As part of the evolving battle against 'deep fakes' - videos and audio featuring famous figures, created using machine learning, designed to look and sound genuine - researchers are turning to new methods in an attempt to get ahead of the increasingly sophisticated technology.
At the University of Oregon’s Institute of Neuroscience where one of the more outlandish ideas is being tested. A research team is working on training mice to understand irregularities within speech, a task the animals can do with remarkable accuracy.
It is hoped that eventually the research could be used to help sites such as Facebook and YouTube detect deep fakes before they are able to spread online - though, to be clear, the companies won’t need their own mice.