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Evidlo | on: Ask HN: Is anyone doing anything cool with tiny language models?
I have ollama responding to SMS spam texts. I told it to feign interest in whatever the spammer is selling/buying. Each number gets its own persona, like a millennial gymbro or 19th century British gentleman.

http://files.widloski.com/image10%20(1).png

http://files.widloski.com/image11.png

celestialcheese | parent | next
Given the source, I'm skeptical it's not just a troll, but found this explanation [0] plausible as to why those vague spam text exists. If true, this trolling helps the spammers warm those phone numbers up.

0 - https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1867029883387580571

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blackeyeblitzar | parent | next
You realize this is going to cause carriers to allow the number to send more spam, because it looks like engagement. The best thing to do is to report the offending message to 7726 (SPAM) so the carrier can take action. You can also file complaints at the FTC and FCC websites, but that takes a bit more effort.
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merpkz | parent | next
Calling Jessica an old chap is quite a giveaway that it's a bot xD Nice idea indeed, but I have a feeling that it's just two LLMs now conversing with each other.
lacoolj | parent | next
Most spam are just verifying you exist as a person, then from there you become an actual "target" if you respond.

This feels like an in-between that both wastes their time and adds you to extra lists.

Send the results somewhere! Not sure if "law enforcement" is applicable (as in, would be able/willing to act on the info) but if so, that's a great use of this data :)

RVuRnvbM2e | parent | next
This is fantastic. How have your hooked up a mobile number to the llm?
Evidlo | root | parent | next
Android app that forwards to a Python service on remote workstation over MQTT. I can make a Show HN if people are interested.
deadbabe | root | parent | next
I’d love to see that. Could you simulate iMessage?
great_psy | root | parent | next
Yes it’s possible, but it’s not something you can easily scale.

I had a similar project a few years back that used OSX automations and Shortcuts and Python to send a message everyday to a friend. It required you to be signed in to iMessage on your MacBook.

Than was a send operation, the reading of replies is not something I implemented, but I know there is a file somewhere that holds a history of your recent iMessages. So you would have to parse it on file update and that should give you the read operation so you can have a conversation.

Very doable in a few hours unless something dramatic changed with how the messages apps works within the last few years.

dewey | root | parent
They are all in a SQLite db on your disk.
Evidlo | root | parent
If you mean hook this into iMessage, I don't know. I'm willing to bet it's way harder though because Apple
dambi0 | root | parent
If you are willing to use Apple Shortcuts on iOS it’s pretty easy to add something that will be trigged when a message is received and can call out to a service or even use SSH to do something with the contents, including replying
potamic | root | parent | next
Why MQTT over HTTP for a low volume, small scale integration?
c0wb0yc0d3r | root | parent | next
I’m not OP, but I would hazard a guess that those are the tools that OP has at hand.
0xedd | root | parent
Good, cheap design that takes care of dead letters vs implementing a failover endpoint that would require extra hardware.

MQTT is plug and play in Python. No more costly than a HTTP server.

dkga | root | parent | next
Yes, I'd be interested in that!
sainib | root | parent
Interested for sure.
spiritplumber | root | parent
For something similar with FB chat, I use Selenium and run it on the same box that the llm is running on. Using multiple personalities is really cool though. I should update mine likewise!
zx8080 | parent | next
Cool! Do you consider the risk of unintentional (and until some moment, an unknown) subscription to some paid SMS service and how do you mitigate it?
Evidlo | root | parent
I have to whitelist a conversation before the LLM can respond.
potatoman22 | parent | next
You probably just get more spam texts since you're replying. Maybe that's a good thing tbh
hackergirl88 | parent | next
Where was this during the election
bripkens | parent | next
You should put all these interactions on the web. For education purposes ofc.
thecosmicfrog | parent | next
Please tell me you have a blog/archive of these somewhere. This was such a joy to read!
metadat | parent
I love this, more please!!!