Mental health services around the world are chronically under resourced – but there are hopes that artificial intelligence (AI) might offer a solution.

On Character.ai, a popular platform where anyone can create chatbots based on fictional or real people, users can talk to a psychologist persona.

Computer programmer Eugenia Kuyda is the founder of Replika, a US chatbot app that says it offers users an “AI companion who cares, always here to listen and talk, always on your side”.

Other apps in the mental health sector are far more cautious about using AI in the first place.

One of those is meditation app Headspace, which has more than 30 million users, and in the UK is approved by the NHS.

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