This week, I thought I’d share something that really tickled me when I came across it in the news. It’s about time that older people were able to fight back against scammers trying to take advantage of them – and soon, thanks to Granny Daisy, they might be able to!
Granny Daisy, or rather, “dAIsy”, is an invention from the phone company O2. And as you might have guessed, she’s an AI creation, but in my opinion, she might be the best use of AI that I’ve seen in quite some time.
Granny Daisy’s entire purpose is to keep phone scammers on the line for as long as possible, leading them a merry dance, and making them think that they might have successfully hoodwinked her. She sounds, to all intents and purposes, like a lady over a certain age who’s trying her best to follow the scammer’s instructions, but keeps accidentally clicking on the wrong thing.
Now of course, Granny Daisy never actually gives the scammers any money (and spends a great deal of time telling long-winded stories about her grandchildren and her latest trip to Bognor Regis to keep them on the line). And she can’t do anything to stop scammers from being awful people.
But what she can do is keep them talking for as long as possible – and every minute that a scammer is talking to Daisy, is a minute that they aren’t spending on ensnaring someone who is actually vulnerable. So I’d consider that to be time well spent…
For now, Granny Daisy is only operational on certain numbers, but it’s hoped that in the future, people might be able to forward a scam call to Daisy whenever they receive one. For now, you can see a bit of Granny Daisy in action here…
Opening dates over Christmas
Today (Monday 23rd December) is the last day this year that our offices will be open and staffed, but we’ll be back from the 2nd January to deal with any queries or orders that might have come in over the Christmas period. My Monday newsletters will be arriving in your Inbox as usual though, not to worry.
All that remains now is for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!