In Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, Russian agents allegedly intentionally used the smart assistant “Claude” to exert pro-Russian influence. This is what the American company “Anthropic” stated in its latest report issued in September entitled “Detecting and Combating the Misuse of Artificial Intelligence.” According to the report, opposition politicians were monitored, propaganda content was created, and disinformation campaigns were supported. Claude was also allegedly used to collect information on several prominent opposition figures in this country.
According to information from the American company, “Cloud” was used specifically to produce content broadcast on “Radio Lingo Songo,” a radio station funded by Russia, according to the international research group All Eyes on Wagner. This group of journalists, academics and experts investigates the activities of the Russian mercenary group Wagner around the world as well as its successor structures such as the Africa Corps.
Pro-Russian propaganda, opposition monitoring
According to the "Anthropic" report, the contents were supportive of Russia and adopted a positive stance towards the government of the Central African Republic and the "Africa Corps" mercenaries, but expressed criticism towards France and the opposition. It is alleged that several opposition political figures were regularly monitored and information about them was updated using the smart assistant “Cloud”.
Lou Osborne, a member of All Eyes on Wagner, participated in the research conducted to prepare the latest report. He believes that these methods belong to a practice previously observed by the “Wagner” group in the Central African Republic. "They have been doing this for several years. For example, some people who are not necessarily closely linked to the Touadera regime have been arrested," he told DW. Faustin-Archange Touadera has served as President of the Central African Republic since 2016. “The arrests were the subject of campaigns on the Internet, in newspapers and on radio with the aim of portraying them either as agents of France or Western intelligence services or as people planning a coup against Touadera.”
Anthropic also reported that Claude was apparently asked to portray opponents as armed activists with the aim of provoking security services to intervene against them. Anthropic wrote that Claude rejected this request. However, the report did not mention the names of the opponents subject to surveillance, the exact type of data collected, or the identity of the entity that obtained it.
Opposition: The government wants to get rid of us
As for the opposition in the Central African Republic, the Anthropic report reveals the determination of the government in Bangui and its Russian allies to get rid of the opposition. Martin Zigwill, spokesman for the Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution and head of the Central African People's Liberation Movement, recalls an incident that occurred several years ago:
"We have already noticed this since 2020 when (the Alliance of Patriots for Change, a rebel group) attacked the city of Bangui. It is strange that many media outlets have actually done everything in their power to link alleged links between certain opposition leaders and this coalition," Zigweli told DW. “There were also attacks against the opposition in which it was claimed that we were receiving money from abroad. In addition to an attempt to pass a law mandating the presence of foreign agents in the country. It all goes back to the machinations of the Wagner Group, just like this latest revelation.”
DW has also obtained comment from the Russian side. “Yes, I heard it on the news,” said the representative of the Russian mission in the Central African Republic, Dmitry Siti. “But there are no specific facts, just accusations. Can you mention something specific from this report? Who is the opposition member and in what capacity? This is exactly what I mean. These are vague accusations that lack accuracy and evidence.”
Has influence through artificial intelligence also been exercised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Sudan and Mali?
Russia therefore denies these accusations. But what if the Central African Republic is not an isolated case? According to the report, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Sudan are also affected.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the report, Anthropic monitored 318 articles published across a network of about 70 fake news websites and then circulated through more than 250 fake accounts on the “X” platform. These contents supported the positions of the Congolese government in light of the conflict with Rwanda. In Kenya, Claude was allegedly used to generate strings of 50 stories each supporting the government and hostile to the opposition.
As for Sudan, according to the Anthropic report, artificial intelligence was allegedly used in an operation attributed to officials from the United Arab Emirates, in particular to prepare false witness testimonies to be submitted to the United Nations.
In Mali, it is alleged that a consultant linked to the intelligence services used “Cloud” to develop a platform to monitor communications traffic. This platform was supposed to control 25 million SIM cards and be used to circumvent the obligation to obtain judicial authorization.
Anthropic says it detected and thwarted all of these various operations between December 2025 and August 2026, in particular by deleting the accounts in question and strengthening its detection systems.
Prepared in Arabic by: M.A.M
