This AI Bot Will Prank Telemarketers By Talking To Them Until They Catch On

Lauren Keating, Tech Times 01 February 2016, 01:02 pm

We have all been in the situation where an incoming call reveals an unknown number.

While there might be a moment of hesitation, we decide to take the call, only to find that it is a telemarketer trying to sell us something. We then hang up as soon as possible, but that doesn't prevent them from calling again the future.

Now, you can get revenge for these calls by using this genius AI bot that gets on the phone with a real-life employee and continues to speak to them until they catch on to the prank.

Working in the telecom industry, Roger Anderson knows firsthand what a pain these calls can be for those on the other side of line. So, after his son received an aggressive call from a telemarketer, he decided to set up his phone to whitelist those types of calls.

After a successful two years, Anderson noticed that telemarketers would hang up in about 10 seconds. This is because the machine makes the call, and once someone picks up, a live agent then swoops in. Once they heard his greeting, which said: "if you're a human, press a button ..." the agent would then figure no one was there and hang up.

So, to waste the time of those in the telemarketing industry and cause them "pain or discomfort," Anderson decided to take things up a notch. Recording a few lines, he then programmed an artificially-intelligent robot to converse with telemarketers for as long as it could.

He created an algorithm that says, "Hello? hello?" to trick the agent to thinking they have reached their target. The robot then says "yes, uh huh, right" to answer the telemarketer, and when they start to get suspicious, it gives some inane and hilarious response. If there is a pause, the bot then starts the conversation from the beginning. If the telemarketer calls back, the robot is programmed to have a one-hour delay before picking up again.

Anderson revealed details on how to set up the pranking robot on his website, Jolly Roger Telephone Co. After answering a call from a telemarketer, tell them to hold on while you get the person they are calling. Press "add call," and dial the robot at 214-666-4321 and continue to talk into the phone, pretending to get the person to come to the phone. Then, press "add call," "merge call" or "conference" to add the robot to the conversation. All that's left to do is mute yourself so the telemarketer doesn't catch you laughing, and listen to the robot do its thing.

Listen to the pranking robot in action in the clips below.