Why are so many people using AI companions? “It points to a degree of loneliness that’s far more vast than we were aware. Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, considers the rise of AI companions in the light of her prescient novel about a sex robot. The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning writer joined us to reveal how she got into the mindset of her protagonist, a sex robot, and what it was like writing about the unpleasant and controlling man who owns