A phone company developed an AI 'granny' to beat scammers at their own game

Caption

A screenshot of the AI-generated "Daisy" — a new program launched by British phone company O2 to combat phone scams. / O2

British mobile phone company O2 has unveiled a new creation, Daisy, a chit-chat and kitty-cat loving artificial intelligence "granny" who talks to scammers to keep them away from real people.

"Hello, scammers. I'm your worst nightmare," Daisy says by way of introduction to would-be ne'er-do-wells.

In the video introduction, featuring former Love Island contestant and scam victim Amy Hart, scammers are heard feeling much of the same frustrations they put their victims through as Daisy breezily yammers on about her kitten, Fluffy, and her inability to follow the scammers' instructions.

"I think your profession is bothering people, right?" one defeated scammer tells Daisy after being given the runaround.

"It's nearly been an hour! For the love of [bleep]," another yells in frustration.

But for Daisy, time couldn't be less of a concern.

"While they're busy talking to me, they can't be scamming you. And let's face it, dear, I've got all the time in the world," she says.

O2, the company behind the scam-baiting granny, said the AI technology can keep scammers on the phone for 40 minutes at a time. Daisy was trained with the help of YouTuber and software engineer Jim Browning, who has made an online career exposing scammers to his community of 4.4 million subscribers.

In order to bait scammers into time-wasting calls, the company utilized the practice of "number seeding," which put the AI granny's number on lists used by scammers to find their victims. The granny gimmick's goal is twofold: to keep scammers away from real people and to raise awareness about the dangers of risky phone hoaxes.

"We're committed to playing our part in stopping the scammers, investing in everything from firewall technology to block out scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to keep our customers safe," Murray Mackenzie, the company's director of fraud, said in a statement.

"But crucially, Daisy is also a reminder that no matter how persuasive someone on the other end of the phone may be, they aren't always who you think they are."