Abstract
How are terrorists using AI? Semi-structured interviews with 27 former Boko Haram members conducted in northeast Nigeria in 2025 and 2026 reveal unprecedented detail about AI-assisted terrorist activity primarily through 2024. This report finds that both factions of Boko Haram use frontier AI, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek, to assist in combat and day-to-day operations. This AI use is institutionalized through specialized units and internal training. It has aided in attack planning, weapons troubleshooting, and the design of explosive devices, as users have successfully circumvented some safeguards. This know-how was transferred through transnational jihadist networks, with Islamic State operatives delivering in-person training. Respondents expressed strong enthusiasm for AI and, in some cases, openness to mass-casualty weapons, though documented use remains conventional. Terrorist adoption of AI has thus advanced further and more systematically than prior analysis has recognized, making it a present and growing reality that warrants attention from policymakers, security communities, and AI developers.
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