Meet AIko: Japan's AI Police chief leading country's fight against cyber fraud
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Meet AIko: Japan's AI Police chief leading country's fight against cyber fraud")
Meet AIko: Japan’s AI police chief Photograph: (X)
Japan has introduced AIko, an AI-powered virtual police chief, to educate people about online scams that caused record losses of over $2 billion last year. The Osaka Police initiative comes as fraud linked to social media and Southeast Asian scam syndicates rises
Japan has appointed a new police chief - but she doe not exist in the real world and appears only on YouTube. In an attempt to tackle online fraud, Japan's Osaka Prefectural Police’s has appointed an artificial intelligence (AI) police chief and named her Alko. This comes after Japan lost more than US$2 billion (RM8 billion) in online fraud. Her job is to explain everyone online that anyone claiming to be a police officer over a video call is almost certainly trying to steal your money.
Meet AIko: Japan’s AI police chief
AIko appears on YouTube with the face and voice of a young woman and her job is to spread awareness regarding different kinds of scams. Introduced in late May, AIko’s name combines the abbreviation for artificial intelligence with “ko”, a common suffix in Japanese female names. She appears in a series of crime prevention videos aimed at younger internet users. She was created by Toshinori Hirano, a visiting professor at Kagawa University’s Cyber Security Centre. According to Hirano, he hoped the virtual officer would “heighten crime prevention awareness by utilising technology.” This comes after a preliminary police data cited by South China Morning Post show that nearly half of fraud victims in Osaka last year were aged below 65.
According to Kyodo News, AIko walks viewers through real conversations between scammers and victims, warning against increasingly common schemes involving fraudsters posing as police officers, celebrity investment gurus and even romantic partners. In one video titled Chief AIko’s Crime Prevention Class, she delivers a blunt reminder: “No police officers show their IDs and arrest warrants online.”
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AIko is part of Japan's broader AI push
AIko's launch coincides with Japan's wider adoption of AI across government. According to The Japan Times, the Digital Agency is preparing to roll out Gennai, a secure generative AI platform for about 180,000 civil servants across 39 government agencies. The system will assist with drafting official documents, translating texts, transcribing meetings, conducting legal research and preparing parliamentary responses. Digital Minister Hisashi Matsumoto has said he plans to use the platform himself, while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has encouraged civil servants to embrace trustworthy AI as Japan seeks to strengthen its position in the global AI race.
