This ‘lifelike’ AI granny is infuriating phone scammers. Here’s how – and why

At a time when AI scams are on the rise, one mobile operator is fighting back — with an AI grandma.

In a blog post, UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 introduced “Daisy,” an AI granny whose sole purpose is to answer the phone and keep scammers busy.  

Also: AI songs are infiltrating Spotify – here’s why it’s an issue for fans and creators

Here’s how Daisy works.

If a phone scammer happens to call one of the special numbers set up by the mobile company, an AI chatbot that’s “indistinguishable from a real person” answers the phone. O2 says it trained the elderly-woman-sounding chatbot on several cutting-edge AI technologies and several AI models. In addition, well-known YouTube scammers like Jim Browning helped with the training. 

As the call progresses, the AI listens and transcribes the caller’s voice into text. A response is immediately generated through a custom large language model with a character personality layer and then run through a custom AI text-to-speech model that generates a reply.

Also: This Pixel phone feature listens in on calls to protect you from scams

This happens in real time, with no additional input needed.

Unfortunately for scammers, while she might sound vulnerable, Daisy isn’t an easy target.

She might tell meandering stories about her grandkids or hobbies, be incredibly tech-illiterate, or give out wrong banking information that leads nowhere. Either way, she’s tying up scammer’s time and taking them away from real victims.

In a demo video, Daisy begins by not knowing what a website is and asks the person on the other end, “Three Ws then a dot?” She further explains that all she sees on her screen is a picture of her cat, Fluffy, and eventually trails off into a wandering story that prompts the exasperated caller to snap, “I think your profession is bothering people” and “It’s nearly been an hour!” 

Daisy is so lifelike, as her creators explain, that she has successfully conversed with numerous fraudsters for 40 minutes at a time.

Also: 1 in 4 people have experienced identity fraud – and most of them blame AI

In addition to the main goal being wasting time, Daisy has another purpose, which is to show people that you’re not always speaking to the person you think you are on the phone. O2 encourages customers to remain vigilant with any phone calls and report anything suspicious.