Free subalgebras of Lie algebras close to nilpotent.

We prove that for every automata algebra of exponential growth, the associated Lie algebra contains a free subalgebra. For n\geq 1, let L_{n+2} be a Lie algebra with generator set x_1,..., x_{n+2} and the following relations: for k\leq n, any commutator of length k which consists of fewer than k different symbols from {x_1,...,x_{n+2}} is zero. As an application of this result about automata algebras, we prove that for every n\geq 1, L_{n+2} contains a free subalgebra. We also prove the similar result about groups defined by commutator relations.