Boko Haram is using mainstream chatbots: new Cambridge study warns

Cambridge University has released a study from Dr. Antonia Juelich that warns Boko Haram and other extremist groups are using mainstream chatbots in real-world operations.

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Based on 57 interviews with 27 former Boko Haram members, the study says both major Boko Haram factions are using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, and DeepSeek for attack planning, refining explosive device designs, troubleshooting weapons, and tightening operational security. It also describes specialist teams that reportedly train commanders, test prompts, and turn chatbot outputs into instructions that can be used in the field.

Juelich’s study says those safeguards are getting worked around in fairly simple ways, including splitting tasks across different bots or masking requests as fiction, film research, or academic work. It also says ISIS shared bypass methods in 2023 and trained Boko Haram commanders. Hamas, according to the report, has been linked to generated or manipulated imagery. Then there are the more recent cases: incidents in Las Vegas and Finland in 2025 and 2026 that point to a broader move toward private chatbot-assisted planning, the kind that gives investigators much less to see.

If you follow AI safety or security, this is a report you should read. Juelich frames the problem as both a growing national security threat and a guardrails failure for consumer tech companies.

You can read the study through Cambridge University.