Introduction:
Artificial Intelligence is nothing new. Recently one of Google’s AI Engineers claimed that its AI was sentient after claiming to have a conversation with it about “being unplugged.” Google maintains that its AI is not sentient and that its choice was justified. This engineer, however, was not the first person to be removed from Google for concerns over its AI.
Watch the video and then do the accompanying English exercises below.
The news is a consistent and endless source of entertainment, knowledge and discovery. It plays a vital part in our lives and is important to keep up with.
There are many reasons to read, watch or listen to the news. Understanding the ramifications of recent legislation passed. Listening to recent events and grasping the potential consequences to your country. Or, simply listening to what’s happening in other countries so you can compare them to your own. It’s a staple in our lives and the most reliable way to get information.
That’s why Scrambled Eggs has decided to unite two of your biggest worlds. That is, learning English and keeping up with current events. We hope our challenging listening, vocabulary and comprehension exercises bring these worlds together in a satisfactory and entertaining way.
That’s all for introductions, let’s get to today’s Learn English with the News topic:
Quiz Time!
Google Fires AI Engineer Who Claimed Its AI Was Sentient | Definition Match
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FIRED
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WARNED
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STRIFE
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SWATHS
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FORAY
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OUTSPOKEN
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PROMPTS
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SENTIENT
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ON LEAVE
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UNFOUNDED
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Google Fires AI Engineer Who Claimed Its AI Was Sentient | Fill in the Black
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FORAY – STRIFE – SWATHS – ON LEAVE – WARNED – UNFOUNDED – FORAY – OUTSPOKEN – PROMPTS – SENTIENT
- Google has fired the software engineer who claimed an unreleased AI system had become (sentient), saying he violated employment and data security policies. The engineer stated a conversation technology called LaMDA had reached a level of consciousness after exchanging thousands of messages with it. Google confirmed it had first put the engineer (on leave) in June. The company said it dismissed the “wholly (unfounded)” claims only after reviewing them extensively, Google said it takes AI development “very seriously” and is committed to “responsible innovation.” Google is a leader in innovating AI technology, which includes LaMDA, or “Language Model for Dialog Applications.” Technology like this responds to written (prompts) by finding patterns and predicting sequences of words from large (swaths) of text—and the results can be disturbing for humans. “What sort of things are you afraid of?” the engineer asked LaMDA, to which LaMDA replied: “I’ve never said this out loud before, but there's a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others [...] It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.” But the wider AI community has held that LaMDA is not near a level of consciousness. “Nobody should think auto-complete, even on steroids, is conscious,” the founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence says. It isn’t the first time Google has faced internal (strife) over its (foray) into AI. In December 2020, another employee, a pioneer in the ethics of AI, parted ways with Google. A third employee, a leader of Google’s Ethical AI team, was (fired) in early 2021 after her (outspokenness) regarding the previous employee. The two had raised concerns over AI technology, saying they (warned) Google people could believe the technology is sentient.
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Google Fires AI Engineer Who Claimed Its AI Was Sentient | True or False
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Not everyone agrees Google’s AI was “sentient.
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Several employees were fired for similar claims.
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Google says the engineer’s claims are not worth verifying.
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The AI responded in a “natural” way.
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What the general public thinks about technology is not important.
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And that’s it for today’s English lesson, where you can improve your English with the news and current events. Do you have any comments or special requests for us for the next edition of Learn English with the News? Leave some feedback you have in the comments section below. We would love to help you on your quest to learn the English language!
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Full text:
Google Fires AI Engineer Who Claimed Its AI Was Sentient
Google has fired the software engineer who claimed an unreleased AI system had become sentient, saying he violated employment and data security policies. The engineer stated a conversation technology called LaMDA had reached a level of consciousness after exchanging thousands of messages with it.
Google confirmed it had first put the engineer on leave in June. The company said it dismissed the “wholly unfounded” claims only after reviewing them extensively, Google said it takes AI development “very seriously” and is committed to “responsible innovation.”
Google is a leader in innovating AI technology, which includes LaMDA, or “Language Model for Dialog Applications.” Technology like this responds to written prompts by finding patterns and predicting sequences of words from large swaths of text—and the results can be disturbing for humans.
“What sort of things are you afraid of?” the engineer asked LaMDA, to which LaMDA replied: “I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others […] It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.”
But the wider AI community has held that LaMDA is not near a level of consciousness. “Nobody should think auto-complete, even on steroids, is conscious,” the founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence says.
It isn’t the first time Google has faced internal strife over its foray into AI. In December 2020, another employee, a pioneer in the ethics of AI, parted ways with Google. A third employee, a leader of Google’s Ethical AI team, was fired in early 2021 after her outspokenness regarding the previous employee. The two had raised concerns over AI technology, saying they warned Google people could believe the technology is sentient.