"This just got real." So wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday after Robert Downey Jr. offered to record the voice of the tech titan's personal AI butler. As one of his always interesting new year's resolutions, Zuckerberg this year set out to custom build an artificially intelligent butler for his home. He appears to have made some progress, as yesterday he asked his legions of Facebook friends who he should have record the robot's voice.
"It's time to give my AI Jarvis a voice," he posted, referencing the artificial intelligence in the Iron Man series starring Downey, "Who should I ask to do it?"
In a testament to the grill master's influence and reach, he quickly received a response from the star of the movie himself. "I'll do in a heartbeat if [Paul] Bettany gets paid and donates it to a cause of [Benedict] Cumberbatch's choosing," wrote Downey, "that's the right kind of STRANGE!"
Paul Bettany is the voice actor who played "Jarvis" in the series of films based on the Marvel Comic.
As to just what, exactly, Downey as digital butler would be saying is unclear. The Chronicle reports that in August Zuckerberg spoke of the system's capabilities, saying they were relatively modest. "It just sees my face and it lets me in," Zuckerberg said of the butler allowing him into his San Francisco home. "So that is pretty fun."
Perhaps Downey should start practicing his "Welcome home, sir."
Previously: Mark Zuckerberg Resolves To Spend Free Time Building AI Butler To Watch Over His Child