Do computers have feelings? Don’t let Google alone decide
Even if an engineer’s recent claims of a conscious machine are dubious, the tech giant’s tightening grip on AI research and its ham-fisted treatment of dissenting voices is troubling.
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Parmy Olson
NEWS that Alphabet Inc’s Google sidelined an engineer who claimed its artificial intelligence system had become sentient after he’d had several months of conversations with it prompted plenty of scepticism from AI scientists. Many have said, via postings on Twitter, that senior software engineer Blake Lemoine projected his own humanity onto Google’s chatbot generator LaMDA.
Whether they’re right, or Lemoine is right, is a matter for debate — which should be allowed to continue without Alphabet stepping in to decide the matter.
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