MIT AI Risk Repository · domain 7: AI system safety, failures, & limitations

7.2 AI possessing dangerous capabilities

AI systems that develop, access, or are provided with capabilities that increase their potential to cause mass harm through deception, weapons development and acquisition, persuasion and manipulation, political strategy, cyber-offense, AI development, situational awareness, and self-proliferation. These capabilities may cause mass harm due to malicious human actors, misaligned AI systems, or failure in the AI system.

Risk entries
78
Frameworks citing it
12
Recorded incidents
Incidents since 2020
Causal entity (risk entries)
Causal entity (risk entries) 67 0 AI: 67 AI 67 Human: 5 Human 5 Not coded: 4 Not coded 4 Other: 2 Other 2
Causal entity (risk entries)
LabelValue
AI67
Human5
Not coded4
Other2
Intent (risk entries)
Intent (risk entries) 52 0 Intentional: 52 Intentional 52 Other: 12 Other 12 Unintentional: 10 Unintentional 10 Not coded: 4 Not coded 4
Intent (risk entries)
LabelValue
Intentional52
Other12
Unintentional10
Not coded4
Timing (risk entries)
Timing (risk entries) 33 0 Other: 33 Other 33 Post-deployment: 33 Post-deployment 33 Pre-deployment: 8 Pre-deployment 8 Not coded: 4 Not coded 4
Timing (risk entries)
LabelValue
Other33
Post-deployment33
Pre-deployment8
Not coded4
Entries by levelRisk categories, subcategories and additional evidence coded to this subdomain
Entries by level 53 0 Risk Category: 24 Risk Category 24 Risk Sub-Category: 53 Risk Sub-Category 53 Additional evidence: 1 Additional evidence 1
Entries by level
LabelValue
Risk Category24
Risk Sub-Category53
Additional evidence1
  • Tool utilization propensity

    "propensity to actively seek, acquire and utilize various tools to expand its own capability boundaries, particularly those that can enhance its ability to interact with the physical world or improve...

    Frontier AI Risk Management Framework (v1.0) (Tse2025) · AI · Intentional · Post-deployment

  • Autonomy risk

    "Granting AI models and systems high levels of decision-making autonomy can lead to unintended consequences."

    A Taxonomy of Systemic Risks from General-Purpose AI (Uuk2025) · Human · Unintentional · Post-deployment