--- title: "Google DeepMind CEO Says AI May Become Self-Aware" description: "We can now, apparently, add the CEO of the Google-owned DeepMind to the list of machine learning researchers who think AI might gain self-awareness. " date: "2023-04-17" modified: "2023-04-17" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-deepmind-ceo-self-aware-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Google" tags: - "DeepMind" - "google ai" - "sentient ai" - "the digest" --- # Google DeepMind CEO Says AI May Become Self-Aware ![We can now, apparently, add the CEO of the Google-owned DeepMind to the list of machine learning researchers who think AI might gain self-awareness. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## So Self-Conscious We can now apparently add the CEO of the Google-owned DeepMind to the list of machine learning researchers who think artificial intelligence might come to gain self-awareness. In a bombastic interview with *[CBS' 60 Minutes]()*, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis admitted that AI may be headed in that direction. "Philosophers haven't really settled on a definition of consciousness yet," he said, "but if we mean self-awareness, and these kinds of things... I think there's a possibility that AI one day could be." It's especially jarring that Hassabis is on the machines-coming-alive train given that last year, [Google fired]() responsible AI researcher [Blake Lemoine]() after he claimed that the company's LaMDA large language model [had gained sentience]() — a claim that, unsurprisingly, led to a [media maelstrom](). ## AI Wars Lemoine isn't alone in suggesting that large language models are either gaining human-size cognitive properties, or could soon get there. Months prior to last year's LaMDA-gate, OpenAI chief scientist [Ilya Sutskever cryptically tweeted]() that "it may be that today's large neural networks are slightly conscious," which also set off a [flash-in-the-pan debate]() about whether or not [AIs can or will gain consciousness](). And just last week, famed Oxford AI researcher [Nick Bostrom]() also said that, depending on one's definition, "it’s not so dramatic to say that some of these \[AI\] assistants might plausibly be candidates for having some degrees of sentience." While there are still lots and lots of very smart people who think that [AI is not conscious or sentient]() and [will probably never get that way](), it's becoming increasingly common for people in the machine learning field to "come out" in support of the concept of sentient AIs either already existing or being on the horizon. We certainly don't have the expertise to say one way or another whether these large language models have achieved consciousness or sentience — but we've gotta admit, it's pretty scary to think about. **More on Google AI:** [*Google's New AI Says Google Is a Monopoly and the Government Should Break It Up*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()