiming that Chinese vessels were transporting components of a nuclear weapons program in the Middle East.

CNN reported on Friday that a special operations command analyst relied on AI to generate an intelligence report that was “entirely false.”

The report prompted the US military to prepare for an operation to intercept the vessels, according to four sources familiar with the episode.

It was only when the operation was already underway - with military aircraft in the air - that officials discovered the report had been generated with AI, and that the chatbot the analyst used had inaccurately identified the material the ship was carrying.

While the operation was narrowly averted and potential war was avoided, the incident has raised serious questions about the military's growing dependence on artificial intelligence.

The report, according to one of the sources, was “entirely false.” But it also “almost started a war,” the source said.