Robert Downey Jr. Volunteers To Voice Facebook's AI Assistant, Zuckerberg Geeks Out
Robert Downey Jr. is one of the coolest cats in Hollywood, that's not up for debate. He's played a wide range of roles over the course of his illustrious career, and to his credit, has overcome a drug addiction that could have not only ended his career, but his life. Thankfully it didn't because we can't think of a better fit to suit up as Iron Man, and if Robert has his way, his next role will be as the voice of Mark Zuckerberg's own personal Jarvis AI assistant.
Zuckerberg announced back in January of this year that he was developing an AI assistant to help around the home. Things can be hectic when you're the billionaire co-founder of the largest social media site on the planet, plus he's a dad now, so why not get some extra help? The vision Zuckerberg laid out was to have his AI be "kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."
"I'm going to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home—music, lights, temperature, and so on," Zuckerberg said at the time.
Fast forward to now and it seems development on his AI assistant has gone well. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Zuckerberg said, "It's time to give my AI Jarvis a voice," and then asked for recommendations on who he should ask to do it. That's where things got interesting.
Robert Downey Jr. chimed in with an offer that Zuckerberg will have a hard time turning down.
There were other suggestions that Zuckerberg wasn't as keen on, such as Hodor from Game of Thrones and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter of which he suggested might be "a little aggressive for a home AI." But really, with Robert's offer on the table, this seems like a foregone conclusion.
Zuckerberg announced back in January of this year that he was developing an AI assistant to help around the home. Things can be hectic when you're the billionaire co-founder of the largest social media site on the planet, plus he's a dad now, so why not get some extra help? The vision Zuckerberg laid out was to have his AI be "kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."
"I'm going to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home—music, lights, temperature, and so on," Zuckerberg said at the time.
Fast forward to now and it seems development on his AI assistant has gone well. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Zuckerberg said, "It's time to give my AI Jarvis a voice," and then asked for recommendations on who he should ask to do it. That's where things got interesting.
Robert Downey Jr. chimed in with an offer that Zuckerberg will have a hard time turning down.
There's some oddities to his reply—Paul Bettany is the voice behind Jarvis in Iron Man and Benedict Cumberbatch is a British actor who's joining the Marvel universe as Doctor Strange—but the gist of it is he's willing to voice Zuckerberg's AI assistant. How can you turn that down?
You don't, and while nothing is yet official, Zuckerberg replied, "This just got real."
You don't, and while nothing is yet official, Zuckerberg replied, "This just got real."
There were other suggestions that Zuckerberg wasn't as keen on, such as Hodor from Game of Thrones and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter of which he suggested might be "a little aggressive for a home AI." But really, with Robert's offer on the table, this seems like a foregone conclusion.
