How perception itself became hackable
February 22, 2026
Hello, friends. There’s value for everyone in the latest episode of our podcast. This conversation unpacks the hacking of human perception and the dangers it’s created. As AI fuels a narrative arms race, we explore what it means for cybersecurity, leadership, and the future of enterprise (and personal) defense. —Jason Hiner
How perception itself became an attack surface
In this episode of The Deep View: Conversations, I talked with Wasim Khaled, CEO of Blackbird AI, to explore a provocative idea: What happens when reality itself becomes hackable?
Long before generative AI went mainstream, Wasim and his cofounder launched Blackbird to tackle disinformation and narrative manipulation. Their thesis was bold: that part of modern cybersecurity conflict had shifted from infrastructure to information, from networks to narratives.
It turned out to be prescient.
As AI supercharges the speed, scale, and realism of malicious content — from deepfakes to coordinated influence campaigns — Blackbird has emerged as the leader in combating narrative attacks. In fact, Gartner recently named Blackbird the company to beat in disinformation narrative intelligence in its report on the AI Vendor Race.
In our conversation, we explore:
What “narrative attacks” really are and why they’re so hard to deflect
How AI has fundamentally changed the disinformation battlefield
Reactive vs. proactive defense strategies in cybersecurity
How Blackbird evolved from a lab experiment into a national security player
Why leaders relying on chatbots instead of AI agents are already falling behind
Wasim also shares how he optimizes his time for maximum leverage, and offers his advice for founders navigating fast-moving technology shifts.
If you care about cybersecurity, AI, information warfare, or the future of leadership in the age of intelligent agents, this is a conversation you'll want to hear.
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