Mark Zuckerberg is challenging himself to build an artificially intelligent butler
Mark Zuckerberg's New Year's resolution isn't to hit the gym once a day or eat more vegetables — the Facebook CEO wants to build artificial intelligence to help him around his house and at work.
"You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," he wrote in a message on Facebook. Zuckerberg said every year he takes on a "personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook," and this challenge is very different from previous ones (including learning Mandarin and reading two books every month). Zuckerberg said he'll begin by "exploring what technology is already out there," and will then start teaching the AI to "understand my voice to control everything in our home."
He will instruct it to recognize his friends by "looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell" and to let him know if anything is happening in his newborn daughter Max's room when he's not with her. As for work, "it'll help me visualize data in VR and help me build better services and lead my organizations more effectively," he wrote. Zuckerberg said it's a fulfilling experience to work with engineers to build new things, but "it's a different kind of rewarding to build things yourself, so this year my personal challenge is to do that."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
Autumn Budget: will Rachel Reeves raid the rich?Talking Point To fill Britain’s financial black hole, the Chancellor will have to consider everything – except an income tax rise
-
Proposed Trump-Putin talks in Budapest on holdSpeed Read Trump apparently has no concrete plans to meet with Putin for Ukraine peace talks
-
Bolivia elects centrist over far-right presidential rivalSpeed Read Relative political unknown Rodrigo Paz, a centrist senator, was elected president
-
Madagascar president in hiding, refuses to resignSpeed Read Andry Rajoelina fled the country amid Gen Z protests and unrest
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Israel, Hamas agree to first step of Trump peace planSpeed Read Israel’s military pulls back in Gaza amid prisoner exchange
-
Israel intercepts 2nd Gaza aid flotilla in a weekSpeed Read The Israeli military intercepted a flotilla of nine boats with 145 activists aboard along with medical and food aid
-
Japan poised to get first woman prime ministerSpeed Read The ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi
-
Israel and Hamas meet on hostages, Trump’s planSpeed Read Hamas accepted the general terms of Trump’s 20-point plan, including the release of all remaining hostages
