She worked on the composition and production of the album with a range of collaborators, including Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Skrillex.

AIM received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with some praising certain songs but arguing that the overall album lacked focus.

Although it received generally positive reviews,[1] it failed to match the commercial performance of her previous two albums.

[2][3] Early reports indicated that the rapper's next album would be titled Matahdatah and have the concept of an audio-visual series filmed around the world, but on 14 July 2016, M.I.A.

[12] The track "Freedun" features vocals by former One Direction member Zayn Malik, although the two did not actually meet during its recording.

stated that she had written the song at a much earlier date but had previously deemed it "a bit too mainstream sounding" for her to record, but that it was well-suited to the collaboration with Malik.

[19] The album's cover was revealed on the same day and features a cropped photograph of the rapper on an orange and black background.

[23] "Go Off" was released as a single on 14 July 2016; it was premiered on the same day on the BBC Radio 1 show hosted by Annie Mac.

[29] Writing in The Guardian, Harriet Gibsone took note of the album's "vision, scope and experimentation", but described it overall as "frustratingly unfocused".

[4][38] Greg Cochrane from Loud and Quiet magazine praised several individual tracks but described the album as sounding "disparate, like a collection of ideas rather than songs".

[41] El Hunt, in DIY, referred to the album "colliding jangling rhythms with brash, lane-switching pop parps", describing the music as "abrasive" and "divisive".

"throws plenty of tough punches at the refugee crisis on excellent tunes such as Borders, Visa and Foreign Friend", the rest of the album finds her toning down "the polemic in favour of more user-friendly pop grooves which lack the focus or laser-guided pitch of her other work".

[34] A more positive review came from Stephen Carlick of Exclaim!, who was slightly critical of the album's length but believed there was "plenty here to love" and stated that overall it was "focused and purposeful, a loose collection characterized by sticky-hot swagger, political awareness and, most importantly, urgency.

's "dance-pop salvo" and "a welcoming blend of old-school hip-hop, dancehall, dubstep, and Eastern textures".

[46] Especially positive of the album was the veteran critic Robert Christgau; although he wrote in Vice that the album was "loopy [and] simplistic" with lyrics that are "beyond basic", he commented positively on the presence of an overall tone of self-acceptance in the artist's refugee identity: "Bad shit being her heritage, she intends to enjoy herself however bad the shit gets, and so should we.

"[39] In his ballot for The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, Christgau ranked it as the fourth best album of the year.

[47] Rolling Stone ranked AIM at number 18 on its annual year-end list of the 20 best albums in popular music.