Replika is one of a number of AI-powered apps currently on the market - they let users create their own chatbot, or "virtual friend", to talk to - unlike regular AI assistants like ChatGPT.Users can choose the gender and appearance of the 3D avatar they create.

South Wales Police has been criticised over its live facial recognition use at events including Harry Styles and Beyoncé concerts in Cardiff. The Metropolitan Police has used it several times this year, including at the King's Coronation in May.

AI chatbots are designed to answer questions and find information. They use what's on the internet as an enormous database of knowledge although there are concerns that this can also include offensive material and disinformation. ChatGPT is the best-known example.

Thatcham Research, the motor insurers' automotive research centre, welcomed the government's ambition but warned "complete clarity around the driver's legal responsibilities" was needed, along with transparency on how the technology is marketed, "how the dealer describes systems when handing over the keys and how the self-driving system itself communicates with the driver".

Google has unveiled a more diverse scale of skin tones to develop its artificial intelligence systems. The new Monk Skin Tone Scale, named after Harvard University professor Dr Ellis Monk, has 10 skin tones. Google says it will replace outdated skin tone scales which have a bias towards paler skins. The tech company claim it will be used to improve products like search and photos. Machine learning, a type of AI, is used by a lot of technology including cameras which recognise a face to unlock a phone or when your photos are categorised automatically. But to get to this point researchers need to train the technology so that it can recognise a wide range of people.

LJ Rich looks at some of the best technology news stories of the week.

Jen Copestake looks at some of the best technology news stories of the week.

The software takes the "probe image", typically a face captured on CCTV or from a mobile phone, and measures the facial features - our biometric data. It then compares that with all custody images on the database shared by Gwent and South Wales Police.

Dr Gebru, a leading Artificial Intelligence ethics researcher, says she was fired late last year after sending an internal email that accused Google of "silencing marginalised voices". However, Google claims she left the company.

As an employee, he downloaded more than 14,000 files containing the intellectual property of Google's former self-driving car division, Waymo, before leaving to found Otto, which was soon acquired by Uber.