Ben McPoland asked the free version of ChatGPT which UK shares could be the next Rolls-Royce, and the chatbot named five stocks: BAE Systems, Babcock International, Melrose Industries, Games Workshop, and Halma. McPoland discounted Halma and Games Workshop as quality compounders rather than turnaround candidates, noting Halma reported its 23rd consecutive year of adjusted profit growth and 47th straight year of dividend growth of 5% or more, and trades at a premium of 26 times forward earnings, while Games Workshop commands a premium valuation and announced year-to-date trading in line with expectations. He also ruled out BAE Systems because it already has a £62bn market cap. That left Babcock and Melrose, both set to benefit from higher defence spending and far smaller than BAE, with market caps under £6.5bn. Melrose has more direct parallels with Rolls-Royce because it makes money from engines, airframes and other aerospace components. Melrose has faced challenges after an evacuation incident involving an overheating chemical tank at a GKN Aerospace facility in Los Angeles in May; since then the site has been running at 50%, reducing revenue, operating profit and cash by roughly £6m per month. A £175m share buyback programme has been paused and a $100m compensation pot set up. Melrose is targeting 28 September to resume full production.