AI old lady 'fights back' against scammers day and night tirelessly
An 'elderly' AI chatbot that specializes in tackling phone scammers has just launched in the UK and has already had more than 1,000 conversations with scammers.
The telecommunications company Virgin Media O2 (UK) recently developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool named Daisy , which has a voice like an old lady, keeping phone scammers at bay with long stories about cats, family, knitting.
Virgin Media O2 says the AI's job is to chat, keep scammers occupied, and waste their time, preventing them from contacting real victims.
Daisy's virtual appearance is of an old woman with silver hair, wearing glasses, talking on a landline phone. (Photo: Virgin Media O2).
When scammers call Daisy, they get sucked into a conversation that goes nowhere. Daisy can exploit stereotypes about older people, such as lack of technological savvy or slow processing of information, which quickly frustrates the criminal on the other end of the line.
If they ask for personal information like bank accounts, Daisy will fabricate fake information. During the conversation, the AI chatbot can collect information and clues about the scammer, making it easier for authorities to catch them.
The AI Daisy's aim was to deliberately waste the scammers' time. (Photo: Virgin Media O2)
Notably, Daisy spoke very matter-of-factly in a slow and calm tone, which made the scammers believe they were talking to a real elderly woman. Not to mention, the AI old lady could talk on the phone day and night without getting tired.
A demonstration video shows Daisy's virtual appearance as a silver-haired, bespectacled old woman speaking on a landline. The scammer becomes increasingly frustrated as he is 'stuck' in a conversation with Daisy for more than 40 minutes. Still, the scammer hopes to get a credit card number or banking information from the woman.
Virtual image of AI grandmother Daisy developed by Virgin Media O2 Company. (Source: YouTube).
According to CBS , the AI grandmother works by listening to scammers and translating their voice into text. The AI then searches its large database for a suitable response. It then translates that text response into a voice for Daisy to respond. It all happens in seconds.
Murray MacKenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at Virgin Media O2, said the company was committed to stopping scammers by investing in firewalls and AI tools to detect spam calls to protect customers.
Virgin Media O2 added that it has partnered with fraud network responders, connecting their phone numbers to the AI tool.
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