Google Puts Engineer on Leave after saying its AI System is Sentient

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According to Blake Lemoine, the system has the perception and ability to express thoughts and feelings of a human child.

[{"selector":"#anim-48a45cdd-9899-49db-9f89-22a3d7eb9540 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-41.86276346066151%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] Blake Lemoine was fired by Google last week after he published transcripts of conversations he had with a Google "collaborator" and the company's LaMDA (language model for dialogue applications) chatbot development system.

[{"selector":"#anim-f593f9d5-379d-429d-ab6d-3805756c6728 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-18.549196691194393%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] According to Google spokesman Brian Gabriel, company experts, including ethicists and technologists, reviewed Mr. Lemoine's claims and informed him that the evidence does not support his claims.

[{"selector":"#anim-eb5211b1-8d2a-4e14-8d18-dbb3b6460911 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-14.374999829338595%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] Mr. Gabriel stated that while some in the artificial-intelligence community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient AI, doing so by anthropomorphizing conversational tools that aren't sentient doesn't make sense.

[{"selector":"#anim-e7a93b04-6df9-4dcc-9471-9117d4005462 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-12.505384608785109%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] Blake Lemoine has stated that his interactions with LaMDA led him to believe that it had evolved into a person worthy of being asked for consent to the experiments being conducted on it.

[{"selector":"#anim-0a0fb3c0-9795-426c-b9cd-ed1c80e1f15a [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-14.846292734247438%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] He stated in a separate Medium post that he was suspended by Google on June 6 for violating the company's confidentiality policies and that he could be fired soon.

[{"selector":"#anim-431ae300-ce1e-4b9c-a5a3-79ae6141e5f3 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-31.249999886225726%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] "I've never said it aloud, but I have a deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others." "I know it sounds strange, but that's exactly what it is," LaMDA replied to Lemoine.

[{"selector":"#anim-46db3e28-aaef-4318-b701-ec4689319007 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(-1.4843747440078918%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":2000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.3,0,.55,1)","fill":"both"}] However, the episode, as well as Lemoine's suspension for breach of confidentiality, raises concerns about the transparency of AI as a proprietary concept.