When an Algorithm Almost Started a War In the tense, high-stakes environment of modern warfare, there are moments when the difference between peace and conflict hangs on the thinnest of threads. Such a moment unfolded recently when the United States came perilously close to a military confrontation with China—not because of deliberate aggression, political brinkmanship, or even a misinterpreted radio transmission between human commanders, but because of a mistake made by an artificial intelligence chatbot. As American forces were engaged in the Iran war, an intelligence report crossed the desks of senior military officials with alarming urgency: a Chinese vessel…

Across Europe, the last few weeks have felt less like the uneasy peace that followed the end of the Cold War and more like the tense opening chapters of a very modern conflict. Airspace violations, suspected acts of sabotage, and a steady drumbeat of intelligence warnings have pushed the continent into a strange new reality, one where the threat of war is no longer a distant abstraction but a planning scenario with page numbers and emergency protocols. As Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine grinds into its third year, European governments have been forced to pay attention to a shadowy campaign…