Meet Daisy, the AI granny designed to waste scammers' time

We all know how frustrating it can be to get scam phone calls, whether they're pretending to be your bank or trying to claim your computer needs fixing.

Of course it can be fun to keep them talking and string them along for a while, but most of us don't have the time to do that. Now though UK telco Virgin Media O2 has created an AI pensioner specifically designed to waste the scammers' time so we don't have to.

Called 'Daisy' her mission is to talk with fraudsters and waste as much of their time as possible with human-like rambling chat to keep them away from real people, while highlighting the need for consumers to stay vigilant as the UK faces a fraud epidemic.

Using AI technology and trained with the help of one of YouTube's best known scambaiters, Jim Browning, Daisy is a lifelike AI granny indistinguishable from a real person. Able to interact with scammers in real time without any input from her creators, O2 has put Daisy to work around the clock answering dodgy calls.

Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud at Virgin Media O2, says:

We're committed to playing our part in stopping the scammers, investing in everything from firewall technology to block out scam texts to AI-powered spam call detection to keep our customers safe.

The newest member of our fraud-prevention team, Daisy, is turning the tables on scammers -- outsmarting and outmaneuvering them at their own cruel game simply by keeping them on the line.

You can see a video of Daisy at work below. The company has also created a webpage with tips to help customers avoid scams.

Image credit: Virgin Media O2