A Cambridge research team has uncovered how Boko Haram has woven artificial intelligence into its insurgency operations. The group now uses widely available AI chatbots—including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek—to plan attacks, design explosives, operate drones and make battlefield decisions.
Researchers at the Cambridge Programme on AI Science & Policy conducted 57 face-to-face interviews across Borno and Adamawa states between 2025 and 2026. They found that the militant group moved well beyond casual experimentation, building dedicated technical units to embed AI across every stage of its campaigns.
The study spoke to 27 former Boko Haram members, ranging from mid-ranking commanders to bomb-makers, engineers and weapons specialists. These sources described the group's AI activities spanning 2023 and 2024, with one informant providing details that stretched into mid-2025.
Only 15 of the 27 interviewees held direct knowledge of the AI programme. The remaining participants didn't know about it because access was deliberately restricted to selected leaders and technical teams.
Both major factions—the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (JAS)—created specialised AI units staffed with between five and 20 members each. These teams brought together bomb-makers, engineers, intelligence operatives, weapons experts, computer-literate fighters and senior commanders.
ISWAP set up AI centres across its main bases in Sambisa Forest, Timbuktu and the Lake Chad region. The Lake Chad unit emerged as the faction's most senior AI hub, run under close watch by operatives connected to the Islamic State.
JAS built a central AI unit and planted smaller teams underneath each of its four top commanders. Members of these units stayed off the front lines, spared from regular combat duties.
Former fighters told researchers that one individual explained the security protocols: "access to computers was tightly controlled, with only designated AI specialists permitted to use the systems before passing instructions down the command chain."
Foreign Islamic State operatives introduced the technology to ISWAP through structured training. Senior commanders watched demonstrations projected on screens while selected personnel received hands-on lessons in using the platforms.
One training event brought together between 30 and 50 carefully vetted commanders and fighters, with each battalion nominating its most technically skilled members. The Lake Chad unit later trained roughly 10 people across 12 operational camps, building a wider network while keeping direct access tightly locked down.
Foreign operatives supplied laptops reserved solely for AI work, installed virtual private networks and encryption tools, created user accounts and paid for premium subscriptions. They also coached fighters on crafting prompts designed to circumvent platform safeguards, the report noted.
