Google Rolls Out Call Screening AI To Thwart Phone Fraudsters

Google is rolling out AI-powered scam call detection for Android phones, aiming to protect users from increasingly sophisticated phone fraud schemes. The new feature, available in beta for Pixel 6 and newer devices, analyzes conversation patterns in real-time to identify potential scams. When suspicious patterns emerge, such as urgently requesting fund transfers, the system alerts users through audio, haptic, and visual warnings.

The detection system operates entirely on-device using Google's machine learning models, with no call audio or transcripts stored or transmitted externally. While Pixel 9 devices utilize Google's advanced Gemini Nano AI model, earlier Pixel phones use the standard machine learning for detection, the company said. The feature, which is opt-in and can be disabled at any time, is currently limited to English-speaking Phone by Google beta users in the United States. Google plans to expand availability to additional Android devices in the future.

you can't fool me, it's bots all the way down

[Thud457]

first we had human scammers.
then there were the scambots
now Android has anti-scambots
pretty soon, the scammers will have anti-anti-scambots
ad infinitum.

FIRST POST!

Re:

[CallMeTim]

Like every other kind of security, digital or otherwise, it's a game of cat and mouse.

Re:

[nikkipolya]

Haan! I don't know if the mouse ever chases the cat. Except for if you are referring to Tom & Jerry.

your call is important to us

[Pseudonymous Powers]

Pretty soon the scammers are going to have almost as hard a time getting anything from these companies as their paying customers.

Re:

[olsmeister]

Did you even read the summary? Entirely on-device, no information sent out.

Whether you believe this or not is up to you, but it's what they're saying.

Presumably the idea is to make Android and Pixel phones more desirable.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

> Whether you believe this or not is up to you, but it's what
they're saying.

Look at the evolution of every other google product and tell me if you believe this.

Re:

[CallMeTim]

If they're lying, it would be easy to prove and they would be sued. You're paranoid.

Re:

[backslashdot]

Sued how? You signed the EULA that says they can change the terms at any time. Oh, I get it you think the billionaires we put in charge of all branches of government are going to care about people who can't be bothered to read the EULA?

Re:

[nikkipolya]

No, it's called "telemetry". It's cute and cuddly. It's harmless. Quietly sits on the lap of every Google product like a good boy.

Re:stopping scams is only step one

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

So it's on device. Lots of software is on your device. Last time I checked Android software manifest it was >400 apk files. Some of them were very difficult to get information on, some were Samsung bloat, but there were many others from Google that were in my opinion, malware. They harvest information, act on it, possibly pop up coupons on your screen, send info back to who knows where... There's no reason at to trust an onboard AI. There's no reason that an onboard AI could not pass information to other shitty apps to exfiltrate or otherwise act on the AI results.

Hard pass.

[ugen]

EOM

I can see the future headlines

[Earthness2000]

"Google AI call screener has systemic bias and racism." Then a lawsuit. Then it gets cancelled.

Re:

[ihavesaxwithcollies]

Trump won, all that shit is going by the wayside, it won't get canceled.

Racism and sexism are back, baby!

Re:I can see the future headlines

[93 Escort Wagon]

I think a more likely future headline is:

Google admits its AI call screening "inadvertently" sent transcripts and personally identifiable information back to Google servers.

Re:

[gnasher719]

Systemic bias and racism would work very well against scammers who are part of some minority. Well, if someone claims to be your daughter having lost her phone and her wallet and please send her money, comparing "mothers" and "daughters" race would be an excellent fraud detector.

Not call screening

[Powercntrl]

"Call screening" would imply that the AI determines if the caller is a scammer before you answer the call. What TFS describes is call monitoring, with a robotic big brother looking over your shoulder. There's a lot of potential for misuse here, for example, tweaking the algorithm to be triggered by political topics, so it throws a warning when canvassers ask for legitimate political donations.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

"legitimate political donations" - those words do not belong together.

Re:

[LeadGeek]

Callcentric's pre-call screening works nearly 100% for me. Unknown/untrusted/"sus" calls get routed via an IVR to press a random number before my phones ring. No telemarketer has bothered to script a response, yet.

Re:

[kwalker]

Maybe for you, but I remember a time when "screening" a call meant letting it go to your answering machine (!!) and listening to the message the caller records to decide if I should pick up the phone or not. I have a similar feature on my Android phone, except it uses Google text-to-speech to read out the boilerplate "This person is using a screening service from Google, and will get a recording and transcript of this call...", then each option I tap, and anything the caller says is translated into text and

AI not needed

[backslashdot]

This sounds like a scam for google to listen in on your conversations which, at its most innocent, would blurt out an ad when you start talking about some topic or need.

Imagine you're having a call and say "nice chatting, gotta go .. it's raining" .. Google will interrupt and interject the following "did you know you can get a great deal on an umbrella for 20% off if you just say the word buy?"

Simpler solution

[backslashdot]

1. Just allow us to ban VOIP-routed calls entirely (it's easy, there's a known set of phone numbers .. and numbers that aren't on the list can quickly be found out and shared anyway).
2. In the case of scams from WhatsApp and services like that .. make it (at least by default) impossible to get an invite to a group chat by someone who isn't on your contact list.

Re:

[LeadGeek]

How's this: Ringing my bell will cost you in bitcoin, otherwise you only get my voicemail. If I like/respect you, I have the ability to return the money.

"Entirely on-device"

[devslash0]

Yeah, right.

Battery vampire!

[VeryFluffyBunny]

I've got a new buzzword for Google, especially their "Pixel" phone department: Battery vampire! In normal daily use, their phones stay warm. They're actually quite a nice pocket warmer. Except that the battery also drains accordingly. They barely last a day. If you add additional pocket-warming features, like AI, to the mix, we'll barely make it through half an hour. AI could be the new Pixel phone battery vampire; will it drain the life out of your device in minutes?

Re:

[93 Escort Wagon]

They're actually quite a nice pocket warmer. Except that the battery also drains accordingly. They barely last a day.

So what are you complaining about? Those chemical hand warmers only last a couple hours at best!

No, don't bother me

[LeadGeek]

I don't want the interruption of a ringing phone until AFTER the screening takes place. I don't need realtime BS detection...my cynical brain works fine for that. My attention is what I need protected.

Yeeesss... I'll let Google listen in on my calls

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I'll take my chances with the scammers. They're much less dangerous.

Re:

[Canberra1]

Ring. 'Homeland Security - Please state your full name and date of birth after the voiceprint beep to be connected' -They seem to hang up. But yes, scammer voiceprints should be collected, and justice delivered should they set foot on a developed country.

What my bank does

[gnasher719]

With my banking app, before I can send someone money, I have to record their details in the app (once). If I send money to an account the first time, I have to answer a long list of security questions, which basically all ask "is the receiver showing typical signs of being a scammer".
I suspect this is to move responsibility to fraud to the victim. Because 98% of the time, either your bank will tell you that this request for money is very, very suspicious, or the scammer tells you to tell the bank lies, Either way, your own fault.

Re:

[butlerm]

Some scammers run unusually sophisticated schemes to take advantage of mostly elderly people with either a lot of money or better than average credit. I am familiar with a case in my own family where scammers in the United States gradually persuaded the victim first to send them a twelve thousand dollar debt financed cashiers check and then pretended to be a series of people who were investigating the problem and trying to get his money back including pretending to be a police officer and a bank investigato

Trivial

[Daina.0]

Detecting a scam during a call is super easy. If it starts with someone with an Indian accent saying:
"Hello. My name is . How are you?", then you can be sure it's a scam.

Detecting before answering is much harder.