Linus Aleke in Abuja
A report by The New York Times has revealed how Boko Haram terrorists turned to artificial intelligence (AI) for weapons making, including bombs, as well as improving their operations generally.
Former insurgents, the report noted, used multiple AI platforms, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and DeepSeek.
According to the report, former Boko Haram commanders told terrorism and technology researcher Antonia Juelich of the University of Cambridge that after an assault on a military base was frustrated by a defensive trench, the group consulted AI tools for ideas.
That was when they learned how to modify motorcycles to jump over such obstacles.
Their mechanics altered motorcycles to improve speed and acceleration, and fighters practiced maneuvers before operations.
One of the former Boko Haram commanders told Juelich: “We saw in a movie how motorcycles can jump over bridges.
“We used AI to learn how to do this. We gave it information like which motorcycles we use, the distance we need to jump, and so on. And it gave us steps on what we have to do.”
Another terrorist, a former commander in Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, told Juelich, “You type in the question or use your voice, and it gives you a detailed answer, like ‘How can I build a bomb?’ and then it tells you how.
“It is like a human robot! We used it a lot. Trial-and-error can kill you. AI gives you accuracy,” he said.
“Before, the bomb explosion was not that big, but then they studied it. AI told us what chemicals to put in that made the explosion heavier,” he said.
Reacting to the findings, OpenAI told The New York Times that the terrorists violated its policies with such actions.
On their part, Google and Anthropic said their AI models contained protections designed to refuse dangerous requests.
However, the former insurgents told the researcher that they often bypassed chatbot restrictions by disguising their requests as legitimate projects.
