On Thursday, the UK’s largest cellular community operator, O2, launched a chatbot designed to frustrate telephone scammers. Referred to as “dAIsy,” it mimics an older lady with all types of time to speak – about knitting, her cat Fluffy – with the goal of retaining fraudsters endlessly engaged as they fight acquiring her (pretend) financial institution particulars.
A press launch about O2’s “AI Granny” says it combines “varied AI fashions” that transcribe the caller’s voice into textual content earlier than producing a response by a customized giant language mannequin, then feeding it by a text-to-speech mannequin to supply a voice reply. The AI was skilled partially by Jim Browning, a “scambait” skilled with an enormous YouTube following.
It’s enjoyable to see in follow. (O2 says the audio within the video beneath is actual.) If it makes a dent, all the higher. Final yr, the FBI reported that folks over age 60 had been swindled out of $3.4 billion through phone scams, up from $3.1 billion in 2022. With generative AI taking off — and voice impersonation with it — these numbers are poised to balloon.
