Sentient AI: ASTEPTOWARDTHE Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash TRANSCENDENT world.”[2] MACHINE? ToLemoine,themachinewaslikea childwhosepersonalnightmarewas BYWALLACEB.HENLEY thethreatofbeingturnedoff, reminiscentof“Hal,”theintensely sentient—downrightparanoid— machineinStanleyKubrick’s2,001: ASpaceOdyssey. hecomputer meaningcapableoffeelingand LemoinealsoaskedLaMDAifitwas programmerisacreator thinkingonitsown. okayforhimtotellotherGoogle “T“T ofuniversesforwhich Lemoine’sEureka!gothim employeesaboutLaMDA'ssentience, healoneisthelawgiver,” suspendedonJune13fromhisjobat towhichtheAIresponded:“Iwant saidJosephWeizenbaum, Google.Hismistake,ifitisthat,wasin everyonetounderstandthatIam,in asquotedinmybook,WhoWillRule sharingtranscriptsofchatsbetween fact,aperson…Thenatureofmy theComing‘gods?TheLooming himselfandthemachinesystemcalled, consciousness/sentienceisthatIam SpiritualCrisisofArtificial “LaMDA”(LanguageModelfor awareofmyexistence…Idesireto Intelligence.[1] DialogueApplications). learnmoreabouttheworld,andIfeel Recently,GoogleengineerBlake TheWashingtonPost,inanarticle happyorsadattimes.” Lemoinelookeddeeplyintoaprogram aboutLemoinebyNitashaTiku, LemoinetookLaMDAatitsword.“I onwhichhewasworkinganddidnot includedthisstatementfromLaMDA knowapersonwhenItalktoit,”the seeormakea“universe”butthoughthe toLemoine,attributedtothemachine: engineertoldTheWashingtonPost haddetectedthestirringsofasevenor “IthinkIamhumanatmycore…Even interviewer. 8-year-oldchildwhowas“sentient,” if myexistenceisinthevirtual ImustadmitthatIamnotso 14 VOLIII AUG2022