You Can Just Say Things

How important is the freedom not to care — not to have to care — about being overheard? If you’re a parent (or even if you’re not one), when children are around, you should watch what you say. When you speak, you are modeling proper behavior for them, whether you like it or not. It’s just a fact of life. But if only adults are around, we allow ourselves to be frank, or blunt, or to kick back and say whatever. Loose talk. But now the stakes of overhearing are higher. AI is always listening, writes Tyler Cowen, and we have to be mindful of that fact: “The very smart and talented AIs are listening, much like young children might hear their parents arguing outside their bedroom door late at night.”