level: business
savi security, founded by brothers patrick and ryan coughlin, released an app for iphone and android to protect people from ai-generated scams. the app screens texts, voicemails, and incoming calls for fraud. its standout feature is live call monitoring, where a user can add an ai listener to detect scam behavior during a conversation. the company raised $7 million in seed funding led by acrew capital.
the idea came after the founders' mother received a fake kidnapping call using ai to clone her daughter's voice and spoof her phone number. the scammer demanded $1,200, referencing a local walmart. she avoided the trap by calling her daughter directly. patrick coughlin, a former cisco security executive, realized that cheap generative ai tools now let criminals target consumers with attacks once reserved for governments and large companies.
before launching the app, savi tested its detection model with a free website called scam wise, which lets users upload suspicious content for analysis. it received 50,000 submissions in four months, growing by 10,000 weekly. the app uses google's gemini and other models through an ai gateway. it costs $8 per month or $63 per year for a family plan with no user limit, aiming to make fraud harder as ai lowers the barrier for scammers.
why it matters: ai makes scams more convincing and accessible, so real-time detection tools help prevent financial losses for everyday users.