Leaders who oversee some of the US military's most secretive missions are seeking a new, unprecedented kind of weapon: "deepfakes," which use machine learning to create life-like phony videos.

US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which contains elite units from the Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force, is working to develop "a next generation of 'deep fake' or other similar technology to generate messages and influence operations via non-traditional channels," according to a procurement document discovered by The Intercept.

In recent procurement requests, SOCOM is seeking partners to develop capabilities using lasers, holograms, and the hacking of internet-connected devices as part of its covert operations.