Mark Zuckerberg has officially unveiled Jarvis; an artificial intelligence which is capable of running tasks throughout the Facebook co-founder’s home.
If you’re a fan of Marvel’s Iron Man or the Avengers series of comic books and films, the name Jarvis would need little introduction. As the artificial intelligence that helps Tony Stark along, Jarvis has become in itself an exemplar of sorts for what artificial intelligences could help us achieve in the future.
Mark Zuckerberg made reference to Jarvis earlier this year when he issued himself the challenge of creating a ‘simple’ AI to run his home, and now the Facebook co-founder has officially revealed the fruits of his labour; an artificial intelligence which shares the same name as Tony Stark’s compatriot.
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As Zuckerberg himself writes in an official blog post, his goal in creating Jarvis was to “learn about the state of artificial intelligence -where we’re further along than people realise and where we’re still a long ways off.”
Zuckerberg cites that the AI he has produced as a result of his labour can control his home through appliances and connected electronics and gadgetry, learn his tastes and patterns, and can entertain his daughter, Max.
Zuckerberg can interact with the AI through either a self-created iOS app for his iPhone, as well as a custom Messenger bot. The Facebook co-founder has revealed that he plans to release an Android client in the near future. Zuckerberg teased some of Jarvis’ functionality in a new Facebook video, with revealed that the AI is voiced by none other than Morgan Freeman – and not Robert Downey Jr.
Closing his official post, Zuckerberg remarks that “AI is both closer and farther off than we imagine” – citing that “AI is closer to being able to do more powerful things than most people expect — driving cars, curing diseases, discovering planets, understanding media. Those will each have a great impact on the world, but we’re still figuring out what real intelligence is.”
The Facebook co-founder has revealed that he will issue his personal challenge for 2017 shortly, though work on Jarvis will likely continue into the foreseeable future.
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