The expansion of networked media, information operations, and the growing use of artificial intelligence has transformed the deterrence environment, making adversary perception, risk assessment, and decision-making integral to strategic competition. A major gap in the literature is the absence of a coherent framework linking deterrence, cognitive warfare, and the media-algorithmic environment. This study asks how networked media and artificial intelligence, by reshaping the perceptual-decisional environment, turn cognitive deterrence into a complementary layer of multi-domain deterrence. The research employs critical conceptual analysis and a targeted review of theoretical literature published between 2001 and October 2026 on deterrence, cyber deterrence, cognitive warfare, information operations, artificial intelligence, and strategic stability. The level of analysis is strategic interaction among states, with particular attention to the perceptual and decision-making processes of leaders and decision-making institutions; the study is not confined to a specific geographical area. Cognitive deterrence refers to altering an adversary’s calculations regarding the probability of success, costs, risks, and consequences of cognitive operations. The findings identify five mechanisms: denial and resilience, detection and attribution, cost imposition, delegitimization, and strategic signaling. Artificial intelligence can strengthen these mechanisms through faster analysis, message personalization, pattern detection, and improved attribution, while algorithmic opacity, automation bias, and decision-time compression may undermine them. Deterrence transformation is therefore evident in the expanding environment, instruments, and mechanisms through which adversary decision-making is influenced.