"What, really?" He blinks, and then frowns in surprise. That's his world expanding subtly but significantly. He might have some trouble getting used to the idea... but the earlier he learns about this stuff, the more embarrassment he's spared.

"Become sentient? How? Do you have to put a- a new soul in the machine?" He's going to avoid specifying a black one; he doesn't know if they have those elsewhere but if you wanted to connect a machine to a sentient mind...