On Thursday, O2, the UK's largest mobile network operator, introduced a chatbot designed to frustrate phone scammers. The service, called dAIsy, imitates an elderly woman who spends her time chatting about things like knitting and her cat Fluffy, allowing scammers to steal her (fake) bank account. The aim is to keep you endlessly involved in your attempts to obtain information.
A press release about O2's “AI Granny” says it has “various It is stated that it combines “an AI model”. answer. The AI was partially trained by Jim Browning, an expert on “scammers” who has a large following on YouTube.
It's fun to actually see it. (O2 claims the audio in the video below is authentic.) If it makes a dent, even better. Last year, the FBI reported that people 60 and older were defrauded of $3.4 billion in phone scams, up from $3.1 billion in 2022. With the spread of generative AI and the resulting voice spoofing, this number is likely to increase further.