The new face of A.I.

• Position: THE BIG PICTURE - Artificial intelligence - Brief article

Your future competitors in the job market likely won't just be your peers. High-tech robots already serve as receptionists, hospital aides, and even teachers in parts of Asia-and they may soon be getting to work in the U.S. too (see chart). In Japan, inventor Hiroshi Ishiguro created a series of robots with eerily human-like features (left and below). They can speak, twitch their eyebrows, blink, and move their heads from side to side. Two of the robots, Kodomoroid and Otonaroid, recently showed off their people skills at a Tokyo science museum, where they acted as tour guides and played soccer with visitors. As Ishiguro sees it, androids like these will be a regular fixture in most households in the near...