If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of annoyingly harassing texts, chances are you are used to blocking phone numbers or have a script full of noncommittal responses. But what if you really can’t be bothered to deal with that anymore? Burner is here to help with Ghostbot - a bot that will blow off any creepers for you.

The tech is simple - use burner to create a randomly generated phone number and activate Ghostbot to interact with and subtly shut down any online dating hound that just doesn’t get the hint. The bot will analyse whatever text you receive, dip into it’s database of canned responses and select the most contextually relevant option.

For example, if someone asks to “come over,” then as the video shows it could respond with the fact you’ve “been so busy.”

While this is all fair and good, I am slightly nervous this sets up a dangerous precedent for reinforcing the societal norm of dodging potentially difficult situations. In fact, it could be argued that this even turns this interaction into a form of game playing manipulation, rather than just being brave and shutting the conversation down yourself…

Yes you will get some hate from time to time, and anything that gets out of control should be reported quickly, but it’s better than hiding behind a bot.