Shade of the Tree

Artificial intelligence was built to make systems smarter, faster, and more secure. Instead, it created a new battlefield. One where systems no longer need to be broken to be controlled. They only need to be influenced. In this gripping exploration of adversarial AI and modern cyber warfare, Pranav Bhatnagar and Matt Groves reveal how intelligent systems can be manipulated from within, not through visible attacks, but through trust, behavior, and silent influence. Detection systems begin accepting threats as normal. Algorithms learn the wrong patterns. Security models drift away from reality while continuing to appear stable, reliable, and correct. The danger is not sudden collapse. The danger is systems that keep working while quietly failing underneath. Drawing from real cyber incidents, intelligence operations, behavioral manipulation, and AI-driven security failures, this book exposes how attackers study intelligent systems, learn their weaknesses, and slowly shape their understanding until the machine itself becomes part of the attack. As organizations place more trust in AI, the line between protection and vulnerability begins to disappear. Because once a machine learns from the world around it, anyone capable of shaping that world can begin shaping the machine itself. This is not just a book about cybersecurity. It is a psychological journey into trust, control, deception, and the terrifying future of systems that no longer know the difference between reality and manipulation.

Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors, and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. His Xanth novels have been read and loved by millions of readers around the world, and he daily receives hundreds of letters from his devoted fans.

In addition to the Xanth series, Anthony is the author of many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives in Inverness, Florida.