Daisy the AI grandma is here to answer scammers’ calls and waste their time
- O2 has created an AI granny that will trap scammers in meandering conversations to waste as much time as possible
- Daisy has been trained on real anonymized scammer data in collaboration with noted scammer Jim Browning of the YouTube channel Tech support scam
- New research shows that 7 in 10 (71%) of Brits are keen to fight scammers who have tried to deceive them or their loved ones.
You might not have thought it possible, but grandmas will lead the AI revolution and fight back against scammers. We’re talking about Daisy (also written dAIsy), the AI grandma created by O2 to lure scammers into a long and useless conversation so they waste as much time as possible on the phone trying to get her to enter her bank details into her computer.
If you listen to dAIsy work her AI magic on scammers in the video below, you can hear that she is indistinguishable from a human and responds to the scammers by playing on people’s prejudices about seniors who don’t care feel comfortable with technology. Scammers are becoming increasingly frustrated as they try to get her to enter a fake web address into her browser, or enter her personal information, only to have long and winding conversations that ultimately lead nowhere.
Thanks grandma
Daisy isn’t an AI feature you can add to your personal phone account, rather it’s a phone number that O2 Virgin Media has managed to add to a list of online ‘mosquito lists’ used by scammers targeting UK consumers. dAIsy is available 24/7 for scammers, no matter what time they call. Her goal is to keep the scammers on the phone for as long as possible, giving them less time to ply their treacherous trade against real people.
Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud at Virgin Media O2, said: “We want to do our part to stop the scammers and are investing in everything from firewall technology to block scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to keep our customers safe. But crucially, Daisy also reminds us that no matter how convincing someone on the other end of the line is, they are not always who you think they are.”
O2 Virgin Media has a web page with tips and tricksand advice on dealing with scammers. A recent survey by the company found that 7 in 10 (71%) of Brits would seek revenge against scammers who have tried to deceive them or their loved ones. But why waste your own time when a convincing chatbot can help fight back against scammers with all the time?
