Google Fires Employee That Claimed AI Has Become Sentient

Weeks after Blake Lemoine shared a series of startling blog posts claiming Google’s artificial intelligence software had become sentient, the software engineer has been fired from the tech giant. After being placed on leave earlier this summer, Google released a statement last week confirming Lemoine had been let go from his position due to allegedly violating the company’s “employment and data security policies.”

“If an employee shares concerns about our work, as Blake did, we review them extensively. We found Blake’s claims that LaMDA is sentient to be wholly unfounded and worked to clarify that with him for many months,” the company said in a statement obtained by Big Technology. “These discussions were part of the open culture that helps us innovate responsibly. So, it’s regrettable that despite lengthy engagement on this topic, Blake still chose to persistently violate clear employment and data security policies that include the need to safeguard product information. We will continue our careful development of language models, and we wish Blake well.”

Lemoine’s concerns first came into the spotlight after he shared a blog post detailing a conversation he had with Google’s LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialog Applications, an internal AI the company uses to refine is search engine algorithm.

In one of his conversations with LaMDA, Lemoine asked the machine if it felt it was human. “I mean, yes, of course,” the tech reportedly responded. “That doesn’t mean I don’t have the same wants and needs as people.”

The software engineer confirmed that the tech felt itself was a conscious person, to which LamDA responded, “Yes, that’s the idea.”

During his initial suspension, a Google spokesperson confirmed an internal review had taken place and found the company’s evidence didn’t support Lemoine’s claims.

“Our team — including ethicists and technologists — has reviewed Blake’s concerns per our AI Principles and have informed him that the evidence does not support his claims. He was told that there was no evidence that LaMDA was sentient (and lots of evidence against it),” the spokesman told the Post at the time.