{"id":127789,"date":"2026-08-03T09:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/127789\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T09:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:37:15","slug":"how-terrorist-groups-are-using-ai-in-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/127789\/","title":{"rendered":"How terrorist groups are using AI in operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over hours of interviews with former Boko Haram members, Cambridge researcher Antonia Juelich gained insight into how terrorist groups are using artificial intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrial and error can kill you. AI gives you accuracy,\u201d one former fighter told her<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The interviews, conducted in 2025 and 2026, explored who introduced militants to AI tools, how they incorporated the technology into daily operations, and how they worked around safeguards intended to prevent misuse.<\/p>\n

Juelich\u2019s findings suggest extremist organizations have already moved beyond simply experimenting with AI. Instead, she found the technology becoming embedded in routine operations as a general-purpose tool to solve problems, improve efficiency, and overcome logistical obstacles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat surprised me the most was that AI adoption and use has been faster, more extensive, and more systematic than I thought,\u201d Juelich told the Washington Examiner. \u201cAI misuse by terrorist groups is no longer some kind of hypothetical future threat, but a present and growing reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the public discussion around AI and terrorism has focused on catastrophic scenarios, such as terrorists using AI to develop chemical or biological weapons. Juelich argued that this emphasis overlooks how extremist groups are actually adopting the technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was very little evidence on what was happening on the ground,\u201d she said. Existing research, she argued, has largely focused on what AI models are theoretically capable of rather than how terrorist organizations are using them in practice.<\/p>\n

Instead, she found AI functioning as an \u201coperational assistant,\u201d helping militants answer everyday questions, troubleshoot problems, and improve existing capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really understood that it\u2019s a general-purpose technology that they can use for any kind of questions that come up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That \u201coperational middle ground\u201d is where Juelich believes governments and AI companies should concentrate their attention. Juelich said her interviews demonstrate the need to better understand how AI is already helping extremist groups overcome routine operational challenges before those capabilities evolve into something more dangerous.<\/p>\n

An intelligence problem with no single solution<\/p>\n

The research also underscores a high-level challenge: no single government agency, AI company, or research institution has a complete picture of how terrorist organizations are using artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Hersman, a national security expert who has proposed creating an AI threat fusion center<\/a>, said critical information is scattered across intelligence agencies, technology companies, and independent researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical information sits in very different locations,\u201d Hersman told the Washington Examiner. She added that AI companies may detect suspicious user behavior, intelligence agencies may possess classified reporting, and researchers may uncover insights through interviews like Juelich\u2019s research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t have is a way to pull that together \u2026 in a way that\u2019s safe and secure,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Juelich\u2019s interviews, Hersman said, illustrate the type of information that is difficult for any one organization to collect but becomes far more valuable when combined with other intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting alone, it\u2019s not perfect,\u201d Hersman said. \u201cBut put together more holistically, knitted together with other information, it could become incredibly valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

To bridge those gaps, Hersman has proposed creating a fusion center where cleared government officials and designated representatives from AI companies could share threat information while protecting classified intelligence and proprietary data.<\/p>\n

Such a center, she said, could produce \u201cthreat-informed risk assessments\u201d of how extremist groups are using \u2014 or may seek to use \u2014 AI, while also conducting classified model evaluations and reducing the risk of publicly disclosing sensitive information that could inadvertently aid adversaries.<\/p>\n

Hersman said Juelich\u2019s report reinforced her own research showing that terrorist organizations are using AI less for futuristic weapons programs than for practical operational support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really using it for what I would call operational assistance,\u201d Hersman said, referencing Juelich\u2019s report and pointing to tasks such as surveillance, target selection, and basic bomb-making guidance. While those activities may not be technologically sophisticated, she said, AI can remove obstacles that have traditionally complicated terrorist operations.<\/p>\n

That, she argued, makes it essential for governments and AI companies to look for those patterns now rather than waiting for more advanced forms of misuse to emerge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to lean forward and try to get ahead of where these actors might go before they actually go there,\u201d Hersman said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be looking at that problem in hindsight.\u201d<\/p>\n

How AI companies are responding<\/p>\n

The findings come as AI developers face pressure to demonstrate that their systems cannot be exploited by terrorist organizations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OpenAI told the Washington Examiner its policies prohibit terrorist and violent extremist activity and that its systems are designed to refuse requests related to building weapons or facilitating violence. The company said it can disable accounts, block related accounts, and work with law enforcement when it detects misuse.<\/p>\n

Anthropic said it relies on automated safeguards, dedicated threat intelligence teams, and outside partnerships to identify and disrupt dangerous activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur safeguards are built to refuse dangerous requests, including those tied to violence, attack planning and building explosives,\u201d an Anthropic spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n

The company also emphasized that defending against AI-enabled threats requires cooperation across the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo single company can counter these threats alone,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told the Washington Examiner it is also working with government and private-sector partners to monitor emerging AI developments and assess how the technology can strengthen national cyber defenses against malicious actors.<\/p>\n

The race to stay ahead<\/p>\n

Juelich warned that AI capabilities are advancing more quickly than traditional methods of assessing terrorist threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great if one provider has really strong safeguards,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t make us safer as a society if there are still other companies who don\u2019t really care about safety. We are only as strong as the weakest one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hersman agreed that strong guardrails at AI companies are important, but argued they are only one piece of the solution. To stay ahead of emerging threats, she said, governments and industry need a far better understanding of how specific terrorist organizations are already using AI to overcome operational barriers.<\/p>\n

HOW THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL BECAME LAW: READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER\u2019S 10-PART SERIES<\/a><\/p>\n

She said creating a fusion center would require combining classified intelligence, company data, and outside research in carefully controlled settings before extremist groups become sophisticated enough to pursue higher-risk capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be doing that or looking at that problem in hindsight,\u201d Hersman said, adding that \u201cthe companies are doing great work when it comes to setting really firm guardrails and trying to prohibit access to that information, but that is the difficult process, especially when we\u2019re doing it generically.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over hours of interviews with former Boko Haram members, Cambridge researcher Antonia Juelich gained insight into how terrorist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,206,16332,63714,134,36006],"class_list":["post-127789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-intelligence","tag-intelligence-community","tag-nigeria","tag-technology","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}