Member-only story
I analyzed Tony Stark’s AI voice assistants
And here’s what I found out.
Many people argue that Iron Man had no powers apart from his wealth and ego. And yet, he was the one who saved the universe! It wasn’t Captain Marvel, nor Scarlet Witch. But what would he achieve without his powerful AI assistants that he created? In this article, let me refer to them as voice assistants because I’d like to take a closer look at their unique characteristics as assistants instead of their general abilities as intelligent machines.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we are introduced to 4 assistants (chronologically): J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., Karen, and E.D.I.T.H. Even though the later forms are an evolved and improved version of J.A.R.V.I.S., I found some individual differences between them that are not a result of technological advancement — they all have slightly different personalities.
Assistant 1: J.A.R.V.I.S.
J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) was the first AI assistant created by Tony Stark, and it was the only one with a male voice. It’s programmed to speak with a British accent and a tone of a calm and polite Englishman. At the same time, it sounds a little more robotic comparing to the next generations that can show compassion through their tone of voice. J.A.R.V.I.S. also reminds me of the majority of voice assistants that we use today. The conversations with them are based more on our requests and commands; we ask a question or say a command and we receive a confirmation in return, e.g. okay. J.A.R.V.I.S. is also more formal, and it addresses Tony as “Sir.” You can think about the voice assistant you use and ask yourself how you would like to be addressed?
On the flip side, J.A.R.V.I.S. also has a problem with naming and distinguishing emotions. For example, it says: “I believe you feel anger,” which suggests that it actually isn’t sure if Tony is angry or not. It can be interpreted as a limitation of the AI system itself, but it can also be a character trait — the assistant prefers to make a suggestion rather than imposing its opinion on users.
Assistant 2: F.R.I.D.A.Y.
F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Female Replacement Intelligent Digital Assistant Youth) is the second assistant…
