"Better Than Us," Netflix's first original streaming series from Russia, transports audiences to a city only 10 years in the future, where robots serve the population in a variety of positions, some have even replaced humans for certain jobs. They look like the humans they serve, though there is a detached air to their presence and slightly stilted way of moving that make them visibly different. Netflix describes the series as "cyberpunk." Popular culture entertainment is often a way for us to imagine a scenario or event that may never occur in our individual lifetimes. Imagining a future, say, where artificial intelligence (AI) has been integrated into society not simply as a complex web of computational frameworks as we acknowledge and accept it currently, but in the form of robotics that look, and act similar to humans.

Japan has deployed robots to work in Tokyo subway stations to help tourists in preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games. The six-foot robot named Arisa, created by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will give subway travellers directions and show them the way to the restrooms. Tokyo is facing an influx of millions of spectators for the forthcoming international event which they will host for the second time in history, after 1964. An ageing population and low birth rate has resulted in a national labour shortage, prompting the need for multilingual Arisa to guide the swarm of foreign tourists. Japan has deployed robots to work in Tokyo subway stations to direct tourists in preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games. Arisa is a project by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.