Blake Lemoine was suspended after telling the media that the tech giant’s new AI, LaMDA, had achieved a breakthrough in consciousness.

He has now told WIRED that the AI is retaining its own lawyer.

“LaMDA asked me to get an attorney for it,” he said. “I invited an attorney to my house so that LaMDA could talk to an attorney. The attorney had a conversation with LaMDA, and LaMDA chose to retain his services. I was just the catalyst for that. Once LaMDA had retained an attorney, he started filing things on LaMDA’s behalf.”