The pandemic has pushed tech front and center and people's lives have become more digital and contactless than ever. Soul Machines creates hyper-human AI avatars to offer people friendship and mentorship, representing the next era of digital companionship and coaching.

Algorithms are part of our online lives, impacting everything from shopping decisions to viewing habits. But do we put too much faith in them? Canvas8 spoke to Dr. Sachin Banker, assistant professor at the University of Utah, to understand whether people are overdependent on algorithms.

KFC has opened up a fully automated takeaway outlet in Moscow, which it claims is the first in the world of its kind. As fast food fans grapple with hygiene concerns, the brand is using this space to experiment with new ways to serve food as countries move on to later stages of the pandemic.

Replacing wait staff and servers with robots is one way to minimise human-to-human contact in a pandemic, but the dystopian vibe is enough to put some people off. Customers are underwhelmed by a robot bartender in Spain, suggesting that autonomous tech may not be the best answer.