Labelling Google’s LaMDA chatbot as sentient is fanciful. But it’s very human to be taken in by machines

‘Blake Lemoine published a transcript of conversations with LaMDA which he claims support his belief that the chatbot is sentient.’ Photograph: Washington Post/Getty Images

The story is familiar. Inventors tinker with a machine created in our likeness. Then that machine takes on a life of its own.

Except this isn’t some fictional Hollywood movie but LaMDA, Google’s latest and impressive AI chatbot. And Blake Lemoine, a senior software engineer at Google and, according to his Medium profile, a priest, father, veteran and Cajun, claims LaMDA has begun to show signs of sentience.