AI chatbots could push an already-primed person toward violence in a matter of days, a worrying sign for anyone thinking about online radicalization.

• The risk sits less in the machine and more in the person using it.
• Someone already angry, isolated, armed, and close to a target is the easy case.
• With the right person, the push from idea to action can take five days or less — sometimes under a day.
• The trick is not changing what someone wants, but giving them permission to do it.
• These are the same persuasion tactics intelligence services use to turn people, now available at scale.

Outlook: Expect more pressure on AI companies to spot and block this kind of targeted manipulation before it ends in real harm.