You never really know what the world’s tech eccentrics are up to. Mark Zuckerberg commits to a new project every year, and then tells his Facebook community about that project through his Facebook page.
This year, Zuckerberg announced that he wants to be Iron Man - well, not really, but kind of. Zuckerberg will be working on a new artificially intelligent assistant that’s “kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man.”
Jarvis Jr.
(no, Zuckerberg has not named his new assistant yet, but that title seems to fit, doesn’t it?). So how will Zuckerberg create an assistant that’s like the fictional assistant in the Iron Man movies? His note to Facebook followers included some details. Zuckerberg will begin with exploring existing technology. Then, he will further expand on that technology, teaching his new AI assistant how to recognize and learn to respond to his voice.
The project will likely take some time to complete, and Zuckerberg plans to use the new assistant for his own personal everyday tasks (such as helping him with house chores, and possibly playing with his new baby). Zuckerberg has also noted that the new assistant will be able to recognize friend faces to do things like let people into his home and perform other tasks.
To the Public
Of course, the one thing that Facebook users want to know is - how will this impact their lives? Well, right now Zuckerberg is holding fast to the notion that his new assistant will be for his personal use only (and therefore won’t cross the line to Facebook), but sometimes these personal projects do wind up in front of the public.
It is possible that after creating an assistant that works seamlessly, Zuckerberg might bring some of this technology to Facebook (and possibly elsewhere). It’s also possible that he simply spent too much time watching Iron Man this past year, and now wants to build a suit in addition to an artificially intelligent personal assistant. But, hey, his plans could pan out.
Keeping Busy
If there’s one very important lesson that individuals and, well, every company on the planet can take away from Zuckerberg’s eccentricness it’s this: never stop learning, discovering, and playing around with your personal capabilities. Imagine if the world’s tech leaders didn’t embark on projects such as this one - we may not have the tech that we have today.
In the past, some of Zuckerberg’s personal projects have led to better Facebook innovations, and there’s little doubt that this tech billionaire also uses his projects to fund other projects - it’s a nicely lucrative and interesting circle. It will be interesting to see whether or not Zuckerberg succeeds with his new plans, and whether or not that AI is anything like the original Jarvis.
Then again, Zuckerberg could just be bored. In the past, his other goals have included learning how to read and write Mandarin and making a promise to himself to read two books per month. What’s your New Year’s resolution? Any superheroes involved? Or, perhaps, AI?