Nowadays we are hearing a lot of buzz around artificial intelligence or AI and robotics. We have even felt their presence in our surroundings in one or the other way. The technology sounds new but its seeds have been long sown. Do you know that AI found its way into film-business around 100 years ago? Yes, the 1927 release Metropolis depicts AI that takes the form of a humanoid robot with an intent on taking over the titular mega-city by inciting chaos.

I've just finished reading the book Life 3.0 by physicist & AI philosopher Max Tegmark, where he sets out a series of possible scenarios and outcomes for humankind sharing the planet with artificial intelligence. And because you're double-busy I'm going to use a series of sci-fi films as a'mental shortcut' or'go-to' reference for each bulletpoint. Tegmark immediately shoots down any notion that we are likely to be victims of a robot-powered genocide, and claims the idea we would programme or allow a machine to have the potential to hate humans is preposterous - fuelled by Hollywood's obsession with the apocalypse. Actually, we have the power, now, to ensure that if AIs goals are properly aligned with ours from the start, so that it wants what we want, then there can never be a'falling out' between species. In other words, if AI does pose a threat - and in some of his scenarios it does - it will not come from The Matrix's marauding AIs, enslaving humanity and claiming, like Agent Smith, 'Human beings are a disease.

LG has had a busy week at CES already, and the show hasn't even started yet. Over the past seven days, the firm has announced new wireless headphones, a levitating speaker and today it unveiled its latest smart home products including a household robot that is a cute rival to Amazon Echo and Google Home. Called Hub Robot, the household robot is a cross between Bicentennial Man (in function, rather than looks), and looks like it comes straight out of a Pixar film. It connects to other smart appliances in the home and uses Amazon Alexa's voice recognition technology to carry out tasks. LG's examples include turning on the air conditioner or changing a dryer cycle.

This week in the Substance ÉTS science review, we highlight articles on two topics that are top concerns for many people: Artificial Intelligence and the environment. Each quarter, The Economist publishes a fairly detailed review of a particular aspect of technology. In the first quarter of 2017, The Economist published seven articles describing the progress and limitations of language technology with, in addition, a glimpse of the future in this field. Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), in the US, are trying to figure out how MIT students solve a planning problem. They found that the strategies used by the majority of students could be described using a language called "linear temporal logic".

Owing to the fact that it is based on an Isaac Asimov story, Bicentennial Man' turns out to be a more interesting and meaningful film than both its advertising campaign and its own opening section would indicate. The caveat for those seeking out a fun film for the entire family is that this movie, though initially sold as a warm cuddly comedy in the tradition of say Mrs. Doubtfire,' actually deals with some very heavy and heady issues like sexuality, aging and dying, which may make it less-than-ideal viewing for young children. The first section of the film is, by far, its weakest. In 2005, the wealthy Martin family receives delivery of a brand new servant android (Robin Williams) who, almost immediately, begins to display a remarkable range of human emotions and interests. Thus, we are set up for yet another in a long line of predictable tales (i.e.