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China engineers warn AI models may hallucinate fighter specifications
A paper by AVIC Chengdu researchers says AI can also misstate radar scan ranges and frequency bands, raising the risk of strategic miscalculations in defense intelligence.
Large language models can rapidly mine intelligence and analyze weapons performance, but engineers in China’s defense sector are warning about errors they say AI systems can produce. The caution comes from engineers at AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Research and Design Institute, which is associated with China’s People’s Liberation Army fighter jet programs including the J-20 and next-generation J-36, according to a report by SCMP Economy.
In a paper dated June 20, engineer Zhang Xianzhe said AI models can invent aircraft specifications, including length, payload, weapons, speed, and combat radius. The researcher also warned that models can get radar scan ranges and frequency bands wrong, an error he tied to the broader risk of “hallucination” producing plausible but false outputs.
SCMP Economy reports the work was published in Information Studies: Theory & Application, a journal run by Norinco, and framed the issue as a serious concern for defense intelligence. The paper says fighter jet design depends on understanding the enemy and the battlefield, including questions about an opponent’s radar coverage and the frequencies they use.