Zuckerberg unveils plans for artificially intelligent butler
NEW YORK—Mark Zuckerberg wants to build an artificially intelligent assistant in 2016 to help run his home and assist him at work, the Facebook Inc. founder and chief executive said on Sunday.
Zuckerberg, who commits to a new personal challenge every year, revealed his plan in a Facebook post.
“You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man,” Zuckerberg wrote, referring to an artifi-
cially intelligent butler who appears in the Marvel comic books and movies.
Zuckerberg will start the project by exploring existing technology, he wrote. He will then begin teaching the technology to understand his voice so that it will learn to control everything in his home, such as music, lights and temperature.
‘Intellectual challenge’
His plans also include teaching the assistant to let friends into his home by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell, Zuckerberg wrote.
The assistant will visualize data to support Zuckerberg at work, he wrote.
“This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for my- self,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I’m looking forward to sharing what I learn over the course of the year.”
Learning Mandarin
Other challenges Zuckerberg has taken on in recent years have included reading two books every month and learning Mandarin.
Last month, Zuckerberg made headlines for plans to give away 99 percent of his Facebook stake.
He had to defend his philanthropic venture—launched to celebrate the birth of his daughter— after critics argued that it could provide a way for the founder to avoid paying tax on the sale of his shares.
Zuckerberg’s Facebook post is available at goo.gl/KLmuXK.