This article is an installment of Future Explored, a weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Thursday morning by subscribing here. In January, Microsoft unveiled an AI that can clone a speaker's voice after hearing them talk for just three seconds. While this system, VALL-E, was far from the first voice cloning AI, its accuracy and need for such a small audio sample set a new bar for the tech. Microsoft has now raised that bar again with an update called "VALL-E X," which can clone a voice from a short sample (4 to 10 seconds) and then use it to synthesize speech in a different language, all while preserving the original speaker's voice, emotion, and tone.

Elias, the new language teacher at a Finnish primary school, has endless patience for repetition, never makes a pupil feel embarrassed for asking a question and can even do the'Gangnam Style' dance. Elias is also a robot. The language-teaching machine comprises a humanoid robot and mobile application, one of four robots in a pilot programme at primary schools in the southern city of Tampere. Pictured is Elias, a robot teaching children in a Finnish school. The robot is able to understand and speak 23 languages and is equipped with software that allows it to understand students' requirements and helps it to encourage learning.

The £3,000 sex robot which was the star attraction at a big electronics fair in Austria this month, has broken down after a large number of visitors got overexcited. Samantha the Sex Doll had been showing off her'skills', which include reacting to touch, hugging and moaning - and remembering individuals she has'interacted' with, at the Arts Electronica Festival in Linz. However, Samantha's creators have now been forced to send her to be repaired, after visitors left the robot'heavily soiled' and with broken limbs. Broken: Samantha the Sex Robot has been sent for repair, after overexcited visitors at the Arts Electronica Festival in Linz, pictured, left the robot'heavily soiled' and with broken limbs Samantha is the latest development in a growing trend in Austria which has seen brothel customers preferring robots over sexual intercourse with a human. Samantha's developer Sergi Santos from Barcelona, Spain, described the way visitors approached the robot as'barbaric'.

Samantha the Sex Doll is a £3,000 interactive robot designed with one specific purpose: pleasure. She is the latest development in a growing trend in Austria which has seen brothel customers preferring robots over sexual intercourse with a human. During a display at the Ars Electronica Festival in the city of Linz, Samantha shows off her'skills', which include reacting to touch, hugging and moaning - and remembering individuals she has'interacted' with. During a display at the Ars Electronica Festival in the city of Linz, Samantha shows off her'skills', which include reacting to touch, hugging and moaning - and remembering individuals she has'interacted' with The robot doll's developer Sergi Santos says Samantha can remember someone she has interacted with in the past, as she communicates according to the way she was treated by them before. The robot reacts to touch, speaks multiple languages and is even said to be able to learn new things thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) software.