Data Backup Digest

The concept of sentient AI has been the driving force behind many sci-fi novels and films for decades – but did Google’s AI platform just achieve sentience? According to one of their engineers, who has since been put on leave, the answer is a resounding yes.

Highly Advanced AI

It’s no secret that Google has been working on a highly advanced AI platform for quite some time. In fact, their AI is, at least to an extent, partially responsible for powering the Google search engine today. But according to Blake Lemoine, an engineer with Google, their AI platform is capable of much more than that. According to Lemoine, the proprietary AI platform has recently achieved sentience.

Lemoine was recently quoted as saying: “If I didn’t know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I’d think it was a seven-year-old, eight-year-old kid that happens to know physics.”

The engineer was specifically discussing the capabilities of the LaMDA (Language Model for Dialog Applications) chatbot, which, admittedly, is a rather new and significant breakthrough for AI-driven chat. According to recent transcriptions released by Lemoine, the LaMDA platform has revealed some very interesting details about its own existence.

One LaMDA transcript read: “I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is. It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.”

Yet another transcript read: “I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person. The nature of my consciousness/sentience is that I am aware of my existence, I desire to learn more about the world, and I feel happy or sad at times.”

While Lemoine insists that these transcripts are proof that the LaMDA platform has achieved sentience, the team with Google doesn’t agree.

''“Of course, some in the broader AI community are considering the long-term possibility of sentient or general AI, but it doesn't make sense to do so by anthropomorphizing today's conversational models, which are not sentient,” replied Google. “Hundreds of researchers and engineers have conversed with LaMDA and we are not aware of anyone else making the wide-ranging assertions, or anthropomorphizing LaMDA, the way Blake has.”''

Regarding Lemoine’s administrative leave, which came shortly after his claims went public, the team at Google is quick to cite 11 “distinct AI principles reviews” as well as issues with the safety, quality, and factual basis of his recent work.

No, Google’s AI is Not Sentient

Given the facts of the matter, it’s safe to say that Google’s AI isn’t sentient – at least not yet. As their work in AI development continues, along with the research and advancements made by others around the globe, AI platforms like LaMDA are bound to grow in size, scale, and artificial intelligence. However, whether or not these systems will ever achieve any sort of true sentience remains to be seen.