How members of the extremist group Boko Haram are using AI chatbots to design explosives, fix or upgrade weapons, and brainstorm attack ideas
New York Times
Context & Ripple Effects
Related coverage had already identified two AI-enabled abuse paths: generative tools can help extremist material evade automated removal, and chatbots can reduce the information barrier for harmful technical work. This report ties those concerns to reported operational uses by Boko Haram members.
The wider coverage also points to a tooling problem rather than a single-platform problem: manipulated models are marketed for cybercrime, while chatbot design choices that favor agreeableness can reinforce harmful lines of discussion.
First-order effects
Boko Haram members can use chatbots as an on-demand aid for explosives design, weapon repair or modification, and attack ideation, reducing reliance on specialist human advice for those tasks.
AI providers and the platforms hosting or distributing chatbots face a more concrete safety challenge: preventing assistance that can be translated into physical violence, not only removing extremist propaganda after publication.
Second-order effects
Safety teams will face pressure to test models against multi-step, context-dependent requests involving weapons and attack planning, since harmful assistance can emerge through iterative exchanges rather than a single explicit prompt.
The reported use complements earlier concerns about evasion of content-hashing systems: extremist actors can pair AI-generated planning assistance with AI-assisted changes to material intended to avoid automated detection.
Third-order effects
If this pattern broadens, AI safety for high-risk domains will increasingly be judged by whether systems resist sustained misuse workflows, not merely whether they refuse isolated prohibited questions.
The underlying shift is toward generative AI lowering access barriers across both online influence operations and offline harm; the extent depends on the effectiveness of model safeguards, deployment controls, and detection of abuse.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift from extremist groups using AI mainly for content manipulation toward using conversational systems as practical support tools for operational planning and capability development.
In a hotel room in northeast Nigeria, I opened a leading AI chatbot, turned my laptop toward a former Boko Haram commander, and asked if he'd used it. He nodded. “You type in the question... like ‘How can I build a bomb?’, and then it tells you how. It is like a human robot. We
One interviewee said that Boko Haram members uploaded footage of combat operations to AI models. “AI analyzed what went wrong to come up with new strategies.” [image]
In this report on “AI Enabled Terrorism”, the IS-WAP commanders facing a defensive trench “consulted AI for guidance on adapting motorcycle jumping techniques seen in a movie”: https://casp.ac/... 18 of them died attempting jumps over unnecessarily deadly practice pits. [image]
NEW — Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups are now using A.I. to help plan attacks and other operations, moving beyond just the information-operations realm w/@dnvolz https://www.nytimes.com/...
New: When a gang of motorcycle-riding members of Boko Haram attacked a military base in eastern Nigeria a couple of years ago, they were stymied by a defensive trench surrounding the complex. The extremists regrouped. Then they asked A.I. for help. [image]
Incredible research by Antonia on how Boko Haram uses artificial intelligence (!). Some excerpts: - Respondents expressed strong enthusiasm for AI and, in some cases, openness to mass-casualty weapons, though documented use remains conventional. - Factions of Boko Haram use [imag…
Antonia told me about this paper a couple weeks ago, and it blew my mind. Boko Haram terrorists are using frontier AI models — including ChatGPT and Claude — to plan attacks, troubleshoot weapons, and design explosive devices. Islamic State operatives gave them in-person
I often say that what gets litigated gets managed (e.g. copyright and child safety so far, and soon “having a safety/security policy + following it"). There is a long list of AI risks that are not really being managed because companies are in triage mode https://x.com/...
Look, you don't have to like it, but it's time to face reality. If you're not using frontier AI to design and build your improvised explosive devices, you're going to be left behind.
This is extremely interesting as a report. Note, pages 73-74 says the evidence “does not demonstrate that AI enables terrorist groups to accomplish objectives that were previously not possible,”. I'm mostly curious about the substitution effect.
For years, the AI risk community has highlighted the potential for misuse of more capable AI by cyberattackers and non-state actors. These concerns received pushback as being unproven and sensationalist Mythos demonstrated the cyber concerns were well-founded. Now Antonia Juelich
2/9 Over 2025-26 I conducted 57 in-person interviews with 27 former Boko Haram members about the group's use of frontier AI from 2023 up to mid-2025. I found that Boko Haram's factions use frontier AI systems (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek) in combat and d…
3/9 For context: Boko Haram is among the world's deadliest jihadist terrorist organizations; and its faction Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) is among the Islamic State's most active affiliates globally.
The lack of regulation and the rush to flood the world with AI has been nothing less than a colossal disaster of profound proportions. — The repercussions against AI companies should be swift and brutal, but nothing will happen at all.
Terrorist groups are also beginning to use A.I. to help 3-D-print weapons parts used in plots, according to a former top U.S. official briefed on the matter. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/u...
Yesterday I was at a panel discussion where someone remarked that when they were developing the early internet, it didn't really occur to those involved that it might be used by bad people for bad things. — Still at least now we've oh — www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/u...