MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 62.33.01
Misuse of AI systems to assist in the creation of weapons
Category: Impacts of AI (Weapons)
Description
"AI systems may be misused to aid in the creation of weapons, such as chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons, or augment the abilities of existing weapons, such as providing autonomous capabilities to unmanned weapon systems. Current systems do not significantly aid a malicious actor in these tasks, but they do show early signs [117]. This risk can sometimes be mitigated with input and output filtering, but is still susceptible to adversarial techniques (such as jailbreaking or paraphrasing)."
From Risk Sources and Risk Management Measures in Support of Standards for General-Purpose AI Systems (Gipiškis2024), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).
Classification
- Domain
- 4. Malicious actors
- Causal entity
- Human
- Intent
- Intentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
Subdomain definition: Using AI systems to develop cyber weapons (e.g., coding cheaper, more effective malware), develop new or enhance existing weapons (e.g., Lethal Autonomous Weapons or CBRNE), or use weapons to cause mass harm.
Real-world incidents in this subdomain
- Anthropic's Claude Was Reportedly Jailbroken To Allegedly Help Steal Sensitive Mexican Government Data
- OpenAI ChatGPT Models Reportedly Jailbroken to Provide Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Weapons Instructions
- Anthropic Reportedly Identifies AI Misuse in Extortion Campaigns, North Korean IT Schemes, and Ransomware Sales
- LAMEHUG Malware Reportedly Integrates Large Language Model for Real-Time Command Generation in a Purported APT28-Linked Cyberattack
- Reported AI-Aided Development of Explosive Devices by Long Island Resident Michael Gann
- AI Chatbot Allegedly Used to Research Explosive Materials in Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bombing