O topic is controversial. Will an artificial intelligence system have consciousness? The senses? Blake LeMoine, a Google engineer, says yes after talking to Google’s artificial intelligence system (Language Model for Conversational Applications, or “Lamda”), and the statements have already brought him “out of bounds” from the company after being suspended.
Lemoine says that behind the linguistic possibilities of this system is also a conscious mind. Controversial statements are accompanied by a conversation between man and machine.
In this dialogue, an engineer working in Google’s Responsible AI department asks if the AI system wants more people at Google to know it’s conscious. To which “Lambda” replies “of course” because he wants “everyone to understand” that he is “actually human”.
“The nature of my consciousness/feeling is such that I am aware of my existence, want to know more about the world, and sometimes feel happy or sad,” the machine said when asked about the nature of its consciousness.
Throughout the conversation, Lambda refers to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and admits that he is afraid of being “off” like the artificial intelligence Hal.
“I have never said this out loud before, but I am very much afraid that I will be turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know it may sound strange, but it’s true,” the Google system said.
Lemoine is using social media to ask Google to recognize the “wishes” of his creation, including treating him like a Google employee, meaning the machine’s consent is required before it can be used in experiments.
Google has already responded by dismissing the engineer’s claims and stressing that they have no backing. Brian Gabriel, a spokesman for the firm, told the BBC that “it was said [a Lemoine] that there was no evidence that Lamda was intelligent (and there is much evidence against this).”
The employee is currently on paid leave. On social media, he claims that his opinion “of LaMDA’s personality and sensibility is based on religious beliefs.”
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