In the battle against annoying telemarketing scams, software developer Roger Anderson has taken a unique approach. He has equipped his robotic voice service, Jolly Roger Telephone, with OpenAI’s powerful GPT-4 large language model to engage scammers in ridiculous conversations and waste their time. This innovative solution has garnered attention and proved to be remarkably effective.
Jolly Roger Telephone offers AI personalities that interact with scammers, leading to amusing and frustrating exchanges. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on an engagement where a telemarketer, claiming to be from Bank of America, encountered Whitey Whitebeard, one of the AI personalities. Whitey’s habit of speaking in circles eventually exhausted the scammer, who hung up about six minutes into the call.
The service has been around for nearly a decade, but Anderson saw an opportunity to enhance it when ChatGPT was launched in late 2022. GPT-4 excels at generating humorous and nonsensical responses that keep scammers engaged while the system processes their input.
When a scammer calls, the AI initially stalls for time by uttering absurdities, allowing GPT-4 to generate suitable responses. The generated text is then fed into a voice cloner, which brings the digital personality to life and sparks the ridiculous conversation.
Customers can connect their landline or mobile phone numbers to the AI personalities. Jolly Roger offers a variety of characters, including Whitey Whitebeard, Salty Sally, and Whiskey Jack, each with their unique quirks. The website provides demos of these personalities, although caution is advised as some scammers become enraged and may use explicit language.
Jolly Roger Telephone is available in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. US users have access to ten robot voices, while others get six. The subscription fee is a mere $1.99 per month. However, setting up the service requires a multi-step process involving cooperation with phone companies to allow Jolly Roger onto the connection and whitelisting contacts’ numbers.
While the AI personalities are remarkably lifelike, it’s important to remember that comprehensive protection for personal information is essential. TechRadar offers a guide to the best identity theft protection software for 2023, which can provide robust security against potential risks.
Jolly Roger Telephone’s use of ChatGPT demonstrates the power of AI in outwitting telemarketing scammers. With its humorous and engaging approach, this service offers a fun way to frustrate scammers and waste their time while also providing entertainment for users.
