Like many, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg too has a New Year resolution, but it’s a lot different from what the general public has, such as losing weight, trying meditation or waking up earlier. Zuckerberg’s New Year resolution is to code a virtual butler with artificial intelligence (AI).
Facebook CEO, and his sci-fi resolution
“My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man,” posted Facebook’s CEO on Sunday evening.
It is clear that Zuckerberg is in no mood to build a Jeeves out of steel and spare parts, but rather he plans to code a virtual system that helps with the household’s work using voice controls and facial recognition. Explaining further, Zuckerberg said he will teach it to let visitors inside the house by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell and also inform him of any activity going on in Max’s (his daughter) room that needs his attention.
Unlike many, Zuckerberg has a reputation of making good on his New Year’s resolutions. For example, in 2010, he made a resolution to become fluent in Mandarin and since then has demonstrated abilities in that language several times. Last year, he gave a 20-minute speech in Mandarin about business at Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
AI not a danger
Several Facebook users commented on Zuckerberg’s post. While chatting with them, he said he has not given any name to his AI as yet. He also said he was impressed with Amazon’s Echo, which is a smart home device that allows users to control music by making use of their voice, but he added that it is not perfect.
Taking a subtle dig at Tesla founder Elon Musk, Zuckerberg said there are people who “fear-monger” about AI being a huge danger, but “that seems far-fetched to me and much less likely than disasters due to widespread disease, violence, etc.” Facebook’s CEO said this in response to a query from a user who asked if AI could run or ruin the world one day. Tesla’s CEO warned of potential dangers from AI in the past.
In pre-market trading today, Facebook shares were down. In 2015, the stock was up by over 33%, and in the last one month, it is was up by just about 1%.
