African law enforcement agencies and cybercriminals are almost equally exposed to AI. But they are not adopting it at the same speed, according to Interpol’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026.
AI was involved in 55% of cybercrime cases observed by African countries surveyed by Interpol in 2025, as criminals used the technology to produce convincing phishing messages, fabricate identities, and impersonate executives and public figures. Deepfake incidents increased sevenfold between the second and fourth quarters of 2024.
The police pursuing them are adopting the same technology much more slowly. Only 8% of intelligence analysts surveyed had advanced AI expertise, while 92% of agencies cited a lack of technical expertise as their main obstacle to using AI. Most still relied on manual processes.
“Criminals are now operating at machine speed,” Interpol said. Law enforcement, by contrast, remains constrained by “legal processes, bureaucratic delays, and a lack of technical capacity”.
Making sophistication cheaper
