Tool and target: US law enforcement grapple with AI-enabled terrorism and anti-tech extremism
Source: The Guardian ·
From the FBI to local police departments, US authorities are increasingly warning of would-be terrorists using chatbots to plan attacks and anti-AI extremist threats In May 2025, a 25-year-old man detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic, killing himself and injuring four others. For many, it was a wake up call about the threats to reproductive care facilities. For the FBI,…
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In May 2025, a 25-year-old man detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic, killing himself and injuring four others. For many, it was a wake up call about the threats to reproductive care facilities. For the FBI, though, it was also a sign of what the agency had feared for years: bad actors were using generative AI to plan and execute terror plots. The suspect used an unnamed generative AI tool that failed to detect his request for bomb-making instructions, law enforcement officers wrote in a previously unreported document reviewed by the Guardian. The privacy of his conversation with the AI chatbot hindered alerting police that someone was looking up how to make a bomb, according to the memo. FBI officers fear the scenario is set to repeat itself: “Threat actors will likely increase their use of GenAI tools for attack planning,” said the memo, which was distributed by the bureau’s Los Angeles division in May 2026. “Current built-in GenAI safeguards are insufficient…