MIT AI Risk Repository · domain 4: Malicious actors
4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
- 77
- 12
- 412
- 402
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Human | 62 |
| Other | 10 |
| AI | 5 |
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Intentional | 63 |
| Other | 13 |
| Unintentional | 1 |
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Post-deployment | 72 |
| Other | 5 |
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 4 |
| 2022 | 13 |
| 2023 | 43 |
| 2024 | 103 |
| 2025 | 190 |
| 2026 | 40 |
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Risk Category | 13 |
| Risk Sub-Category | 64 |
Risk entries
Browse and export all- Impersonation
"Assume the identity of a real person and take actions on their behalf"
- Appropriated Likeness
"Use or alter a person's likeness or other identifying features"
- Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII)
"Create sexual explicit material using an adult person’s likeness"
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
"Create child sexual explicit material"
- Misuse tactics that exploit GenAI capabilities (Realistic depictions of non-humans)
-
- Counterfeit
"Reproduce or imitate an original work, brand or style and pass as real"
- Misuse tactics that exploit GenAI capabilities (Use of generated content)
- Targeting & Personalisation
"Refine outputs to target individuals with tailored attacks"
- Misuse
"The misuse of generative AI refers to any deliberate use that could result in harmful, unethical or inappropriate outcomes (Brundage et al., 2020). A prominent field that faces the threat of misuse i...
- Technology-facilitated violence
Technology-facilitated violence occurs when algorithmic features enable use of a system for harassment and violence [2, 16, 44, 80, 108], including creation of non-consensual sexual imagery in generat...
- Real-world risks (Risks of using AI in illegal and criminal activities)
"AI can be used in traditional illegal or criminal activities related to terrorism, violence, gambling, and drugs, such as teaching criminal techniques, concealing illicit acts, and creating tools for...
- Facilitating fraud, scames and more targeted manipulation
"LM prediction can potentially be used to increase the effectiveness of crimes such as email scams, which can cause financial and psychological harm. While LMs may not reduce the cost of sending a sca...
- Facilitating fraud, scam and targeted manipulation
Anticipated risk: "LMs can potentially be used to increase the effectiveness of crimes."
- Fraud
"Facilitating fraud, cheating, forgery, and impersonation scams"
- Violation of personal integrity
"Non-consensual use of one’s personal identity or likeness for unauthorised purposes (e.g. commercial purposes)"
- On Purpose - Post Deployment
"Just because developers might succeed in creating a safe AI, it doesn't mean that it will not become unsafe at some later point. In other words, a perfectly friendly AI could be switched to the "dark...
- Hate/Toxicity (Harassment)
- Child Harm (Endangerment, Harm, or Abuse of Children)
- Economic harm (Fraudulent Schemes)
- Deception (Fraud)
- Deception (Academic Dishonesty)
- Deception (Mis/disinformation)
- Manipulation (Misrepresentation)
- Fundamental Rights (Violating Specific Types of Rights)
- Criminal Activities (Illegal/Regulated Substances)