An ‘AI granny’ to waste phone fraudsters’ time, it’s a new feature that has launched in the UK.
Created to make fraudsters’ jobs a little harder.
– They have received the number on lists that scammers often use, explains technology reporter Evelina Galli.
The British telecom company O2 has taken a new approach to telephone scams against elderly people. The company has launched a new AI function, an AI aunt, which will tire fraudsters and waste their time with, for example, counter questions about technology. “dAIsy” also has all the time in the world to talk about family members, the cat or her passion for knitting.
The phone number belongs to an AI grandmother
Evelina Galli, technology reporter on Sweden’s radio P3, explains how it should be done in practice.
– O2 has set up a specific number that belongs to this AI aunt. Then they got the phone number on lists that scammers often use. In this way, they have set a trap for these fraudsters, she explains.
A fun idea in practice but how much will the feature really help against the fraudsters?
– In the main, this is a drop in the ocean for how many scammers there are. The AI is just wasting a person’s time.
But she also points out that it can be important symbolically to highlight that we don’t always know who we’re talking to. Something that can also fool fraudsters.
– AI is so advanced these days that it can sound like a grandmother even if there is not a real person behind the phone, says Galli.
Will we see it in Sweden?
The AI function has been launched in Great Britain and, according to Galli, we will probably not see anything similar in Sweden in the future. The reason is that Sweden is part of the EU and thus must follow laws for how to use AI in the future.
– Next year there will be a new law which means that we must be more transparent in how we use AI. Then this trick falls apart if you have to tell them that the fraudster is talking to an AI, she concludes.