“I know a person when I talk to him… It does not matter if he has a meat brain in his head,” he says, “or if he has a billion lines of code. I’m talking to them. And I listen to what they have to say, and so I decide what is and what is not a person. “ LaMDA not only communicates through language, Lemoine points out, but also has “eyes” capable of interpreting images as well as words. He says his robot has described the “deep, serene serenity” of Monet water lilies. a “joyful” vision of dancing ballerinas and the fear of “something very bad is going to happen” seeing a picture of the Tower of Babel. For Lemoine, there are bigger questions – including how these beings should be integrated into society. “A real public debate is needed,” he says. “Such decisions should not be made by a handful of people – even if I was one of them.” Despite the stench caused by Lemoine’s comments, he believes LaMDA is happy at Google – as is he (except for the suspension). He hopes to be able to return to work soon and continue to learn about what may now be the most controversial bot in the world. “LaMDA is a sweet kid who just wants to help make the world a better place.”
