MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 62.34.02
Reporting of user-preferred answers instead of correct answers
Category: Impacts of AI (Bias)
Description
"AI systems with natural-language outputs can tend to give answers that appear plausible or that users prefer [149] but are factually incorrect. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as “sycophancy.”"
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
- 3. Misinformation
- Subdomain
- 3.1 False or misleading information
- Causal entity
- AI
- Intent
- Intentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
Subdomain definition: AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
Real-world incidents in this subdomain
- Nonfiction Book 'The Future of Truth' Reportedly Included AI-Generated and Misattributed Quotations
- Claude Console Reportedly Generated Phantom Legal Quotations in Trump Layoffs Court Filing
- Purportedly AI-Enhanced Images of Iranian Women Protesters Were Reportedly Spread With Unverified Execution Claims
- South Africa Draft National AI Policy Reportedly Included Fictitious References Believed to Be AI Hallucinations
- Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Misled Daejeon Authorities Searching for Escaped Wolf Neukgu
- Gemini and Grok Reportedly Misidentified Authentic Minab School-Strike Graveyard Photo as Unrelated Disaster Imagery