MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 11.04.04

Privacy violations

Category: Interpersonal Harms

Open the MIT Risk Navigator All entries from Shelby2023

Description

Privacy violation occurs when algorithmic systems diminish privacy, such as enabling the undesirable flow of private information [180], instilling the feeling of being watched or surveilled [181], and the collection of data without explicit and informed consent... privacy violations may arise from algorithmic systems making predictive inference beyond what users openly disclose [222] or when data collected and algorithmic inferences made about people in one context is applied to another without the person’s knowledge or consent through big data flows

From Sociotechnical Harms of Algorithmic Systems: Scoping a Taxonomy for Harm Reduction (Shelby2023), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).

Classification

Domain: 2. Privacy & Security
Subdomain: 2.1 Compromise of privacy by obtaining, leaking or correctly inferring sensitive information
Causal entity: AI
Intent: Other
Timing: Post-deployment

Subdomain definition: AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or loss of confidential intellectual property.

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

Browse all incidents in this subdomain

How other frameworks describe this risk

Risks to privacy
International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI (Bengio2024)
Risks to privacy
International AI Safety Report 2025 (Bengio2025)
Privacy Leakage
Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)
Private Training Data
Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)
Memorization in LLMs
Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)
Association in LLMs
Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)
Privacy Leakage
Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)
Privacy and regulation violations
Navigating the Landscape of AI Ethics and Responsibility (Cunha2023)

Other entries from Shelby2023

Representational Harms Risk Category · 1.1
Stereotyping social groups Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Demeaning social groups Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Erasing social groups Risk Sub-Category · 1.3
Alienating social groups Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Denying people the opportunity to self-identify Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Reifying essentialist categories Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Allocative Harms Risk Category · 1.1
Opportunity loss Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Economic loss Risk Sub-Category · 1.1
Quality-of-Service Harms Risk Category · 1.3
Alienation Risk Sub-Category · 1.3