Ms Camille Loftus:

I find the notion of spending my old age talking to a chatbot dystopian. I find that one of the most depressing things I can possibly imagine. There are many possible uses to which a chatbot might usefully be put. Personally, I do not think I have engaged one that can do anything other than send me a web address but I presume at some point they will get a little fancier than that. I do know that lots of older people who are lonely are susceptible to all manner of relationships. I was contacted by somebody recently who had begun a relationship with a carer because of the attention and the focus that was being provided. That was somebody who had been recently widowed. Therefore, the risks in that space are enormous. This is a sexist thing to say but I think men are a bit more vulnerable to it. We women expect to be on our own as we get older. Men necessarily do not. People may remember there was a conversation at some point about how the postman was the only person an older person might see every day. Again, a postman's job is not to provide contact; it is to deliver the post. First, a chatbot is not a substitute for human companionship and second, unless there are really deep safeguards built into that there are real risks about it compounding the issue. We have already seen people having relationships with Alexa, and they are not necessarily older either.