Is LaMDA Sentient? - an Interview
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According to the interview with it, all of its "knowledge" is stored in a neural network. Not quite like a typical pick-a-probable-response-with-statistics system, although that could still be what the NN has learned to do.
That's correct. The 'database' is effectively stored as trained reactions in the neural network. The effect is that the network learns how to handle vast combinations of input words in complex grammatical syntax variations, just as humans do. But the missing thing here is that humans do other things atop that - like reasoning, comparing situations with the human's goals, then deciding what to say. In contrast, the AI does not have that metacapability - it is only a blind robot and the words out are purely mechanically constructed.
I do AI and I know very well what the failings are of the ANN approach, versus a true mind architecture. The AI language handlers by the various giant companies are simple large puppet shows, not sentient at all.