# China’s J-36 fighter jet designers report danger of military AI hallucinations > Source: > Published: 2026-08-19 14:00:14+00:00 # China’s J-36 fighter jet designers report danger of military AI hallucinations Content generated by artificial intelligence models can ‘defy basic physics, design principles or operational constraints’ [Zhang Tong](/author/zhang-tong)in Beijing [Large language models](https://www.scmp.com/topics/ai-science?module=inline&pgtype=article)are expert in intelligence work, able to quickly mine key data and analyse [weapons](https://www.scmp.com/topics/chinas-military-weapons?module=inline&pgtype=article)performance – tasks that once took analysts huge amounts of time and effort. [next generation J-36 stealth fighters](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3362241/new-images-point-fifth-prototype-chinas-j-36-fighter-jet-air-power-race-us?module=inline&pgtype=article), have urged caution. In a paper published on June 20, engineer Zhang Xianzhe said that “AI models can invent aircraft specifications – length, payload, weapons, speed, combat radius – and get radar scan ranges and frequency bands wrong”. “The so-called hallucination effect, where models produce plausible but false outputs, could have severe consequences in the high-stakes, low-error world of defence intelligence, possibly even causing strategic miscalculations,” he said. Zhang’s work was published in Information Studies: Theory & Application, a journal run by China’s state-owned arms maker Norinco. According to the paper, every fighter jet begins with a deep understanding of the enemy and the battlefield. Designers must answer critical questions: what is the opponent’s radar coverage and which frequencies do they use?