MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 55.02.04
Resource conflicts driven by AI development
Category: Worsened conflict
Description
"AI development may itself become a new flash point for conflicts—causing more conflict to occur— especially conflicts over AI-relevant resources (such as data centres, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and raw materials)."
From 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), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).
Classification
- Subdomain
- 6.4 Competitive dynamics
- Causal entity
- Other
- Intent
- Unintentional
- Timing
- Pre-deployment
Subdomain definition: AI developers or state-like actors competing in an AI ‘race’ by rapidly developing, deploying, and applying AI systems to maximize strategic or economic advantage, increasing the risk they release unsafe and error-prone systems.
Real-world incidents in this subdomain
- Korean Internet Portal Giant Naver Manipulated Shopping and Video Search Algorithms to Favor In-House Services
- Apple Tweaked App Store Ranking Algorithms, Allegedly Resulted in Demotion of Local Apps in China
- Inefficiencies in the United States Resident Matching Program
How other frameworks describe this risk
Other entries from Clarke2023
- Risks from accelerating scientific progress
- Eased development of technologies that make a global catastrophe more likely
- Eased development of technologies that make a global catastrophe more likely
- Faster scientific progress makes it harder for governance to keep pace with development
- Faster scientific progress makes it harder for governance to keep pace with development
- Worsened conflict
- AI enables development of weapons of mass destruction
- AI enables automation of military decision-making
- AI-induced strategic instability
- Increased power concentration and inequality
- Unequal distribution of harms and benefits
- AI-based automation increases income inequality