Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Build An AI Assistant Like Iron Man's Jarvis
In a Facebook post on Jan. 3, Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he wants to create an AI (artificial intelligence) aide-de-camp similar to Jarvis, Iron Man's computer/butler.
"My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work," the Facebook founder said. "You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."
"Every challenge has a theme, and this year's theme is invention," Zuckerberg, who has taken on a new personal challenge every year outside of his Facebook duties, said. The challenges he has given himself are aimed at learning new things and personal growth.
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In previous years, the Facebook wunderkind has learned Mandarin (in preparation for his and wife Priscilla Chan's visit to China in 2010), read two books every month, and gotten to know a new person every day.
The 31-year-old tech billionaire and philanthropist revealed that he wants to teach this new artificial-intelligence manservant to recognize his voice and control various aspects of his home: lights, temperature, music, and such. He wants it to answer the door and let his friends in using facial recognition. He also intends on it being a sort of babysitter that will keep an eye on his daughter, Max, and report the goings-on in her room when he is not with her.
As for the AI butler helping him with work, Zuckerberg said that it will utilize virtual reality to assist him in visualizing data, thus helping him improve services and lead his organizations more efficiently.
Zuckerberg also said that to build this AI assistant, he will initially rely on existing technology before, presumably, creating his own.
Zuckerberg also talked about some of the technical projects he is currently working on, including using AI in Facebook Messenger, building solar-powered satellites and planes for Internet.org, and designing software for Oculus.
He also revealed that he intends on sharing what he learns from his new personal project, saying: "This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself. I'm looking forward to sharing what I learn over the course of the year."
