“God has helped us, and so will AI!” Members of terrorist group Boko Haram seem to be placing their faith in a new pantheon of algorithmic prophets: ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Chinese chatbot DeepSeek. In a report published by Cambridge University Friday, more than 20 former members of both factions of the Nigeria-based jihadist movement shared their experiences on how the group has been using AI to further its aims. “Generally, it is quite hard to get people to talk to you about this,” said Antonia Juelich, a specialist in technology and terrorism, and the author of the report. “What has made this all possible is that I've been working on this case for almost a decade now … it still requires a lot of trust building to get people to open up about it.” ‘Force multiplier’ Until now, the use of AI by movements like Boko Haram has mostly been divined through the traces they leave online, in internet forums or Telegram groups. Experts’ assessment had been until recently that the tools were largely used to produce propaganda, disinformation or recruitment material. Graig Klein, a specialist in international terrorism at Leiden University who has also worked on jihadist groups’ use of AI, said the interviews – the most recent of which took place in mid-2025 – supported what his own research had begun to uncover. “One of the big agreements that came out of it was that it's less likely to lead to new forms of terrorism, or new types of attacks or brand new weapons,” he said. “But that it's mostly that it's a force multiplier – that it improves the capability that these groups have.” According to her research, these Nigeria-based jihadists began using AI as early as 2023, just a few months after the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. “There is nothing we haven’t received an answer on,” one ex-jihadist told Juelich. “We believe it knows everything.”