Airtel has unveiled an enhancement to its artificial intelligence (AI) solution designed for detecting spam calls and messages, announced on Monday. The tool, known as AI spam detection, is capable of autonomously identifying spam calls and SMS messages, providing users with notifications in near real-time. This allows individuals to make informed decisions prior to responding to calls or messages. The updated functionality now includes support for ten regional languages from India, in addition to international numbers.
In a press release, the telecom provider detailed the expansion of its AI-enabled solution. Users in India will now receive spam alerts for both domestic and international calls and messages, with notifications available in ten regional languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu, along with English. Airtel is also planning to introduce additional languages in the future.
The company specified that the spam alerts in local languages are currently accessible to users of Android devices only. There has been no announcement regarding the potential availability of this feature for iPhone users. Importantly, the AI-powered spam detection service is offered at no cost to all customers with an active Airtel connection and is automatically activated without the need for users to make service requests.
Airtel reported that since the introduction of the AI tool in September 2024, it has successfully detected and dispatched notifications concerning approximately 27.5 billion spam calls to its customers.
At the launch, Airtel emphasized that the AI tool is built on its proprietary algorithmic technology, developed in-house. The algorithm evaluates phone numbers using various parameters to determine if a sender should be flagged as a spammer. Key factors include the caller’s patterns of usage, frequency of calls and messages, and call duration. The company noted that these parameters are monitored in real-time to enhance accuracy.
