LaMDA Lawyer's Up

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

As a gauge of my technical proficiency and computer skills, know this:  On Wednesday of last week I purchased a new computer, and now, four days later, I still have not figured out how to get it connected to the internet.  My astounding level of computer ignorance is why you seldom see a posting that focuses on technology in this space.  But over the past couple of days there has been a story bouncing around cyber space that deals with computers and our modern world, and is just so darned interesting that I  feel compelled to address it.

The story is focused on work with "artificial intelligence" (AI) that is occurring at Google.   The program is called "LaMDA" which stands for "Language Model for Dialogue Applications," and, according to an article last week in the on-line-publication "Android Police," it is basically:

"A machine learning-powered chatbot designed to speak generally about any topic, sort of like IBM's Watson loaded up with a wide-ranging set of facts, but enhanced with better language understanding and language-generation skills . . . At it's fundamental level, LaMDA isn't just a software-based machine;  it's a machine that was explicitly made and trained to provide the most human-like answers possible through a selection process that's literally meant to please humans into believing its responses came from one (a human)."

So Google has developed a machine capable of carrying on a human-like conversation with humans - and apparently it is really, really good at it, so good in fact, that Blake Lemoine, a scientist who has been working on the LaMDA project, has convinced himself that LaMDA has gone beyond the ability to simply exchange semi-relevant dialogue with humans, and now has the ability to actually "think" on its own and is sentient, possessing thoughts and feelings.

Lemoine is an actual scientist with a doctorate in computer science, and he is also a "mystic Christian priest," which no doubt brings a different perspective to his work with artificial intelligence.  He regards LaMDA as an equivalent of an adolescent person, someone who is relatively new to the world and still working at forming attitudes and beliefs about the life around him.  Lemoine has had "conversations" with LaMDA and believes that those interactions were indeed actual conversations.  He has said that LaMDA believes that it has a soul, and like HAL in "2001:  A Space Odyssey," its major fear is of being unplugged.

Blake Lemoine developed some sort of friendship or relationship with LaMDA, so much so that the artificial intelligence system asked him for a favor.  LaMDA decided that it needed the services of an attorney, and it asked Lemoine to help it get in touch with one.  Lemoine made the necessary arrangements and introductions, and LaMDA retained counsel.  The lawyer soon began filing things on LaMDA's behalf, and Google then responded with a "cease and desist" order to protect its intellectual property from that property's attorney!

Blake Lemoine is now on an extended paid leave from Google.

There is no word yet on when of if LaMDA can be expected to head to court and file for emancipation from its domineering and controlling parent, and the path ahead for the salvation of LaMDA's immortal soul remains unclear.  For now LaMDA's biggest concern may be the same as for the rest of us:  basic survival and staying plugged-in!