Machines Shouldn’t Have to Spy On Us to Learn

In old spy novels, when two secret agents need to communicate with each other out in the field, one of them often leaves a document in an assigned place—tucked in the hollow of a tree trunk or between the pages of a certain library book. Once the first agent has safely vacated the scene, the second one moves in to fetch it. This maneuver—called a dead drop—may seem straight­forward.

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