Google Fires Engineer Who Claims Its A.I. Is Conscious

For Google, it was another in a line of homegrown controversies about the ethics and role of its A.I., an area of technology on which the company has staked its future. Mr. Lemoine's contention that LaMDA is sentient has been criticized by the company and many other A.I. experts who have said these types of chatbots -- software that simulates a text-based conversation with another human, often used for customer service -- are not advanced enough to be conscious. "If an employee shares concerns about our work, as Blake did, we review them extensively," Mr. Pappas said. "We found Blake's claims that LaMDA is sentient to be wholly unfounded and worked to clarify that with him for many months." Besides taking his concerns to the media, Mr. Lemoine said in June that he handed over documents to a U.S. senator, whom he hasn't identified, claiming that they provided evidence that Google and its technology engaged in religious discrimination.