Date: Thursday 28th August

Title: "Bot or Not?"

Speaker: Claire Hardaker

Synopsis:

In 2024, a Hong Kong employee of a London-based multinational joined a video-call with the Global Chief Financial Officer and several others from the London HQ. Under direct instructions from this leadership team, the employee made a series of bank transfers totalling nearly £20m. A week later, it transpired that the only real person on the video-call had been the employee, who they had fallen victim to an elaborate, high-stakes, AI-powered heist.

This talk introduces you to the fields of forensic linguistics (analysis of the linguistic content) and forensic speech science (analysis of the speech signal) with a brief insight into how linguistic expertise is applied in intelligence, evidential, and judicial contexts. In particular, we’ll look at AI-generated voices and texts, and you’ll have the chance to play Bot or Not. Could you tell the difference between your doting aunt and a digital agent? What about a real review from the fake five-star feedback? Finally, I’ll talk about some of the ways in which we might be able to tackle the rise of AI-enabled crime, perhaps by harnessing the very same technology against itself.

Biography:

Claire Hardaker is a Professor of Forensic Linguistics, specialising in deceptive and manipulative language. She is based in the Linguistics & English Language department at Lancaster University, and directs FACTOR (Forensic Linguistics, Cybersecurity, and Technology Research).