Truecaller, a Swedish caller identification app, has just launched for its premium subscribers Android users an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that allows them to detect and block any call identified as spam.

The new feature called ‘Max,’ adds to Caller ID, Spam Blocking, Messaging, Smart SMS, Organized and Spam-free Inbox, Truecaller Assistant among others on Truecaller.

As a method of improving its filtering technology, the company decides to come to its users aids by saving them from the assault and attacks from scammers and spam calls.

Truecaller: How spam call blocker, Max, works

The new AI feature ‘Max’ unveiled as an update for Android premium subscribers helps block all calls that does not come from an approved contact, or that its AI determines might be spam. Today, about 38 to 40 billion spam calls annually has been blocked by caller ID app Truecaller for its 374 million+ users, the company said.

Additionally, it was reported that previously, blocking and other actions were guided by how numbers were listed on that database, combined with individual’s proactive screening.

Emphatically, the new AI feature update is for Android-only, implying that Apple does not allow Truecaller (or other caller ID services) to check callers’ spammer status to block calls automatically on iOS. Thus, Truecaller has a more basic service for iPhone users based around CallKit.

Asides the update being an improvement, it also is believed to be a business opportunity, attracting more people to the premium subscribers, focusing on the fact that people are fed up with spammers’ insidious ways — even if a fix could come at the expense of missing calls from unknown numbers and non-spammers that might actually be welcomed.

The app’s premium tiers range between $9.99 per month and $99.99 per year, depending on factors like number of users covered.

Kunal Dua, Vice President of Search at Truecaller, explained that the app is “something that, at least, some people have asked for — people who understand the app very well.” Also, “multiple dozen algorithms” across its markets identify spam numbers, and each of these machine learning algorithms is also learning from the user feedback, he added.

Meanwhile, the app cautions users that the feature “might block legitimate businesses.” Nevertheless, the system is expected to improve over time as it gets more spam call data, he said.

“Obviously,” Dua said, “we try our best to distinguish between spam and legitimate businesses. But there can be certain cases where some legitimate businesses may be temporarily (blocked). “We like to believe it’s temporary before our community, and before our AI algorithms can identify that this is a legitimate business… We have great amount of confidence that if we are calling somebody as a spammer, there is a very, very high probability, 99.999 times out of 100.”

After the update of Truecaller to v13.58 is done, users can find the new spam-blocking feature by going through Settings > Block. Moreso in cases of a blocked number which was wrongly marked as spam by its machine learning algorithms, users can unblock it, which in turn trains the AI.

Continue Reading