We're getting intimate with chatbots. A new book asks what this means

AI chatbots can take on many roles in our lives. James Muldoon's Love Machines looks into the relationships we're forging with them Artificial intelligence is now unavoidable - although there are those among us who try. Even if you don't seek out a chatbot, you will see new icons in your current apps to bring them within a single click: WhatsApp, Google Drive, even Microsoft Notepad, the simplest program imaginable. The tech industry is making an enormous and costly bet on AI, and, in turn, is forcing it on users to make good on this investment. Many are embracing it to take over writing, admin or planning, and a minority are going a step further and forming intimate relationships with it.