Editor’s Note
This article discusses a concerning trend highlighted in a recent security report: the adoption of artificial intelligence by terrorist organizations. The potential misuse of this powerful technology poses new and evolving challenges for global security.
The advent of technology has brought both benefits and drawbacks, a fact well known to the world. Recently, the use of AI, or Artificial Intelligence, has been increasing. AI easily completes people’s difficult and extensive tasks. However, its misuse has now also begun. A recent report from Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) has revealed that terrorist organizations have started using AI. Organizations using AI include the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. American security agencies have also become concerned about this.
The ISD report stated that technologies like AI and 3D printing can be used to promote terrorism. Just last year, a 17-year-old boy used an AI chatbot to prepare an oath of allegiance to ISIS. Similarly, another boy obtained information from AI about making ammunition and planned to create weapons using 3D printing. While this has not yet been used in attacks in Singapore, terrorist organizations in several countries are executing nefarious plans through it.
The ISD reported that youth are being served radical content through online platforms. Using WhatsApp, Telegram, X, Instagram, Reddit, Discord, etc., radical sentiments are being amplified among people. The report mentioned that previously, it took an average of two years (24 months) for someone to become radicalized, but between 2021 and 2025, this timeline has halved. This means online radicals are now being created in just 12 months. In February 2025, a 15-year-old girl underwent online training for ISIS for a few weeks and became a radical supporter of that terrorist organization.
According to a report by The Guardian, the rise of radicalism through AI is a serious challenge even for a powerful country like the United States. American sources say that intelligence agencies here (CIA and FBI) are concerned about how to counter the AI technology being used by terrorist groups. Using AI, these groups are rapidly spreading their propaganda. The Islamic State (IS) has also started recruiting new people through OpenAI’s ChatBot and ChatGPT.
Understand how terrorists are using AI through the example of the Islamic State (IS). First, IS converted its propaganda material into audio or video with the help of AI, then sent it to those they wanted to indoctrinate. Videos on bomb-making and new weapon designs are being created using AI. Simultaneously, AI is also being used to inquire about the use of household items in the bomb-making process.