A recent survey carried out on behalf of Pure Telecom has found that almost 10% of adults in Ireland have had a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot in the last 12 months.

Mental health charity Turn2Me has said that such figures highlight a loneliness pandemic in this country.

CEO of Turn2Me, Fiona O’Malley, and author and broadcaster, Aoife Barry, spoke to Ian Guider on The Last Word about this.

Hit the ‘Play’ button on this page to hear the piece.