AI incident ·
U.S. Navy Unmanned Vessel Reportedly Capsized Support Boat After Receiving Inadvertent Command
On this page 6 sections
In brief
An AI system built by Unmanned Surface Vessel Manufacturers, Defense Technology Companies and 2 others and deployed by United States Navy, United States Armed Forces and 3 others allegedly harmed Watercraft, Vessel Operators and 2 others.
- Risk domain
- Not classified
- Occurred
- Coverage
- 1 report
What happened
During U.S. Navy testing at Channel Islands Harbor Marina on June 23, 2025, an unmanned vessel under tow reportedly received an inadvertent command and accelerated, capsizing the support boat and throwing its captain into the water. Emergency responders reportedly recovered the captain, who declined medical attention. The incident was reportedly attributed to software failures and human error, including communication breakdowns between onboard systems and external autonomy software.
Laws on record for this risk area
No instrument on record yet covers this risk area where it happened. See the open queue.
Matched from the record's risk category and country to the instruments in effect recorded here: a law listed covers the area, which is not a finding that it applies to this incident. A reviewer can correct the match in the repository (data/external/incident_overrides.yaml).
News reports (1)
Titles link to the original publisher; report text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- United States Navy, United States Armed Forces, Naval Forces, Military Organizations, Military Autonomous Systems Operators
- Alleged developer
- Unmanned Surface Vessel Manufacturers, Defense Technology Companies, Blacksea Technologies, Autonomous Maritime Systems Developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Watercraft, Vessel Operators, Support Boats, Maritime Workers
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- —
- Risk subdomain
- —
- Causal entity
- —
- Intent
- —
- Timing
- —
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Source record: incident #1561 on the AI Incident Database · all 1 report