Hiya launches app to bat away robocalls, spam, and deepfake scamsHiya launches app to bat away robocalls, spam, and deepfake scams

Hiya AI Phone, as the app is called, is supposed to act like a personal assistant and as well as keeping the wolf from the door in terms of scams and detecting synthetic voices, it can also take notes during calls.

By way of winding up the pitch, the release states that managing phone calls “has become increasingly challenging, with professionals losing valuable time each month to robocalls, scams, and unknown numbers.”

It has some data that claims Americans spend 40 minutes each month screening 13 unwanted spam calls, and that this figure is likely higher for ‘busy professionals’ since they need to answer them all so as not to miss out on hot business opportunities.

More of its research found that in 2024, one in three Americans received at least one deepfake scam call, with 34% of those targeted losing an average of $7,200.

In terms of its specific features, the app can apparently identify callers and their intent, blocking spam and ‘irrelevant’ calls – the threshold for which surely differs from person to person. An AI assistant answers all unknown calls, asks callers to state their name and purpose, and evaluates whether to connect them. If deemed appropriate it shares the caller's name and purpose, allowing the user to decide whether to accept the call.

For detecting AI-generated voices and deepfakes, the app uses AI models of its own trained to detect subtle patterns in the audio that indicate a voice is AI-generated or AI-modified. If such a thing is identified, the app displays a suitable warning.

While on a call, it analysis the conversation in real time to detect ‘scam language’ and other indicators and throws up an alert if it identifies something it thinks is dodgy —whether from a person, a recording, or an AI-generated voice.

Meanwhile call conversations are automatically transcribed and summarised using AI models. Hiya insists all call data is encrypted and remains accessible only on the device, and that it “does not store personal or call data on its servers without consent.” 

“Hiya AI Phone represents a groundbreaking evolution in how people interact with their phones,” said Hiya CEO and founder Alex Algard. “For years, phone apps have stagnated, offering little innovation since their introduction on smartphones. The launch of Hiya AI Phone changes that by introducing the first call assistant purpose-built to navigate today’s challenging call landscape—dominated by robocalls, spam, deepfake scams, and other interruptions. Mobile phones are the ideal platform for AI to make a meaningful impact, and transforming the call experience with a digital assistant that works seamlessly for you on your calls is the perfect starting point.”

At the moment its only available in the US market, but there are plans to expand it to the UK and Canada this year.

Last year Hiya signed a few deals behind the scenes in the UK operator space for this sort of scam busting functionality. In July EE launched a subscription service called Scam Guard designed to protect customers' calls, data, and online activity through spam and scam call labelling and dark web monitoring, which uses an ‘adaptive AI system’ powered by Hiya. On the landline side, BT announced in October its Enhanced Call Protect on Digital Voice had dealt with 2,430,000 scam calls to landlines and identified 17,700,000 as nuisance calls since the service from Hiya was deployed in May.

The firm also partner with O2 in November for its Call Defence app, which is supposed to do similar things.

Following some pressure from Ofcom, phone companies last year agreed to block calls that falsely display what's known as the 'presentation number', which identifies to the recipient who is calling – the idea being this will reduce the efficacy of foreign scammers that pose as UK banks, payment providers, and other types of trusted organisation.

There is likely to be more Ofcom edicts and tooling up from operators on this front since there is no shortage of reports being published pointing to the proliferation of attacks, with bad actors bolstered with AI tools of their own. In November last year Three claimed scam activity increased threefold during the month of Black Friday compared to the monthly average from August to October 2023, while over Christmas scam messages went up over five times the normal rate.

In the same month VMO2 said professional fraud gangs are ‘persistently and aggressively targeting the public’, and called on the government to appoint a dedicated fraud minister and create a ‘single centralised, specialised and properly resourced national policing body’ responsible for investigating all instances of fraud.