Truecaller AI Call Scanner Feature to Prevent AI-Based Voice Scams Launched: How It Works

Truecaller is introducing a new feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that is aimed at helping users detect AI scam calls. The caller ID platform is rolling out the AI Call Scanner feature which can detect whether the voice of the person on the call belongs to a human or an AI. The company highlighted the rising cases of AI voice scams, where bad actors use AI to call in familiar voices to dupe people. Notably, this feature will be first rolled out to the US.

Truecaller AI Call Scanner Feature Launched

The newly announced Truecaller AI Call Scanner feature can analyse the voice of the caller in real-time and share the results within a few seconds, according to the company. In order to identify whether a caller is using AI to scam the user, the AI Call Scanner feature records the caller's voice for a couple of seconds and then processes it using an in-house AI model.

Truecaller's AI Call Scanner feature
Photo Credit: Truecaller

Truecaller says that its AI model is trained to identify the unique characteristics of human speech and distinguish it from AI-generated voices. It further added that while the entire process takes a few seconds to complete, it still maintains a high level of accuracy.

The feature will be available to Truecaller Premium users with the latest version of the app (version 14.6) on Android. The feature is first being rolled out in the US, and the company said it will be introduced in India and other major markets of the company in the coming months.

The company highlighted that multiple bad actors are using AI that mimic human voices to try and extort money from victims. By taking samples of people's voices from social media videos to train the AI, the voice is then used to call victims who are related to those whose voices have been cloned.

The scammers use a familiar voice when calling their victims, who fall for the scam as it is designed to sound similar to the voice of their relatives. Truecaller points out that these scams were initially spotted in 2019 and have risen exponentially in subsequent years.

How to use Truecaller's AI Call Scanner

1. Set Truecaller as your default calling app.
2. Tap on Start AI Detection when you receive a suspicious call.
3. The call will briefly go on hold as the AI records the voice.
4. Wait for the “Analysing…” message indicating that the AI model is checking the caller's voice.
5. Check the on-screen notification to see if it is an AI voice or not.