'AI companies will build principles, but it will not be easy'

It was a battle that was effectively lost. Spam calls and messages on our phones every day were nothing short of an infliction.

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The problem compounded, as the global mobile user base widened. When Truecaller started out in 2009, with apps for Symbian OS (think Nokia phones) and Windows Mobile, to be followed soon with Apple iPhone and Android, only the tip of a problematic iceberg was visible.

"I think relevance has never been this strong during all our years. That's something we never thought of, honestly. We just wanted to solve a problem we had back then. It turned out, that problem is 100 times bigger today than it was 15 years ago," said Alan Mamedi, co-founder and CEO of Truecaller, speaking at a virtual session of the 21st edition of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Friday.

He called this a "global problem", further complicated by the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) which can be used to build engines capable of making calls to thousands of users every second. "The reason is because everything has become digitalised, your bank accounts are accessible from your phone. You're so vulnerable today, and this problem will just continue to grow," Mamedi said.