‘Dear, did you say pastry?’: Meet the ‘AI granny’ Driving Scammers Up the Wall

An elderly grandmother who chats about knitting patterns, recipes for scones and the blackness of the night sky to anyone who will listen has become an unlikely tool in combatting scammers.

Like many people, “Daisy” is beset with countless calls from fraudsters, who often try to take control of her computer after claiming she has been hacked.

But because of her dithering and inquiries about whether they like cups of tea, the criminals end up furious and frustrated rather than successful.

Daisy is, of course, not a real grandmother but an AI bot created by computer scientists to combat fraud. Her task is simply to waste the time of the people who are trying to scam her.

O2 rolled out “AI granny” Daisy for a short period to show what could be done with artificial intelligence to counter the scourge of scammers who have become so ubiquitous.

Using a mixture of ambivalence, confusion about how computers work and an eagerness to reminisce about her younger days, the “78 years young” Daisy draws sighs and snapping from fraudsters on the other end of the line.

Listen to their conversation:

Excerpts courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd. Read the complete story here.