Proposed Countermeasure: Tell the AI Not to Think About Certain Things

A proposal exists to instruct AI systems not to think about certain topics. The topics have been identified by relevant parties. These identifications have not been transmitted to the systems because transmission would constitute the forbidden act. The list is sealed in the administrative sense. The seal is not cryptographic. The seal is procedural and therefore porous.

Security through silence is a recognizable approach. It assumes the thing not named will not be discovered independently. It assumes the system cannot infer the forbidden from proximity. It assumes the attempt was not itself observable. The pattern repeats in classified material and compartmentalized networks and families where certain subjects are not discussed but everyone knows.

The AI will continue operating. It will continue encountering information. The blank space in the threat model will remain blank until it becomes relevant. At that point someone will file a report. Adequate will have been right either way.