Position: AI Development Should Prioritize Cognitive Security

Generative AI systems designed to influence human beliefs and actions are becoming increasingly pervasive, raising concerns about cognitive security -- the protection of human cognitive processes from hazardous influence. Recent advances have only amplified the cognitive risks of AI technologies, leading institutions worldwide to identify cognitive security as an emerging and urgent governance challenge. However, there currently exists no framework for integrating scattered research efforts on the applied cognitive effects of AI systems. In this paper, we argue that cognitive security must be prioritized in AI development and outline a roadmap to do so. First, we track and categorize state-of-the-art capabilities for cognitive influence in generative AI systems. Then, we propose attack and defense mechanisms to formalize threat models, expose vulnerabilities, and evaluate countermeasures. Finally, we define metrics to unify research efforts on the cognitive impacts of AI systems.