As AI fraud is on the rise, one mobile phone company is fighting back with AI grandma.
in blog postBritish mobile phone company Virgin Media O2 has introduced an AI grandma called Daisy whose sole purpose is to answer calls and keep scammers busy.
Related article: AI songs are making their way to Spotify – why this matters for fans and creators
Here’s how Daisy works:
When a phone scammer accidentally calls a special number set up by a mobile carrier, an AI chatbot “indistinguishable from a real human” answers the call. O2 says it trained the chatbot, which sounds like an elderly woman, with some cutting-edge AI techniques and several AI models. Furthermore, it is well known that YouTube scammers like Jim Browning He helped me with the training.
As the call progresses, AI listens to the caller’s voice and transcribes it into text. Responses are generated instantly through a custom large-scale language model with a character personality layer, which is then run through a custom AI text-to-speech model that generates the response.
Related information: This Pixel smartphone feature intercepts calls and protects you from fraud.
This happens in real time and requires no additional input.
Unfortunately for scammers, Daisy may seem defenseless, but she’s not an easy target.
She might ramble on about her grandchildren or her hobbies, be incredibly tech-averse, or give you incorrect banking information that leads nowhere. Either way, she’s tying up the scammer’s time and taking time away from the real victim.
in demo videoDaisy starts by not knowing what the website is and asks the other person, “If there are three W’s, what’s the dot?” She goes on to explain that all she sees on the screen is a picture of her cat, Fluffy, and ends up telling a wandering story, telling an irate caller: “Your profession is bothering people.” “I almost lost my life,” he said. time! ”
As the creators explain, Daisy was so lifelike that she was able to converse with numerous scammers for 40 minutes at a time.
Also: 1 in 4 people have experienced identity fraud, and AI is almost always to blame
In addition to the main purpose of wasting time, Daisy has another purpose. It’s about showing people that you’re not always talking to the person you think you’re calling. O2 is reminding customers to remain vigilant on the phone and report anything suspicious.
