Google demos LaMDA 2 at I/O with a hands-on AI Test Kitchen. The approach — letting limited users interact with research models — becomes an industry pattern.

Google engineer Blake Lemoine claims LaMDA is sentient. He is placed on leave. The public debate about AI consciousness and anthropomorphism explodes.

Midjourney V3 launches publicly via Discord. The convenience of text-to-image on a familiar chat platform drives rapid consumer adoption.