MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 49.03.03

Market concentration risks and single points of failure

Category: Systemic Risks

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Description

"Market power is concentrated among a few companies that are the only ones able to build the leading general- purpose AI models. Widespread adoption of a few general- purpose AI models and systems by critical sectors including finance, cybersecurity, and defence creates systemic risk because any flaws, vulnerabilities, bugs, or inherent biases in the dominant general- purpose AI models and systems could cause simultaneous failures and disruptions on a broad scale across these interdependent sectors."

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: 6. Socioeconomic & Environmental
Subdomain: 6.1 Power centralization and unfair distribution of benefits
Causal entity: Human
Intent: Other
Timing: Post-deployment

Subdomain definition: AI-driven concentration of power and resources within certain entities or groups, especially those with access to or ownership of powerful AI systems, leading to inequitable distribution of benefits and increased societal inequality.

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

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How other frameworks describe this risk

Monopolisation
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Power concentration
A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)
Potential exploitation by totalitarian regimes
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)
Corporate power may impeded effective governance
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Global AI R&D divide
International AI Safety Report 2025 (Bengio2025)
Market concentration and single points of failure
International AI Safety Report 2025 (Bengio2025)
Unequal distribution of harms and benefits
A Survey of the Potential Long-term Impacts of AI: How AI Could Lead to Long-term Changes in Science, Cooperation, Power, Epistemics and Values (Clarke2023)
Increased power concentration and inequality
A Survey of the Potential Long-term Impacts of AI: How AI Could Lead to Long-term Changes in Science, Cooperation, Power, Epistemics and Values (Clarke2023)

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