Reality Defender Joins NATO’s Cognitive Warfare Experimentation

Demonstrating the Real-World Impact of Deepfakes on operational Decision Making

In today's rapidly evolving information environment, artificial intelligence (AI) presents both unprecedented opportunities and unprecedented threats. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the modern battlefield, where cognitive overload, speed of information flow, and the sophistication of adversarial techniques have the power to shape — or destabilize — key decisions. Understanding the potential impact of this threat, and developing ways to preserve decision-making advantage, is a critical challenge in the evolution of modern warfare.

In late 2025, Reality Defender had the privilege of supporting NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) in the Innovation Continuum Cognitive Warfare Experimentation, an initiative exploring how AI-driven content influences operational-level decision-making.

The aim: to generate actionable insights into the threats posed by adversarial artificial intelligence and to evaluate innovative approaches for mitigating their impact across NATO operations and decision-making processes. Our role: introduce controlled deepfake content into a realistic operational scenario to assess this threat and its impact on experienced planners.

Objective: Understanding Deepfakes at the Operational Level of War

Reality Defender was tasked with demonstrating how deepfakes could affect planners at the operational level in order to better understand how enhanced deepfake detection can support defense decision-making.

Deepfakes are no longer hypothetical threats—they are affecting tactical, operational, and strategic levels. While strategic and tactical vulnerabilities have been widely discussed, their impact on operational planners was less broadly explored. This experiment aimed to close that gap.

Why This Matters

As NATO invests in mitigating threats in the cognitive dimension, exercises like this highlight the shifting nature of warfare. Cognitive warfare is not about attacking systems—it’s about manipulating perception, unusually in time pressure environments.

Deepfakes and synthetic media:

• Exploit cognitive biases
• Create artificial urgency
• Undermine trust in intelligence systems
• Fog decision-making

Cutting-edge[SC1] experiments like this demonstrate the necessity of integrating deepfake detection tools like Reality Defender directly and proactively into media analysis workflows. Detection must be seamless, rapid, and available at every level of command — from analysts to operational planners to strategic leadership.

Looking Forward

The cognitive dimension is where wars are decided, because it is where decisions are made. This experiment demonstrates that deepfakes directly threaten that dimension by distorting perception faster than traditional safeguards can respond. Deepfake detection therefore must be treated as a core element of cognitive defense—integrated into workflows, trusted by operators, and available before manipulated media shapes action. Without it, decision advantage is no longer assured.>

Reality Defender is honored to collaborate with NATO ACT and NATO NCIA on this critical initiative to understand how AI will affect the cognitive dimension. Reality Defender remains committed to working alongside NATO and its partners to ensure warfighters can trust what they see, hear, and act upon—because in the age of synthetic media, reality itself must be defended.

Reach out if you're interested in exploring how deepfake detection can supplement your workflows.