Morgan Freeman Is Jarvis to Mark Zuckerberg's Tony Stark

Actor is voice behind Facebook founder's new home AI system
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 20, 2016 3:45 PM CST
Mark Zuckerberg Has a New Virtual Butler: Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is now Mark Zuckerberg's digital assistant. He really can't say no to a role.   (AP Photo/Nick Wagner)

It's well documented that Morgan Freeman is incapable of turning down any role—(cough) The Contract (double cough) Last Vegas—including, apparently, the role of Mark Zuckerberg's personal butler. In a Facebook video posted Tuesday, Zuckerberg debuted his new artificially intelligent home assistant voiced by none other than Ellis Redding himself. Mashable reports the Facebook founder's new assistant was inspired by Tony Stark's Jarvis in the Iron Man movies. He even stole the name, according to USA Today. But while Robert Downey Jr. offered to voice the system, Zuckerberg—and his Facebook friends—had other ideas.

Zuckerberg posted on Facebook in October asking who should voice his AI assistant, and Freeman was the "overwhelming choice," Fast Company reports. "I called him...and I said, ‘Hey, I posted this thing, and...thousands of people want you to be the voice. Will you do it?’" Freeman, as is his wont, said yes. TechCrunch notes it's "a pretty big get even for Zuckerberg." Zuckerberg's Jarvis can turn the lights on and off, play music, open the front gates using facial recognition software, make toast, give Mandarin lessons, and more—all in Freeman's dulcet tones. It's the result of a "personal growth challenge" Zuckerberg gave himself at the start of the year. (More Mark Zuckerberg stories.)

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