Elsa Novelli, a postdoctoral researcher at CIENS and author of a doctoral dissertation in philosophy under the supervision of Natalie Depraz at the Husserl Archives of the ENS, presented her work to the CIENS team on February 9, 2026. She traced the thread of her philosophical reflection, from her master’s to her doctoral studies, and highlighted its convergence with CIENS’s research themes, particularly Research Area 3, “New Conflicts” – cognitive warfare and generative artificial intelligence (GAI).
After exploring the concepts of hypervigilance and infra-attention in the digital world for her master’s thesis, Elsa Novelli deepened her analysis by examining how neoliberalism transforms attention—which is overtaxed and commodified—and the relationship the individual maintains with themselves. Indeed, through digital platforms, we are constantly bombarded with demands to become a better version of ourselves. This situation creates a paradox: under the guise of freedom and personal fulfillment, we unwittingly adopt authoritarian behaviors toward ourselves. The researcher calls this phenomenon “alienating emancipation,” which produces “cognitive entropy”—that is, an excess of negative thoughts and psychological disorder.
At CIENS, Elsa Novelli draws on these conceptual foundations to explore a new area of research: cognitive warfare in the age of artificial intelligence.
The researcher calls this phenomenon “alienating emancipation,” which produces “cognitive entropy”—that is, an excess of negative thoughts and psychological disorder.
At CIENS, Elsa Novelli draws on these conceptual foundations to explore a new area of research: cognitive warfare in the age of artificial intelligence. She takes these concepts and returns to their original meaning. Cognitive warfare, she says, does not act directly on cognition but on information, which is processed by cognition. Information is the means of penetrating cognition. This warfare operates in a way that is both diffuse and discreet, that is, most often without the knowledge of those it affects. It thus differs from psychological warfare, which aims to affect the enemy’s morale, as well as from the information war, which focuses on the mass dissemination of information and attempts to regulate or counter it. Cognitive warfare is a war of knowledge. The current battlefield therefore lies within the very thought processes of the individual.
By rigorously defining these concepts, the researcher addresses strategic questions: What means does the state have to protect individuals from this cognitive vulnerability without resorting to control? What is its role in the face of the proliferation of deep fakes, bots, and information manipulation campaigns implemented with IAG? How does the “noise strategy” (burying relevant information under a flood of contradictory information) affect democracy? At stake is the issue of citizens’ trust in their institutions, their elected officials, and, more broadly, in the democratic system.
