Japan's battle against online fraud has taken an unusual turn with the arrival of a virtual police chief designed not to patrol streets but to appear on screens. While governments around the world are experimenting with artificial intelligence in public services, Japanese authorities are using it in a very public way: speaking directly to potential scam victims before criminals can reach them.

Japan has a new police chief. Her name is AIko, she lives on YouTube and she’s coming for scammers.

Known as AIko, the AI ‘police chief’ has been introduced as part of a campaign to combat increasingly sophisticated scams