Current Workshops

FACTOR Summer School - Mon 28th Jul to Wed 30th Jul 2025 Theme: Fraud and the (Mis)use of AI

In 2024, a Hong Kong employee of Arup joined a video call with their Global CFO and other executives. During the call, they were ordered to make a series of bank transfers totalling £20 million. The catch? The only real person on the call was the employee. The rest were AI-generated deepfakes.

Countless frauds and scams are being perpetrated all around us right now, and AI has made it easier than ever. From fake voicenotes pleading for bail money to heartbreakingly convincing romantic messages, the landscape of crime is changing, and it's in everyone's interest that we all keep up.

With that in mind, the world-leading FACTOR team is running a three-day summer school that will take you through the cutting-edge worlds of forensic linguistics, forensic speech science, and the ever-growing challenges that we now all face - the (mis) use of AI. We'll talk about how easy it is to clone someone's voice, whether we have telltale linguistic habits, and how good ordinary people are at distinguishing human language from AI. On the last day, you'll have the chance to turn detective with your own high-profile fraud case to crack.

Whether you're an industry professional interested in the risks posed by AI, a teacher looking to inspire students about the real-world applications of English language and linguistics, or simply someone fascinated by language and crime, this summer school could be the one for you.

  • No prior experience needed
  • Gentle pace for absolute beginners
  • Interactive and hands-on
  • Learn from world-leading experts

Tickets: £30 each (includes sessions, materials, refreshments, and a packed lunch). Note that spaces are limited, and demand for our summer schools is always high

We hope you'll leave not only with new insights, but also better prepared for the future of AI fraud.

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