AI turns spy games into a new kind of war

Jonna Mendez, former chief of disguise for the CIA, says artificial intelligence is changing espionage in ways never seen before. AI now helps spy agencies find and train human sources faster. At the same time, it gives enemies powerful new tools to create fake identities and deepfakes—video or audio that looks and sounds real but is completely false. These deepfakes are becoming very hard to detect. Mendez warns that modern espionage threats go far beyond hacking or stealing data. Now, operatives can use AI to pose as trusted people, making deception more dangerous than ever. The result is a new level of spy warfare, where both sides use AI to trick and track each other. Mendez spoke at a recent security conference, highlighting that the old rules of disguise and deception no longer apply. The game has changed, and everyone is playing with sharper tools.