Leon Gordon is a leader in data analytics, a current Microsoft MVP based in the UK and a partner at Pomerol Partners. Sentience is the ability to feel and perceive self, others and the world.

But those wondering how society might react if a sentient machine is ever built already have examples to consider. Most people believe that monkeys and great apes are sentient, not to mention ...

But before we get there, there’s one question that towers over all others: Would we truly recognize if a machine became sentient? AI becoming self-aware has long been a theme of science fiction.

Will AGI be sentient? Not necessarily. Intelligence and sentience are not the same thing. While definitions of AGI vary greatly, it is possible to build a highly intelligent machine without it ...

Regardless of the technical details, LaMDA raises a question that will only become more relevant as AI research advances: if a machine becomes sentient, how will we know? To identify sentience ...