Tired of incessant robocalls and the billions of dollars they steal annually, Roger Anderson, founder of Jolly Roger Telephone Company, developed an innovative solution. His AI-powered call-deflection system connects spam calls with ChatGPT-driven personalities, trapping scammers in endless, circular conversations as they try to extract financial information from a chatbot.

Unwanted robocalls and robotexts are a major issue, topping the Federal Communication Commission's complaint list. (Neil Godwin/Future via Getty Images)

Anderson's system uses the same AI tools employed by robocallers, intercepting spam calls and engaging the scammers. The AI personalities, powered by ChatGPT, adapt their conversations to the context of the call. If a scammer discusses debt consolidation, the AI responds with fabricated debt stories, teasing the scammer. If the topic is Medicare fraud, the AI engages in discussions about Medicare, effectively wasting the scammer's time.

The ChatGPT software generates human-like conversation, powering Anderson's AI personalities like Whitey Whitebeard, an elderly man with memory loss, Salty Sally, a distracted mother, and Whiskey Jack, a man preoccupied with a game. These personas are designed to entice scammers and keep them on the line.

The sheer volume of robocalls is staggering. Americans receive an estimated 4 billion robocalls monthly, with a quarter being scams. These scams resulted in nearly $40 billion in losses between May 2021 and May 2022. Anderson's AI aims to combat this by tying up scammers and preventing them from targeting other victims.

Anderson believes that curbing robocall scams would not only rebuild trust in answering phone calls but also save Americans significant sums of money. The FCC estimated potential savings of over $13.5 billion annually if fraud and nuisance robocalls were reduced. Anderson hopes his AI tool provides a sense of revenge and protection for those bombarded by these intrusive calls.