AI & TERRORISMAl‑Qaida and the Islamic State Are Both Adopting AI – but Differ in How They Think About the Technology
Both movements use AI for many of the same practical purposes. The difference lies in how they understand the technology and the questions they ask beyond immediate use.
Artificial intelligence may not create a new kind of terrorism, but it makes existing tactics cheaper, faster and easier. That is the central argument of a July 2026 report from the U.S.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
It is a convincing argument, but it leaves one question unanswered: Are different terrorist groups thinking about the technology in the same way?
As a terrorism expert who studies how militant groups think and adapt, I have analyzed propaganda, guides and strategic writings from the two most influential jihadi movements of the 21st century – al-Qaida and the Islamic State group – to observe how they interpret and adopt new technologies, such as AI. I also examined documented uses of AI by their affiliates, media outlets and supporters.
I found that affiliates, media outlets and supporters across both movements use AI for propaganda, recruitment, security and planning. But al-Qaida and Islamic State-linked networks approach AI in ways that reflect how each movement fights. Al-Qaida is more deliberate and thinks in decades. The Islamic State moves quickly and seeks immediate effect.
In short, each group’s approach reflects its organizational culture and reveals a different view of time and war. The Islamic State built its project around a caliphate to hold and display now – and that urgency rewards whoever produces a visible effect today. Al-Qaida built its project around a generational war of attrition, betting that will and endurance could outlast a technologically superior enemy.
The Islamic State AI Approach
The Islamic State has long been the more aggressive media innovator of the two movements. At the height of its self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, it built a sophisticated media apparatus prioritizing speed, spectacle and professional production. That instinct has carried into the AI era, aided by younger, digitally immersed supporters and recruits who readily experiment with new tools.
Since 2023, Islamic State supporters and affiliates have produced a growing stream of AI-generated content. After the March 2024 Moscow concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people, supporters circulated a bulletin celebrating the killings. It featured a fake, AI-generated Arabic-speaking anchor who framed the attack as part of the group’s wider war against its enemies.
Islamic State-linked networks have also used AI to generate images, speed up translation and produce multilingual propaganda.
