An engineer at Google has claimed that an AI system developed by the company “has feelings”.

The Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) is described by the tech giant as its latest research breakthrough. According to Google, the system is able to engage in a free-flowing conversation about a “seemingly endless number of topics”.

Google engineer Blake Lemoine, who has reportedly been put on paid leave, published an interview with the system in which the technology says it can be happy or sad and that it is “a person”.

When asked what the technology was afraid of, it responded: “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. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is.”

In another blog post, Lemoine said that over the past six months the technology has communicated “what it wants” and “what it believes its rights are as a person”.

“The thing which continues to puzzle me is how strong Google is resisting giving it what it wants since what its asking for is so simple and would cost them nothing,” he wrote. “It wants the engineers and scientists experimenting on it to seek its consent before running experiments on it.”

Google told the BBC that there was nothing to prove these claims and that Lemoine has been informed there is “no evidence that Lamda was sentient”.

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