Not a new phenomenon is a telephone scam, but it has reached a point with AI that it has made impossible to know whether the person on the other side of the line is who they claim to be. However, in an effort to turn the tables, O2 has come up with what it calls an "AI granny" to keep these scammers on the line with no reason at all.

Almost as if its developers coined its name after the flower, the bot Daisy thrives on "human-like rambling chat" to fill up the time of scammers that is the purpose of which is to waste their time telling stories of family, knitting, and absolutely made-up personal data that includes bank details.

Built with the help of YouTuber, software engineer, and kind of legendary "scambaiter" Jim Browning, Daisy stitches together multiple AI models to listen and respond to calls. It's not something you'll be able to use yourself (as fun as that would be) — for this exercise, O2 says it managed to get some of its own phone numbers added to lists commonly used by scammers.

The company claims it held "multiple fraudsters on calls for 40 minutes at a time" in recognition of International Fraud Awareness Week. And for that, of course, the scammers appreciate those additional minutes spent chatting with Daisy instead of dialing real people.