A new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), shared exclusively with WIRED, warns that young supporters of Islamist terror groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida are increasingly using generative AI tools to produce cartoons, memes and fan edits glorifying extremist violence, a trend researchers have dubbed "Slop Jihad". Examples include a notorious ISIS execution video recreated as a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon and ISIS's weekly al-Naba newsletter turned into anime, illustrating how AI is reshaping the aesthetics of jihadist propaganda to make it more accessible and appealing to younger audiences while disguising it as entertainment.

Researchers say this content can draw viewers in unintentionally through seemingly innocuous formats before algorithms push them towards more overt propaganda. Moustafa Ayad of ISD identified 150 such videos from 71 accounts on TikTok, amassing more than 5.4 million views, with only a small number found on Instagram and Facebook; TikTok was previously named among the top 10 platforms for spreading extremist content in a 2024 OECD report. Adam Hadley of Tech Against Terrorism, which has produced its own report on the phenomenon, said the growing volume and diversity of such material was the main concern, while Ayad noted the trend is still growing and has provoked mixed reactions among traditional extremist supporters, some of whom view the AI-generated content as inauthentic.