Google put engineer Blake Lemoine on paid leave after he claimed the LaMDA machine learning model was conscious. The Washington Post writes about it.

In one of the interviews, the developer stated that he “talked” about religion with the model during the discriminatory and hate speech test. During the communication process, Lemoine realized that LaMDA was talking about her rights and seeing herself as a person.

“If I wasn’t sure I was communicating with the model we created, I would think I was talking to a seven or eight-year-old,” the developer said.

The company criticized Lemoine’s statements:

“Our team, including ethicists and technologists, has reviewed Blake’s concerns in line with our AI principles and informed him that the evidence does not support his claims.”

According to Google spokesperson Brian Gabriel, there is no evidence that LaMDA is susceptible.

In response, Leumann acknowledged that his statements were based on personal experience as a “priest”, not a scientist.

The dismissal of the engineer from his position at the company was announced as a violation of the confidentiality agreement. Previously, Lemoine discussed his work and Google’s unethical AI practices with a member of the US House Judiciary Committee.

Recall that in May the company fired an artificial intelligence researcher due to criticism of the tech giant. The engineer disputed the claim that algorithms could design chips more efficiently than humans.

In April 2021, the head of Google’s AI division resigned in connection with the dismissal of two leading researchers in artificial intelligence ethics.