AFC Bournemouth’s latest signing is a chatbot which can have conversations with fans.

The artificial intelligence (AI) personality, called CherryBot, operates on the Facebook Messenger platform, interacting with supporters and encouraging them to share experiences before and during match days.

The club collaborated with Bournemouth digital agency Greenwood Campbell, Microsoft and Bournemouth University to create Cherrybot. It is one of the first Premier League clubs to try the idea.

The AI ‘personality’ interacts with fans via emotion recognition and intelligent conversation.

It was introduced last Sunday and will be officially introduced on the day of the Cherries’ home fixture against Liverpool on Sunday, December 17.

Dan Meineck, chief technology officer at Greenwood Campbell, said: “We’ve developed this chatbot using sophisticated AI technologies including emotion recognition from faces in images, natural language processing for conversations, and content moderation to ensure inappropriate content is automatically screened.”

The development team included BU graduates and placement students, plus support from Microsoft and Greenwood Campbell.

Mark Covell, head of communications at Bournemouth University, said: “We’re delighted to be linking up with this trial at the BU Big Match and proud that a number of BU graduates and placement students are working on this exciting project. CherryBot is a great example of the opportunities that a placement in industry offers.”

Fans can enter exclusive competitions, vote for their man of the match, watch video highlights and access facts and FAQs.

AFC Bournemouth commercial director Rob Mitchell said: “This is an exciting project for AFC Bournemouth to be a part of and a great addition to this year’s BU Big Match.

“We are always looking to embrace and utilise new technologies and believe CherryBot will be a great addition to our media platforms.

“As a community club we are delighted to be working with Greenwood Campbell and Bournemouth University, as well as support from Microsoft, and we are really looking forwardto seeing the interaction between our supporters and CherryBot,” he added.