Chatbots have hit the headlines over the past few days after a Google engineer claimed that the firm's most advanced system has developed human-like feelings, or become sentient.

Simply put, a chat bot is a computer program deliberately designed to mimic and respond to human speech.

But just how lifelike are the best on the market? One thing for sure is that these intelligent virtual assistants, are now found everywhere.

From Amazon's Alexa, to Apple's Siri, or a retailer's website, an estimated 80% of us now use chatbots - whether they are responding to us verbally, or via written text.

Read the full article on BBC news here.