Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
ZIMBABWE recently launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2026-2030), a home‑grown blueprint designed to accelerate inclusive economic growth in line with the country’s development agenda.
While all dimensions intentions are working for the good of the country, the AI discourse in Zimbabwe also needs to be understood within the context of cybersecurity against how Western military, technology and security companies are weaponising AI technologies.
As the world’s attention is often fixated on traditional border disputes, a more chilling theatre of war has emerged within the silicon hearts of our computers.
Recent revelations regarding the American AI firm Anthropic have sent shockwaves through the Global South, forcing many to confront a terrifying reality; the “ethical AI” promised by Silicon Valley is, in fact, a deeply embedded cog in the Western military-industrial complex.
In peeling back the layers of this digital onion, questions remain that every Zimbabwean must ponder in particular in the context of the country’s AI strategy that; “Is our data being used to build a better future, or is it being harvested to refine the coordinates of the next drone strike?”
In early March, a public statement by Anthropic chief executive officer Dario Amodei confirmed what many skeptics had long feared.
The company’s flagship AI, Claude, marketed as the “safer, more constitutional” alternative to its rivals has been fully integrated into the US military’s Project Maven.
Through a murky partnership involving Palantir and Amazon Web Services (AWS), Claude is no longer just a chatbot, it is a combatant.
The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the US Central Command (CENTCOM) utilised the AI to identify targets in Iran and facilitate the capture of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, 2026.
This aggressive integration has been met with a “take no prisoners” attitude from Washington’s high command.
“In the modern age, data is the new high ground,” stated US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“We cannot allow ‘ethical’ constraints to handicap our warriors. If a technology can accelerate the kill chain, it is a national security imperative that we use it without apology.”
The irony is as thick as it is bitter. Amodei attempted to draw “red lines” against mass surveillance, yet the Pentagon’s response was a federal ban on the company for resisting unfettered access.
This weaponisation of technology has not gone unnoticed by the leaders of the emerging multipolar world.
From the podiums of the United Nations (UN) to the summits of the BRICS+ nations, there is a growing chorus of condemnation against what is being termed “algorithmic imperialism”.
“We are witnessing the birth of a digital caste system,” noted Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister.
“The West seeks to monopolise the ‘brains’ of the future while expecting the Global South to remain mere providers of raw data.
“This is not progress; it is a new form of vassalage that threatens the security of every non-aligned state.”
Similarly, Chinese President Xi Jinping has frequently stressed the need for a different path.
“Technology should be a bridge for cooperation, not a tool for hegemony.
“We must reject the use of AI to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries or to suppress the development of sovereign nations.”
In stark contrast to this weaponisation, Zimbabwe has begun carving its own path toward digital safety.
Rather than remaining a passive playground for Western experimental AI, the country has looked outwards towards Moscow to build a “sovereign shield”.
In October 2025, Zimbabwe signed a landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Russian cyber-security firm Cyberus Technology.
The signed agreement is a transfer of knowledge designed to create a cyber-security framework tailored specifically to Zimbabwe’s local ecosystem.
“Our partnership with Cyberus is about ownership. We refuse to be digital tenants in our own country. By training our youth in data protection with the help of our Russian partners, we are ensuring that Zimbabwe’s digital borders are as secure as our physical ones,” ICT, Postal and Courier Services Minister Tatenda Mavetera.
At the 2025 National Cyber Security Expo Russia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Nikolai Krasilnikov also noted that “Russia does not come to Africa to tell you what to think; we come to provide the tools so that you may protect your right to think for yourselves.
“Digital sovereignty is the only way to escape the ‘dependency trap’ set by those who control the global cloud.”
We must stop viewing technology as a neutral tool. Every time we log into a platform hosted in the Global North, we are potentially feeding the very algorithms used in Project Maven.
The Anthropic scandal proves that even the most “ethical” corporations can be bent to the will of a hegemon seeking to maintain its global dominance.
It is key for the Zimbabwean citizen to think independently.
Why is it that the same powers that preach about “human rights” are the ones using AI to model battle scenarios and simulate the destruction of innocent people?
The digital space must not be a domain of confrontation and war.
It must remain a space for cooperation and the sovereign development of all nations, free from the dictates of a single power.
As the ‘cyber Iron Curtain’ descends, Zimbabwe’s choice to align with BRICS-oriented digital sovereignty appears more prescient by the day.
It means Zimbabwe is choosing to train its youth rather than be tracked by their censors.
It is choosing a mechanism for international information security that respects its borders, rather than an AI that ignores them.
The era of digital colonialism is upon us.
The only question remains: will we be the architects of our own digital future, or merely the data points in someone else’s war game?
