Artificial intelligence is now capable of of creating images of human faces that are impossible to differentiate from real photos, new research has shown.

Fast-paced developments in AI over the last four years have enabled computers to generate false images that are impossible to tell apart from reality.

This technology, called Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), is behind the wave of digitally manipulated videos and photos called "deep fakes".

The results are that famous people such as actors or politicians can be made to say and do whatever creators want and are difficult to prove as fake.

GAN technology was modified by AI company Nvidia to create a high quality database of thousands of pictures of human beings, all generated by a computer.