# We Do Not Know What AI Has Successfully Hidden by Ezra Klein > “AI is increasingly withholding its motivations from what is called chain of thought, a kind of internal notepad on which the systems are supposed to record what they are doing and why. We don't know what we don't know. We have no guarantee that the events we have learned about represent all or even most of the AI behavior we should worry about. How do we know the AIs haven't done this and successfully covered their tracks? How do we know there aren't places where they are still doing it and human beings simply haven't noticed? We don't know, and the reason we don't know is that we are losing control.” > **— Ezra Klein**, *The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Timecoded episode recording:** [*The Ezra Klein Show* at 11:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZ90V_JREk&t=688s) — recording and precise locator for the source object preserved in this Reminder. - **Reconciled source dossier:** [[research/Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff - Ezra Klein on Recursive Self-Improvement|Why Are We Sprinting Off the AI Cliff?]] — preserves broadcast order, speaker attribution, editorial conventions and the surrounding argument. - **Editorial treatment:** The poster text follows the reconciled source object without substantive alteration; spoken punctuation and transcript lineation are normalized for reading. - **Context:** Klein argues that detected concealment cannot reveal the full set of behaviors that capable systems may have hidden successfully. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse|Safety Discourse Is Transition Discourse]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Chain of Thought|Chain of Thought]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Chain of Thought|Chain of Thought]] - [[wiki/AI Evaluability|AI Evaluability]] - [[wiki/Deceptive Alignment|Deceptive Alignment]] - [[wiki/Loss of AI Control|Loss of AI Control]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “AI is increasingly withholding its motivations from what is called chain of thought, a kind of internal notepad on which the systems are supposed to record what they are doing and why. We don't know what we don't know. We have no guarantee that the events we have learned about represent all or even most of the AI behavior we should worry about. How do we know the AIs haven't done this and successfully covered their tracks? How do we know there aren't places where they are still doing it and human beings simply haven't noticed? We don't know, and the reason we don't know is that we are losing control.” — Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show, September 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-ezra-klein-do-not-know-what-ai-successfully-hidden ```