MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Category · 49.01.00

Malicious Use Risks

Open the MIT Risk Navigator All entries from Bengio2024

Description

"As general- purpose AI covers a broad set of knowledge areas, it can be repurposed for malicious ends, potentially causing widespread harm. This section discusses some of the major risks of malicious use, but there are others and new risks may continue to emerge. While the risks discussed in this section range widely in terms of how well- evidenced they are, and in some cases, there is evidence suggesting that they may currently not be serious risks at all, we include them to provide a comprehensive overview of the malicious use risks associated with general- purpose AI systems."

From International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI (Bengio2024), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).

Classification

Domain: 4. Malicious actors
Subdomain: 4.0
Causal entity: Human
Intent: Intentional
Timing: Post-deployment

How other frameworks describe this risk

Dual-Use Capabilities Enable Malicious Use and Misuse of LLMs
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Risks from malicious use
International AI Safety Report 2025 (Bengio2025)
Enabling malicious actors and harmful actions
Navigating the Landscape of AI Ethics and Responsibility (Cunha2023)
Malicious Use and Unleashing AI Agents
Towards Safer Generative Language Models: A Survey on Safety Risks, Evaluations, and Improvements (Deng2023)
Misuse risks
Capabilities and Risks from Frontier AI (DSIT2023)
Malicious Uses
The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants (Gabriel2024)
High-impact misuses and abuses beyond original purpose
Risk Sources and Risk Management Measures in Support of Standards for General-Purpose AI Systems (Gipiškis2024)
Fine-tuning related (Ease of reconfiguring GPAI models)
Risk Sources and Risk Management Measures in Support of Standards for General-Purpose AI Systems (Gipiškis2024)

Other entries from Bengio2024

Harm to individuals through fake content Risk Sub-Category · 4.3
Harm to individuals through fake content Additional evidence
Disinformation and manipulation of public opinion Risk Sub-Category · 4.1
Cyber offence Risk Sub-Category · 4.2
Cyber offence Additional evidence
Cyber offence Additional evidence
Dual use science risks Risk Sub-Category · 4.2
Risks from Malfunctions Risk Category · 7.0
Risks from product functionality issues Risk Sub-Category · 5.1
Risks from product functionality issues Additional evidence
Risks from product functionality issues Additional evidence
Risks from product functionality issues Additional evidence