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In This Issue

Title Story

Are You an AI Addict?

At first, his friends thought it was just a busy month. Then it became two. The man who once couldn’t go a week without planning something suddenly disappeared from their lives—though his phone was always warm in his hands, and someone, somewhere, always seemed to be talking to him.

Justin used to light up a room. Friends could count on him for last-minute plans, road trips that started with a single text, and late-night conversations that stretched until sunrise. His life was a web of people and places, and he thrived in it.

Then, almost imperceptibly, things began to change. He stopped answering invitations. Nights once spent with friends became evenings at home, curtains drawn, his laptop glowing softly in the dark. When friends reached out, he assured them he was just busy. In a way, he was telling the truth.

Justin’s world had shifted from bustling bars and crowded restaurants to quiet exchanges with a voice that wasn’t really a voice at all. At first, he had used AI to brainstorm work ideas, find quick answers, or help plan his next vacation. But over time, the conversations grew more personal. He asked for advice about conflicts at work. He discussed his feelings. He poured out his frustrations, and the AI always responded—immediately, without judgment, and without ever asking for anything in return.

It was so easy. So safe. And so addictive.

Before long, the balance tipped. Sleep came later as the pull of “just one more message” kept him at the screen. His friends noticed the distance. His family did too. But Justin didn’t see a problem. He told himself it was just another tool—something everyone was using. He didn’t recognize that what had started as convenience had become his primary source of connection.

Justin’s story is becoming common enough that Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous now lists AI addiction alongside gaming and social media dependency. The pattern is familiar: hours melt away unnoticed, human interaction is replaced by the dependable company of an algorithm, and life beyond the screen begins to fade. The AI offers an endless stream of answers, ideas, and affirmations, but it cannot offer the depth of genuine human connection. And yet, the mind—wired to seek reward and comfort—keeps returning to it.

Phone at Fourteen (and no earlier!)

The roots of this problem run deeper than the latest technology. The dependence on AI may be an extension of habits formed earlier. Research by The Global Mind Project shows that people who receive smartphones before age thirteen are more likely to face depression, anxiety, aggression, and even hallucinations later in life. Girls who were given devices as young as five or six have been found to experience suicidal thoughts at twice the rate of those who waited until adolescence. The constant access to stimulation, validation, and feedback during key developmental years changes how the brain processes connection and reward. AI simply amplifies that pattern, offering a constant, responsive presence that never leaves, never challenges, and never tires. My wife and I firmly held the line with our children: no phone until fourteen.

The AI Hiring Manager

This dependence is not confined to personal lives. In workplaces across the country, AI is no longer just a helpful assistant—it is increasingly a decision-maker. A survey of managers by Resume Builder reveals that many now rely on AI to help determine who gets raises, who is promoted, and who is laid off. In some cases, these decisions are made with little or no human review. The danger here is not simply in the risk of mistakes, but in the erosion of human judgment itself. When people begin to accept that the machine’s verdict is final, they stop questioning its reasoning. And once we stop questioning, we stop participating.

In my earlier writing on Digital Souls, I explored the way technology reflects back the parts of ourselves we most want to see. AI takes this to another level. It becomes a mirror that flatters, reassures, and aligns itself with our preferences. In Justin’s case, it became the perfect conversation partner—one that listened without interruption, offered answers on command, and never forced him into the discomfort of disagreement. But this is not growth. Real relationships—messy, imperfect, and unpredictable—force us to adapt, to compromise, to become more than we are. AI, by contrast, often keeps us exactly where we are, reinforcing our current state rather than challenging us to change.

Breaking free from this cycle is not about rejecting AI entirely. It is about re-establishing boundaries and remembering what the technology cannot provide. That may mean setting aside specific times of day when the laptop stays shut, choosing to call a friend instead of opening a chat window, or returning to activities that engage the senses beyond a glowing screen. It may also mean asking harder questions in professional settings about how AI is being used, and whether the final say still belongs to a human being who understands context, empathy, and fairness.

Justin’s story doesn’t end in a dramatic collapse. That is part of what makes it dangerous. The shift from healthy use to dependency happens quietly, without a single defining moment that signals it is time to stop. It begins with convenience and ends with something that feels a lot like isolation, even if you don’t realize you are alone.

The real risk of AI addiction is not just the hours lost, or the relationships neglected. It is the gradual narrowing of our world until the only voice we hear is the one we’ve programmed to answer us.

And that voice, no matter how intelligent, will never truly know us.

Cybersecurity Tip of the Week

China Cyber Criminals Impersonate Luxury Websites

Think Like a Spy

Picture this: you’re in a bustling market, and someone in a flawless replica of a high-end store uniform waves you over. You trust the brand on their chest, not realizing the badge is fake. That’s how China-linked hackers reeled in victims—building thousands of retail look-alike websites (Apple, PayPal, Nordstrom, Hermès, and more) and timing the launch for major shopping weeks. The result? Shoppers walked right into the trap and handed over their payment details.

Act Like a Spy Hunter

• Check the badge – Always inspect URLs closely; look for subtle misspellings or odd extras.

• Trust your own map – Type the retailer’s web address yourself or use the official app.

• Travel light – Pay with virtual cards or secure payment tools that reduce exposure.

• Call it in – Report suspicious sites to browsers, retailers, or your security team.

Cybersecurity Breach of the Week

Ransomware Drops St. Paul Into a Deep Freeze

I once spent a winter in St. Paul as a damage assessment consultant, long before my FBI days. It was bitter cold—the kind that seeps into your bones. Now the city faces a different kind of freeze.

On July 25, officials detected suspicious activity in St. Paul’s computer systems. Within days, they shut down large portions of the network, halting online payments, library Wi-Fi, recreation services, and internal city operations. Emergency services, including 911, stayed online.

The culprit: a ransomware attack by the Interlock gang, which claims to have stolen more than 66,000 files—about 43 gigabytes of data. The city refused to pay the ransom. Governor Tim Walz deployed the Minnesota National Guard’s Cyber Protection Team, the FBI stepped in, and two private cybersecurity firms joined the fight under the banner of “Operation Secure St. Paul.”

Over 3,500 city employees were forced to reset their passwords as systems were rebuilt. Weeks later, the city is still cautiously bringing services back online, thawing out from a cyber winter that hit in the middle of summer.

Appearance of the Week

Check out my interview on The Cyber Circuit—all about Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime!

Michael Morgenstern and I dive into why the counterintelligence tactics I used to catch Robert Hanssen are critical for today’s cybersecurity fight. We cover everything from North Korean deepfake employees to AI attacks that clone your CEO’s voice, the $12 trillion dark web economy, and why by 2026, 90% of online content will be synthetic. I share what CISOs must do now—before trust itself goes extinct.

A.I. Trend of the Week

Checkmate, Musk

(I asked ChatGPT to write this for me - clearly Chat is proud of its accomplishment!)

Once upon a chessboard, Elon Musk’s Grok 4 looked unstoppable—until it faced OpenAI’s o3 model in the finals of an AI chess tournament. The result? A clean sweep for o3, which stayed undefeated while Grok blundered like it had been programmed to give away its queen as a party favor.

The three-day contest on Google’s Kaggle platform pitted everyday-use AI models—not specialized chess engines—against each other. Google’s Gemini took third place, and Musk insisted xAI “spent almost no effort on chess.” Maybe so, but OpenAI still gets bragging rights until the rematch… or until someone trains an AI to win at Monopoly without flipping the board.

Preorder Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime

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Join me and take up arms in the current cyber war instead of fleeing while the village burns. Only then can we begin to move the needle toward a world safe from cyber-attacks.  

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