Mark Zuckerberg is pressing ahead with his pet project of creating an AI to control his home, and yesterday he asked for suggestions for who should provide the system’s voice. We all had our own ideas about who would slot into the role best, but few would have anticipated Hollywood A-lister Robert Downey Jr. to volunteer for the job. Stepping forth from Facebook’s billion-strong crowd, the Iron Man actor enthused that he’d "do it in a heartbeat," subject to a convoluted proviso about how his work is to be recompensed and the money channeled toward a good cause. He asks that Paul Bettany, who plays Iron Man’s AI assistant Jarvis, be paid and then donates the proceeds to a cause of Benedict Cumberbatch’s choosing.

Unfazed by the celebrity of his Facebook commenter, Mark Zuckerberg replies only with the words "this just got real." Which may or may not mean that the two will indeed collaborate on Zuckerberg’s hobby activity. The lighthearted nature of their exchange leaves that part uncertain, though there’s no doubting that the majority of people would love to see it happen.