Google software engineer Blake Lemoine says the institution-created LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) is self-aware. In response, company management fired him. This was reported by the Washington Post.

LaMDA is a neural network language model for dialog applications designed to communicate on any topic. Lemoine’s duties included testing the system. Specifically, the woman had to determine whether she was using discriminatory or hostile language. Instead, the expert concluded that artificial intelligence is self-conscious. Yes, Lemoine noted that the chatbot talks about rights and perceives itself as a human.

“If I wasn’t sure I was dealing with a computer program we wrote recently, I would think I was talking to a seven or eight-year-old boy who was for some reason a physicist,” he said. 41 year old engineer

Based on the results of the study, the specialist prepared a written report. However, company management did not find the employee’s arguments convincing. “We were told there was no evidence that LaMDA was conscious. At the same time, there is a lot of evidence to the contrary,” said Brian Gabriel, a Google spokesperson. It was stated that Lemoine was placed on paid administrative leave.