Generative phone scam baiter lady picks up to prove AI can be a force for good
In a rather hilarious turn of events, phone scammers who use lists to dial random numbers and concoct some sob story as to why the recipient has to part with their money, have finally met their match... in the form of an AI granny bot.
British carrier O2 (via PCMag) tasked its AI team with creating a talkative sweet old lady as a virtual avatar that will answer some of the numbers in the lists they knew are circulating among scammers.
When the unfortunate hucksters for through their number roster and dial one of said numbers, the "AI scambaiter" lady will pick up and talk them around in circles while they are trying to extract some meaningful information out of her.
Video credit – O2
As you can see in the demo video above, the AI granny can chat scammers up to death and is even ready to dole out some fake bank number accounts to keep the caller occupied for what's "been nearly an hour."
Needless to say, the whole premise is that phone scammers, who are now a seemingly inevitable fact of life, can't bamboozle other people while they are trying to hoodwink you. There are so many examples of older people being tricked into thinking that something terrible happened with a loved one in order to send over some money, that any effort by carriers to minimize those occurrences is greatly appreciated.
Some phone scammers are going to great length to pretend they are a representative of the police or medical and other authorities, and have developed such convincing personalities, that oftentimes senior citizens have literally left them bags of money in predetermined spots, or gave them to unsuspecting cab drivers there to pick up a package.
In any case, amidst all the brouhaha how AI is used to impersonate politicians, news anchors, or assorted influencers for nefarious purposes and fake news, the "AI Scambaiters" undertaking of O2 comes as a living virtual proof that AI can also be a force for good, and it is just a matter of who uses it and with what end purpose in mind.
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