This is definitely a rabbit hole - but "AI Chat" is another way to describe various large language models. They aren't sentient - they don't strategize.
But you're proposing this possibility that they were effectively mobilized by "AI chat" and that has been discovered but is being quashed because the companies involved don't want it getting out is just wild fantasy at this point.
Do you want to talk about it like we're sitting around a campfire and passing a joint around? We don't really do that in these kinds of discussions. If there is more evidence of that kind of thing being involved, then perhaps it's worth discussing.