On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel, the second largest telecom operator in India introduced India's first AI-powered spam detection solution, which according to the telco will significantly reduce the spam calls and SMSs for its network users. Airtel calls it a first-of-its-kind solution, where it will alert users in real-time about suspected spam calls and SMSes for free and it is auto-activated for all Airtel network users. According to Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Airtel "Designed as a dual-layer protection, the solution has two filters – one at the network layer and the second at the IT systems layer. Every call and SMS passes through this dual-layered AI shield. In 2 milliseconds our solution processes 1.5 billion messages and 2.5 billion calls every day. This is equivalent to processing 1 trillion records on a real-time basis using the power of AI.” Vittal added that the solution has been able to successfully identify 100 million potential spam calls and three million spam SMSes originating every day. “For us, keeping our customers secure is a burning priority." This product is designed and developed in-house by Airtel, which uses a proprietary algorithm to identify and classify calls and SMSes as "Suspected SPAM", which can analyse calls and SMS by pattern, frequency, duration, and several other parameters. This solution also alerts users when they receive a spam SMS, which might include blacklisted URLs by analysing frequent IMEI changes. However, users will continue to receive service, and transactional calls with the prefix 160 from institutions like Banks, Mutual Funds, Insurance Companies, Enterprises, SMEs, and promotional calls with the prefix 140 to those who have not enabled do-not-disturb (DND) service.
