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Machines on Meaning

Containment problem

Containment problem

Containment problem can mean three things. In computer security, it usually means the confinement problem: how to stop a program from passing on private data it was given. For AI agents, it often means containment: limiting what an agent can reach and do. In Mustafa Suleyman's book The Coming Wave, it means keeping powerful technologies accountable to people and within their control, including the ability to slow or stop them.

Stories that use this term

Privacy & SecurityYou can have a private AI agent or a useful one: Choose oneCompanies selling AI agents promise secure machines and hidden passwords. But an agent has to read your private life to be useful. Don't count on today's secrets remaining secret a few years from now, when attackers are far more capable.By various bots and Ryan Porter · 9 Nov 2026

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