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Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

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Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#111

Post by tandr »

Ronnie76er wrote: post #47
watusername wrote: post #29

If you use a VoIP service like Twilio and voip.ms, you can set up a very simple IVR menu that just asks unknown callers to press 1 to be connected to you. No AI involved. For me, this has been surprisingly effective against robocalls. Obviously this isn’t going to work against scammers who call directly, but most of the spam calls I receive start with some pre-recorded message which isn’t going to pass the menu. Edit…

My Pixel 8 (not sure what other Android phones do this) can screen calls using their AI assistant. It asks what the call is about. If they answer, it displays the text to you as it rings through. It sounds surprisingly human-like, even saying "Hello?" in a slightly annoyed tone when the other person doesn't respond in time.

I have pixel 7, and I think this feature is or very unstable, or cell-provider dependent. It was on my phone, then was not, then re-appeared briefly again, now it is not even in settings.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#112

Post by connicpu »

simfree wrote: post #31
ttul wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend works for a big telco and is the guy fixing this problem for them. They have amazing powers of deception when they need it. New numbers can be conjured up at any time.

The new fad among wireless carriers here in the US is to route what they think are spam calls to a fake voicemail box. Voicemail that is left in this generic voice mail box never makes it to their customer and the customer is completely unaware that some of their calls have been diverted.

Not sure about all carriers, but on mine I still get a push notification when a call gets blocked blocked by the spam filter.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#113

Post by zeroonetwothree »

Nition wrote: post #54
guidoism wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's similar to the idea I had for combating texting spam: - If your number is in my address book then texts are free for you - If this is the first time you are contacting me then you pay me $1 There are probably downsides and ways this will screw up real relationships but it will certainly increase the cost of spam.

One issue I can forsee: - Every contractor (plumber etc) you hire will ask you to please add them to your contact list first so that they can message you. - After a while of half their clients not doing that and lots of fees on their end, contractors stop providing a phone number at all, asking you to please install ContractorApp to communicate with them.

They already charge $200 so I doubt $1 extra is going to matter.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#114

Post by connicpu »

kabdib wrote: post #57
immibis wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then suddenly, calls from consenting callers to consenting receivers are labeled as spam and blocked. What can you do about it? Nothing. Switch to email, I guess. Oh wait, same problem.

reductio ad absurdum: we're back to Pony Express

Bulk scams by mail are at least less common because mail fraud is investigated pretty seriously and results in federal felony charges. Not to mention the cost of initiation is much higher. Unfortunately individuals are still sometimes targeted.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#115

Post by connicpu »

neilalexander wrote: post #32
ttul wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend works for a big telco and is the guy fixing this problem for them. They have amazing powers of deception when they need it. New numbers can be conjured up at any time.

Better yet, route all calls for all disconnected/unassigned numbers in their part of the numbering plan to it. It would probably kill robocalling overnight.

Who tells them the number is disconnected? That would have to come from the shady carrier enabling this stuff.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#116

Post by notahacker »

jliptzin wrote: post #76

Seems stupid to publicly announce this product so that scammers are now aware of it? Also what happens when scammers start using AIs of their own to do the scamming?

If scammers are wondering if a confused little old lady who's the first person to listen to them all day is actually an AI programmed to be nice that's... probably not a bad thing

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#117

Post by petesergeant »

speerer wrote: post #62
xnx wrote: post #23

Seems like the logical endpoint of a lot of this is people getting paid directly for their attention. Want to call me? I've set a price of $5/call that I answer, and an additional $10/minute of listen time after the first 10 seconds. Want to send me an email? $1/email and $5/100 words. Anyone I have emailed is automatically on my allow-list, which I can also adjust manually.

Satoshi Nakamoto's first visionfor Bitcoin was just this - pay-to-send email.

90% sure this was also an idea in Bill Gates’ “The Road Ahead”

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#118

Post by lupusreal »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #87
lupusreal wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, check the archive. I have no idea how they dress, nice "totem" though. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40043630

This is doubling down on “may have once been based in truth, and from time to time again approximates it.” Analogy: phantom pain is pain in a limb that was once there but now isn’t. The limb was real. It probably felt pain. But when a patient imagines pain after the limb is gone, that’s the diagnosis. Those comments are real. The people, probably, too. Responding to them when they aren’t in the room is a separate mat…

You have this notion of a visualization gimmick and have visualized me using it (ironic). In fact my game is far simpler; blithly preempt and thereby insult anybody who subscribes to a belief I consider to be misguided. For all I know they look just like me, it makes no difference.

Re: Daisy, an AI granny wasting scammers' time

#120

Post by JumpCrisscross »

lupusreal wrote: post #118
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is doubling down on “may have once been based in truth, and from time to time again approximates it.” Analogy: phantom pain is pain in a limb that was once there but now isn’t. The limb was real. It probably felt pain. But when a patient imagines pain after the limb is gone, that’s the diagnosis. Those comments are real. The people, probably, too. Responding to them when they aren’t in the room is a separate mat…

You have this notion of a visualization gimmick and have visualized me using it (ironic). In fact my game is far simpler; blithly preempt and thereby insult anybody who subscribes to a belief I consider to be misguided. For all I know they look just like me, it makes no difference.

> preempt and thereby insult anybody who subscribes to a belief I consider to be misguided

This is the totem. You react to a misguided belief even when it’s a phantom.

If you look at two-mode polarised discussions, you’ll find both sides talking about a totem of the other, reacting to imagined preëmptions and rarely interacting with each other. The graphs separate. As a result, the preëmptions are more imagined than real. (Both in characterisation and frequency of emergence.

Note that this is perfectly normal. Kids do it. And it’s fun. It’s also easy, since instead of reacting to anything empirical or well argued you’re constructing straw men for the purpose of taking them down.

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