Google fires software engineer who claimed its AI chatbot is sentient

The emblem for Google LLC is seen at their workplace in Manhattan, New York Metropolis, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

July 22 (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google stated on Friday it has dismissed a senior software program engineer who claimed the corporate’s synthetic intelligence (AI) chatbot LaMDA was a self-aware individual.

Google, which positioned software program engineer Blake Lemoine on go away final month, stated he had violated firm insurance policies and that it discovered his claims on LaMDA to be “wholly unfounded.” learn extra

“It is regrettable that regardless of prolonged engagement on this matter, Blake nonetheless selected to persistently violate clear employment and information safety insurance policies that embrace the necessity to safeguard product info,” a Google spokesperson stated in an e mail to Reuters.

Final yr, Google said that LaMDA – Language Mannequin for Dialogue Functions – was constructed on the corporate’s analysis exhibiting Transformer-based language fashions educated on dialogue might be taught to speak about primarily something.

Google and plenty of main scientists have been fast to dismiss Lemoine’s views as misguided, saying LaMDA is solely a fancy algorithm designed to generate convincing human language.

Lemoine’s dismissal was first reported by Huge Know-how, a tech and society e-newsletter.

Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Enhancing by William Mallard

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