Factuality Errors

Classification

Domain

3. Misinformation

Subdomain

3.1 False or misleading information

Causal entity

AI

Intent

Unintentional

Timing

Post-deployment

Subdomain definition: AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

• 12 May 2026Nonfiction Book 'The Future of Truth' Reportedly Included AI-Generated and Misattributed Quotations
• 6 May 2026Claude Console Reportedly Generated Phantom Legal Quotations in Trump Layoffs Court Filing
• 21 Apr 2026Purportedly AI-Enhanced Images of Iranian Women Protesters Were Reportedly Spread With Unverified Execution Claims
• 10 Apr 2026South Africa Draft National AI Policy Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI Hallucinations
• 8 Apr 2026Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Misled Daejeon Authorities Searching for Escaped Wolf Neukgu
• 17 Mar 2026Gemini and Grok Reportedly Misidentified Authentic Minab School-Strike Graveyard Photo as Unrelated Disaster Imagery

How other frameworks describe this risk

• Hallucinations

  Navigating the Landscape of AI Ethics and Responsibility (Cunha2023)

• Misleading Information

  Towards Safer Generative Language Models: A Survey on Safety Risks, Evaluations, and Improvements (Deng2023)

• Misinformation

  Generating Harms - Generative AI's impact and paths forwards (EPIC2023)

• Causing direct emotional or physical harm to users

  The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants (Gabriel2024)

• Defamation

  AILUMINATE: Introducing v1.0 of the AI Risk and Reliability Benchmark from MLCommons (Ghosh2024)

• Reporting of user-preferred answers instead of correct answers

  Risk Sources and Risk Management Measures in Support of Standards for General-Purpose AI Systems (Gipiškis2024)

• Factually incorrect content (inaccuracies and fabricated sources)

  Regulating under Uncertainty: Governance Options for Generative AI (G'sell2024)

• Hallucinations

  Mapping the Ethics of Generative AI: A Comprehensive Scoping Review (Hagendorff2024)

Other entries from Cui2024

• Harmful Content Risk Category · 1.2
• Bias Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
• Toxicity Risk Sub-Category · 1.2
• Privacy Leakage Risk Sub-Category · 2.1
• Untruthful Content Risk Category · 3.1
• Faithfulness Errors Risk Sub-Category · 3.1
• Unhelpful Uses Risk Category · 4.3
• Academic Misconduct Risk Sub-Category · 4.3
• Copyright Violation Risk Sub-Category · 6.3
• Cyber Attacks Risk Sub-Category · 4.2
• Software Vulnerabilities Risk Sub-Category · 2.2
• Software Security Issues Risk Category · 2.2