Skip to main content

Robert Downey Jr. Volunteers as Tribute, Wants to Voice Mark Zuckerberg’s Artificial Intelligence

rdj_christmas_me

You may soon be asking Robert Downey, Jr. about the weather or what Yelp thinks about that new brunch place around the corner.

Recommended Videos

After Mark Zuckerberg announced that he’d like to develop his very own artificial intelligence, the world certainly took note. He said he’d like it to function somewhat like Jarvis, Tony Stark’s AI from the Marvel movies (voiced and subsequently played by Paul Bettany). Things have been fairly quiet on the development front, as he’s predictably playing this one close to the chest. That is, until yesterday, when Zuck idly wondered on Facebook what voice he should give his AI Jarvis.

Enter Robert Downey, Jr.

rdj_kitten_happy

Because he seems to just kind of show up whenever someone mentions Jarvis or Iron Man, RDJ replied to Zuckerberg’s open question, saying he’d voice the AI. Not exactly Jarvis per se, but I mean, he’s not a worse choice by any stretch of the imagination, oh no. He had a few conditions, of course. He’d do it if Zuckerberg paid Bettany, who would then donate the payment to a cause of Cumberbatch’s choosing. You know just to make it strange.

His joke, not mine. I swear, look!

screen-shot-2016-10-14-at-8-21-57-am

As you can see, to Zuckerberg, things just got a little real. Other options presented in the thread include Samuel L. Jackson (my personal #1), Scarlett Johansson, Neil deGrasse Tyson (!), Donald Trump (ew), and Arnold Schwarzenegger. With Schwarzenegger, the commenter helpfully pointed out that he had offered to do some voice work for Zuckerberg a long time ago, which… hmm, wait a sec. Terminator featured a time-traveling killer robot powered by AI played by Schwarzenegger… and Zuckerberg’s developing an AI… seems a little convenient, no?

Anyway.

Of those folks, I certainly don’t want Donald “Stale Leftover Bag of Cheetos Left Open Overnight” Trump to voice even a New York taxi seatbelt safety message let alone an AI. That’s just a steaming hot pile of nope.

While Zuckerberg did say “this just got real,” who knows whether this will actually go down. Moreover, who knows if this is something we’ll get to see as end users. At least, I don’t imagine it’ll be for a while yet.

(via CBR)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Author
Jessica Lachenal
Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

Filed Under:

Follow The Mary Sue: