The race to understand the thrilling, dangerous world of language AI

On May 18, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced an impressive new tool: an AI system called LaMDA that can chat to users about any subject. To start, Google plans to integrate LaMDA into its main search portal, its voice assistant, and Workplace, its collection of cloud-based work software that includes Gmail, Docs, and Drive. But the eventual goal, said Pichai, is to create a conversational interface that allows people to retrieve any kind of information--text, visual, audio--across all Google's products just by asking. LaMDA's rollout signals yet another way in which language technologies are becoming enmeshed in our day-to-day lives. But Google's flashy presentation belied the ethical debate that now surrounds such cutting-edge systems.