According to a report in the Irish newspaper, The Business Post, the Central Bank of Ireland has issued the ban in line with its cyber security rules.

A spokesman told the paper that the central bank had “implemented appropriate and relevant technical and organisational measures to ensure the on-going protection of the organisation”.

It has also been reported that three of Ireland’s high street banks - AIB, Permanent TSB and Bank of Ireland - are considering similar steps.

ChatGPT, which generates text and images based on users’ prompts, has aroused concern within the financial services industry since its launch in November 2022.

Last month JP Morgan announced that staff were banned from using the tool for internal communications. It was followed by a host of Wall Street firms including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank.

The restrictions imposed by banks come on the back of huge fines levied for the unauthorised use of social media networks in bank staff communications.

In the US, the Securities and Exchanges Commission issued more than $1 billion in penalties for several Wall Street firms and also asked a number of hedge funds to monitor their employees’ devices for evidence of using the likes of WhatsApp to carry out transactions and trades or conduct business.