There is an information war being fought in Mali online and on social media platforms. A new study outlines how generative artificial intelligence is being used by state, nonstate and foreign entities to push propaganda and misinformation.
A September 9 report by the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute, titled “Algorithms at War: How Generative AI is Reshaping the Malian Conflict,” examined al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Malian government, Russia’s Africa Corps and the Tuareg separatist group Azawad Liberation Front (FLA).
“It is entirely possible that Mali could become a veritable laboratory for AI-assisted information warfare,” the report stated. “While the most advanced kinetic applications remain largely speculative for now, the battle of narratives is already underway. In an increasingly saturated information landscape, the ability to distinguish the real from the fabricated is itself becoming a security issue.”
The FLA has used AI as an anonymization tool and to create, disseminate and amplify content based on AI-generated characters on social media to boost the Azawad cause and facilitate the recruitment of fighters. The report identified a network of TikTok accounts that repost each other, creating an illusion of grassroots support.
“These AI characters offer the FLA several advantages,” the Institute said. “They help humanize the movement, tailor messages to specific audiences (a teenage character can more easily reach young people), and facilitate the spread of a narrative favorable to Azawad independence. Above all, they provide unmatched operational security: it is impossible to capture or interrogate a fighter who has no physical existence.”
JNIM has used generative AI to create visual material to accompany its existing propaganda campaigns, such as videos celebrating its April attacks on Bamako and central Mali. Researchers warn that the terrorist group’s use of the technology is in its infancy but has far-ranging implications in a confusing media environment.
“JNIM demonstrates limited but notable experimentation with generative AI compared to the refined capabilities of the Islamic State,” the report said.
At the other end of the spectrum, Africa Corps has the full weight of Russia’s information war machine. “The paramilitary group has folded AI into an already well-oiled disinformation apparatus,” the report said.
With the aid and support of their allies in the Africa Corps, Malian military authorities have access to the resources and expertise to integrate AI into sophisticated information operations. One TikTok account with more than 436,000 followers posts AI-generated content heaping praise on the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and the Africa Corps.
One video amassed 4.7 million views by showing FAMa Soldiers and Russian mercenaries recapturing the northern city of Kidal. Because the content is pro-junta and pro-Russia, it did not show Russian mercenaries abandoning the city weeks later.
“Malian authorities have adopted Russian methods as their own,” the report stated. “By controlling the national media space and leaning on these digital relays, the junta is seeking to shore up its legitimacy and divert attention from the deteriorating security situation.”
The use of generative AI does not come as a surprise in the complex landscape that is the Sahel, with its military-run governments, shadowy Russian influence campaigns and increasingly sophisticated insurgent groups.
The popularity of junta leaders and Africa Corps mercenaries depends upon these themes, according to Jacob Boswall, a security analyst who tracks militant activity for the BBC’s media monitoring service.
“[Niger is] underplaying the role that Africa Corps has in these countries, and they’re overplaying the resource-nationalism narrative — the idea that the government is in control and fighting back against the jihadists,” he said in a September 5 BBC article. “There is a huge media war going on in the Sahel to control the narrative around that.”
Russia’s sprawling information-warfare apparatus has gone to great lengths to prop up the Sahel’s military rulers. AI deepfake images and videos portraying Burkinabe junta leader Ibrahim Traoré as a Pan African cult hero went viral in 2025. Many of them made claims of economic deals and developments that never occurred.
“It’s algorithmic populism; emotional, visual, anti-Western and hyper-shareable,” Burkinabe researcher Alidou Werem told The Africa Report. “It’s about vibe and vision and not fact or policy. Social media platforms reward spectacle and Traoré’s image fits perfectly into that ecosystem.”
With terrorism still running rampant in the Sahel, there is growing suspicion of official government narratives. However, analysts say that kind of distrust can lead people into the arms of other, opposing sources of misinformation.
The Timbuktu Institute report concluded that it is up to Sahelian journalists, citizens and civil society groups to help identify and counter false information.
“For Sahelian states in general, the response can no longer be limited to conventional measures for countering disinformation; it must also strengthen digital literacy, detection capabilities, and prevention strategies in the face of a technology destined to permanently reshape the nature of the conflicts at hand,” the report said.