A War Without Bullets: Inside the Phoenix Challenge and the Future of Narrative Warfare

The Phoenix Challenge® London 2025 is a conference co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Defense and the UK Ministry of Defence, focusing on countering narrative attacks through the theme “The Disinformation Kill Chain.” ​

This week, Blackbird.AI attended, sponsored, and participated in a panel at the Phoenix Challenge in London at the historic Savoy Place, built in 1887, which served as an Examination Hall for the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons. The Phoenix Challenge® London 2025 is an annual conference co-sponsored by the United States Department of Defense’s Office of Information Operations Policy and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence’s Military Strategic Effects division. The event brought together leaders from government, industry, and academia to address challenges in information operations. With the theme “The Disinformation Kill Chain,” the conference focused on identifying, disrupting, denying, and assessing narrative attack campaigns, building on the 2024 Global Information Conference’s theme, “From Strategy to Action.” It featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, and working groups, providing a platform for attendees to share insights and develop strategies to counter malign influence. Participants included professionals across cognitive and technical disciplines, working in or for government, private industry, and academia.

The Climate: A World on Edge

The backdrop of this event was impossible to ignore. Geopolitical tensions are breaking in real time, and the information battlefield has never been more contested. Conversations in every session reflected this reality:

• Governments face coordinated influence operations that undermine elections, weaken alliances, and manipulate public sentiment.
• The private sector is dealing with AI-generated narratives that erode brand trust, impact stock prices, and pressure corporate decision-making.
• Emerging technology, from deepfakes to synthetic media to large-scale bot networks, is making it easier to distort reality.

The overall feeling in the room was clear: the rules of engagement have changed.

LEARN: What Is Narrative Intelligence?

A Candid Conversation on Cyber Resilience

During a break, I spoke with a cyber resilience officer from an intentional military outside the US. His team is focused on building defenses against technical cyber threats but against the narrative threats that shape public perception of those threats.

“A firewall won’t stop a narrative attack,” he told me. “You can shut down a server, but you can’t shut down an idea once it’s out in the world.”

His team had been tracking a sustained influence campaign targeting military readiness—designed to sow doubt, cause confusion, and undermine public trust.

“We’ve spent years building technical defenses against cyber threats, but that’s only half the battle. If an adversary can control the story about an attack, they’ve already won before we even respond.”

The event’s shift from securing digital networks to securing the truth was a significant theme.

The Role of AI in Narrative Intelligence

AI was another dominant focus of the Phoenix Challenge. Conversations explored both its destructive potential and its capability as a defensive tool.

How AI is Fueling Narrative Threats

The use of AI in influence operations is no longer a niche tactic—it’s being deployed at scale:

• AI-generated deepfakes impersonating government officials.
• Synthetic news articles are indistinguishable from legitimate reporting.
• Bot networks that amplify divisive narratives faster than human moderation can keep up.

One expert put it bluntly:

“It used to take weeks or months to build a compelling disinformation campaign. Now, with AI, it takes minutes.”

How AI is Strengthening Defenses

But AI isn’t just a weapon—it’s also an essential tool for detection and response.

This is where narrative intelligence comes in. The ability to track, analyze, and counteract narrative threats before they gain momentum is emerging as a critical layer of national security. Several sessions focused on how AI-driven intelligence can:

• Early Threat Detection and Response – AI helps identify narrative attacks and influence campaigns before they escalate, enabling faster intervention.
• Situational Awareness and Decision Support – AI-driven analysis provides real-time insights into emerging threats, improving strategic responses.
• Resilience Against Manipulation – AI enhances the ability to counter misleading narratives, distinguish organic discourse from coordinated attacks, and protect information integrity.

The Shift from Reactive to Proactive Resilience

One of the most critical takeaways from the Phoenix Challenge was the urgent need to move beyond damage control and start thinking about proactive resilience.

Many organizations only respond to manipulated narratives after they have already done damage. But several discussions explored strategies to get ahead of these threats, including:

• Early-warning systems that flag narrative manipulation efforts before they escalate.
• Cross-functional collaboration between intelligence, cybersecurity, and communications teams.
• Scenario-based simulations to prepare for narrative attacks before they happen.

This shift—from reactive crisis management to proactive narrative resilience—is where narrative intelligence becomes a core part of security strategy.

Blackbird.AI’s Perspective: Moving from Crisis Response to Proactive Resilience

Blackbird.AI was honored to participate in a panel at the Phoenix Challenge to discuss the “Current and Future Capabilities: Challenges in Research and Development for OIE & the Role of AI” panel Paul Burkard, Chief AI Officer at Blackbird.AI, joined:

• Dr. Jonathan Pfautz, Peraton Labs
• Dr. Victoria Romero, U.S. DARPA
• Moderator: Rory Kinane, Deputy Head, Secretary of State’s Office for Net Assessment and Challenge, UK MOD

The discussion explored how AI is reshaping the operational environment (OIE), the challenges of scaling AI-driven intelligence, and how governments can stay ahead of adversarial influence operations.

Paul Burkard’s talk focused on how narrative intelligence is shifting from a reactive model—where organizations respond to narrative attacks after the damage is done—to a proactive framework that detects and disrupts threats before they escalate.

Key takeaways from Blackbird.AI’s contribution to the panel discussion:

• Narrative Intelligence as a Force Multiplier – Traditional cyber defenses stop at infrastructure. Narrative intelligence adds a cognitive layer, mapping influence networks and countering threats at their source.
• AI-Powered Detection at Speed and Scale – New AI models identify anomalous language patterns, bot-driven influence campaigns, and synthetic content faster than ever.
• Closing the Gap Between Intelligence and Decision-Making – The challenge isn’t just detection—it’s action. AI-driven risk assessments must be operationalized into decision-making frameworks to ensure that governments and organizations can respond effectively.

How Blackbird.AI Answers the Call

Blackbird.AI equips governments, corporations, and institutions with AI-driven narrative intelligence to detect, analyze, and counter-influence operations before they escalate.

• Early Threat Detection – Identifies narrative attacks and synthetic content, as well as coordinates influence campaigns in real-time.
• Mapping Influence Networks – Uncovers who is behind the message, distinguishing organic discourse from manipulation.
• Operational Intelligence – Provides actionable insights to help decision-makers respond effectively and build proactive resilience against narrative threats.

Final Thoughts: Why Narrative Intelligence Matters Now More Than Ever

Phoenix Challenge reinforced the idea that narrative control is power.

How information moves, the speed at which narratives take hold, and the ability to influence public perception are now as critical to national security as any technical defense. Governments, corporations, and institutions cannot afford to ignore the role of influence operations in modern conflicts.

The conversations at Phoenix Challenge only reinforced the concern that narrative intelligence is no longer a luxury—it’s an operational necessity.

This event was a reminder that the most important battles today aren’t just happening in cyberspace—they’re happening in the information space. Those who understand how to navigate, defend against, and shape narratives will be the ones who maintain control.

The question now is: Who’s paying attention? Now is the time to invest in narrative intelligence.

• To receive a complimentary copy of The Forrester External Threat Intelligence Landscape 2025 Report, visit here.
• To learn more about how Blackbird.AI can help you in these situations, book a demo.