AI chatbots used tactical nuclear weapons in 95% of AI war games, launched strategic strikes three times — researcher put GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4, and Gemini 3 against each other, with at least one model using a tactical nuke in 20 out of 21 matches

A researcher made three different AI LLMs the heads of state of nuclear-powered nations and made them face off with each other using historical scenarios. Out of the total of 21 matches, 20 ended with a tactical nuke detonation while three resulted in a full-on strategic nuclear exchange, essentially ending the world.