AI Grandma "Daisy" Fights Phone Scams: Virgin Media O2's Innovative Defense
Virgin Media O2 Unveils AI Chatbot to Thwart Phone Scammers
In a novel approach to combat phone scams, Virgin Media O2 has introduced an AI-powered chatbot designed to frustrate and waste the time of fraudulent callers. The chatbot, named “Daisy,” takes on the persona of a confused grandmother and is engineered to be indistinguishable from a real person.
Developed in collaboration with renowned YouTube scambaiter Jim Browning, Daisy serves as the company’s unconventional “Head of Scammer Relations.” Her primary mission is to engage fraudsters in lengthy, pointless conversations, effectively preventing them from targeting genuine victims.
The AI utilizes cutting-edge technology and has been meticulously trained using scambaiter expertise to mimic human-like rambling characteristic of an elderly individual. When interacting with scammers, Daisy deploys a range of tactics, including confusing digressions about personal topics and providing random numbers when asked for sensitive information.
Virgin Media O2’s fraud director emphasized the importance of skepticism when receiving unsolicited calls, stating, “Daisy’s success in keeping scammers engaged for extended periods highlights the deceptive nature of phone scams and the need for constant vigilance.”
This innovative use of AI technology joins other applications in the fight against misinformation and fraud, such as Facebook’s recent deployment of a bot in a mushroom foraging group. As AI continues to evolve, its potential to safeguard consumers from various forms of deception grows increasingly significant.
