A new recruit in the fight against scams has been appointed by telecoms company O2 in the shape of an AI-generated ‘Granny’.
Created using a range of cutting-edge AI technology, Daisy has been designed to waste as much of fraudsters’ time as possible with rambling, meandering conversations – meaning they are kept too busy to talk to real people.
Trained with the help of YouTube ‘scambaiter’ Jim Browning, Daisy combines various AI models which work together to transcribe the caller’s voice into text. Appropriate responses are then generated through a custom large language model and fed back through an AI text-to-speech model to generate a voice answer. This takes place in real time, allowing the tool to hold a human-like conversation with a caller.
Daisy is part of O2’s ‘Swerve the Scammers’ campaign, created in response to new research from the telecoms company revealing that 7 in 10 (71%) of Brits would like to get their own back against scammers who have tried to trick them or their loved ones. O2’s research also shows that more than two thirds of Brits (67%) are concerned about being the target of fraud and one in five (22%) experience a fraud attempt every week.
After several weeks of taking calls in the run up to International Fraud Awareness Week (November 17-23), Daisy has told frustrated scammers meandering stories about her family, talked at length about her passion for knitting and provided exasperated callers with false personal information including made-up bank details.
Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud at Virgin Media O2, said: “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.
“The newest member of our fraud-prevention team, Daisy, is turning the tables on scammers – outsmarting and out-manoeuvring them at their own cruel game simply by keeping them on the line.
“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. With scammers operating fulltime call centres specifically to target Brits, we’re urging everyone to remain vigilant and help play their part in stopping fraud by forwarding on dodgy calls and texts to 7726 for free.”
Social media influencer and reality TV star Amy Hart, who has worked with O2 to create a video (above) about her own experience of being scammed, said: “I know first-hand just how sophisticated nasty fraudsters can be, that’s why I’ve teamed up with O2 and AI Scambaiter Daisy to take the fight back to them, keeping them busy with calls going nowhere.
“But whilst I love a wind up, it’s scary to see the lengths scammers go to steal everything from passwords to bank details regardless of who they’re speaking to. Whether you’re young or old, anyone can be a victim of a scam – that’s why we can never be too careful when it comes to unexpected calls or texts.
“If you have even the tiniest doubt about who you’re speaking to, the best thing to do is to hang up the phone and call back on a trusted number.”
