Mali's warring sides are increasingly using artificial intelligence to fight an information war alongside their battle on the ground, a study published Wednesday has found. Jihadists are experimenting with relatively basic AI propaganda, separatist networks are creating fake online characters and Russia's Africa Corps is using the technology on a far more sophisticated scale.
The study, Algorithms at War, by the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute examines how generative AI is being used across Mali's conflict – including by JNIM jihadists linked to al-Qaeda, their allies in the FLA, the Front de libération de l'Azawad, a Tuareg independence movement, Mali's transitional authorities and Russia's Africa Corps.
