Daisy can keep a caller on the line for a (very) long time. — Photography O2/YouTube/AFP Relaxnews
A UK mobile network operator has come up with an innovative solution for discouraging scam callers. It has developed an artificial intelligence tool capable of holding conversations with scammers and keeping them on the line for as long as possible.
O2 has unveiled Daisy, an "AI granny" whose sole purpose is to waste the time of telephone scammers. This virtual granny's mission is to keep scammers on the phone with her interminable conversations, wasting a lot of their time, and therefore limiting the number of potential victims.
Daisy combines several AI models to transcribe, analyse and respond to scam calls in real time. In this way, she can engage in realistic dialogues and hold the caller on the line for as long as possible, without them necessarily suspecting that they're actually chatting to an AI bot. The amusing thing is that this fictitious character chats about totally innocuous things, which obviously have nothing to do with the subject of the scammer's call. She might talk endlessly about family gatherings, for example, or about knitting or her pet cat. By publicising this new technology, O2 hopes to help its customers stay vigilant against scams, while frustrating all those who exploit the most vulnerable members of the public.
People in the UK can report suspicious calls and messages to 7726, enabling fraudulent callers to be blocked and protection systems to be improved. It is to these reported numbers that Daisy is now responding.
According to O2, almost 70% of Britons say they are worried about being the target of fraud. According to the operator, every week, around one in five Britons experience a fraud attempt. These scams are increasingly sophisticated, and sometimes very difficult to spot. By keeping scammers on the line for as long as possible (sometimes up to an hour), Daisy helps limit their ability to cause harm. – AFP Relaxnews
