The robot is shaped like a human, but it sure doesn't move like one. It starts supine on the floor, pancake-flat. Then, in a display of superhuman joint mobility, its legs curl upward from the knees, sort of like a scorpion tail, until its feet settle firmly on the floor beside its hips. From there, it stands up, a swiveling mass of silver limbs. The robot's ring-light head turns a full 180 degrees to face the camera, as though possessed.

I am a few episodes from the end of the series Fallout on Prime Video. In other words, it's just like the games, which veer between quiet, tragic moments exploring the vestiges of America, and being chased down a hill by irradiated scorpions because you've run out of ammo. Fallout's ensemble cast – with Walton Goggins' almost-immortal ghoul and Ella Purnell's wide-eyed vault-dweller the standouts – lets it cleverly compartmentalise the different aspects of the games' personality. As its director Jonathan Nolan pointed out, when I interviewed him last week alongside Bethesda's Todd Howard (the director of the games), this is a common device in TV storytelling but rare in games. Grand Theft Auto V does it successfully: each of the three protagonists represented a different part of GTA's DNA (Trevor the violent chaos, Michael the prestige crime drama, Franklin the Compton realism). But in most games we play one character, and we know them intimately by the end – or we get to shape them, and they become unique to us.

Have you ever spotted someone in a crowd that you thought was a friend, only to discover it was simply someone who looks remarkably similar? Many of us have seen so-called doppelgängers of loved ones, family members and even ourselves. Now, a study has revealed that these doppelgängers don't just look alike – they also likely have very similar DNA, and even share personality traits. Researchers from the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona have revealed that strong facial similarity is associated with shared genetic variants. 'These results will have future implications in forensic medicine - reconstructing the criminal's face from DNA - and in genetic diagnosis - the photo of the patient's face will already give you clues as to which genome he or she has,' said Dr Manel Esteller, senior author of the study.

We're going to look now at the state of artificial intelligence this month in All Tech Considered. You've probably seen that statement online alongside a prompt that says something like, type the letters you see, or, click on all the stoplights. Do it right, and you get to go on to the next page. These games are developed by Google. Researcher Jason Polakis of the University of Illinois at Chicago has proven that, in fact, robots are pretty good at CAPTCHAs.

Blink twice if you are a fake. Sophisticated fake videos created by artificial intelligence are getting better and better, so tools to identify the genuine article are needed. One solution is to look at the way fake faces blink. In recent months, researchers have created eerily-realistic fake videos of Theresa May, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump giving speeches, as well as of famous actresses superimposed into porn scenes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming businesses across industries and continents, allowing those who invest in the technology to leverage data, automate processes and gain or sustain a highly-coveted competitive advantage. The health insurance industry is no exception and payers who utilize AI technology like intelligent virtual assistants to engage consumers will continue to widen the gap between those who have and haven't.

We communicate a lot with our eyes; a glance can mean one thing, a stare something completely different. That's the promise of a new, peripheral-free eye tracking software called IrisGo that was introduced at CES 2018, the consumer technology show that ran Jan. 9-12, 2018, in Las Vegas. According to its developer, San Sebastián, Spain-based Irisbond, the software measures and responds to the motion of the human eye and allows users to navigate devices and control screens with a gaze. Because it's not tethered to additional hardware, it also enables users to communicate on any device with an embedded camera. IrisGo has been used to control collaborative robots at ABB Spain; improve the fidelity of neuromarketing data collected by Lumen Research; and further the public conversation by being tested in smartphones by Twitter.

A few years ago, when a cadre of dudes jumped out of a zeppelin wearing Google Glass, nearly everyone watching had a "holy shit" moment. Company execs had just run through a slew of big, consumer-facing announcements, and then Sergey Brin threw the presentation to a live video streamed by people hurtling through the air. In that moment, Google wasn't just a terribly smart company -- it was a terribly cool one, too. Fast forward a few years, and I/O now seems a little subdued. Apart from the crowd clamoring to see LCD Soundsystem run through a set, the energy in the air seemed calmer than before.

Little known secret about me, I love to bake. It doesn't matter if it's cakes, cookies, or bread, you name it and I've probably at least attempted to make it. So when I found out the Google Home added recipes to its repertoire, I knew I had to try it out for myself. But, you've also been able to cook with Google's competitor, the Amazon Echo, for a while now. How was I supposed to know which one was more helpful in the kitchen?

We have more publications, websites, television and radio networks, blogs and quite frankly more ways to communicate than ever before. Today, thousands of companies and millions of people are creating fresh content for people to consume on their computers, tablets, smart phones, smart TVs and other devices. Now for the bad news: If you happen to be one of those content creators, artificial intelligence (AI) is going to increasingly take over that task. This is great news for companies that produce content. As AI comes online, those companies will get more and more content at less and less cost.