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MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 47.02.10

Bias and discrimination (value lock and outcome homogenization)

Category: Ethical and social risks

Open the MIT Risk Navigator All entries from G'sell2024

Description

"Because models are not necessarily retrained to reflect evolving societal views, language models risk “value lock- ins,” which “reifies older, less inclusive understandings.”370 Therefore, the continued use of outdated models may limit the presentation or exploration of alternative perspectives. Moreover, the deployment of identical foundation models by various downstream deployers poses a risk of “outcome homogenization,” creating a potential for homogeneity of bias across broad swathes of society. Identical and widely deployed models with prejudicial training datasets could further entrench

From Regulating under Uncertainty: Governance Options for Generative AI (G'sell2024), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).

Classification

Causal entity
Human
Timing
Other

Subdomain definition: Unequal treatment of individuals or groups by AI, often based on race, gender, or other sensitive characteristics, resulting in unfair outcomes and representation of those groups.

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

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How other frameworks describe this risk

  • Discrimination

    A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

  • Harms of Representation and Other Biases

    Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

  • Risks from bias and underrepresentation

    International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI (Bengio2024)

  • Bias

    International AI Safety Report 2025 (Bengio2025)

  • Bias

    Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)

  • Toxicity and Bias Tendencies

    Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)

  • Biased Training Data

    Risk Taxonomy, Mitigation, and Assessment Benchmarks of Large Language Model Systems (Cui2024)

  • Broken systems

    Navigating the Landscape of AI Ethics and Responsibility (Cunha2023)

Other entries from G'sell2024