MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 63.07.01

Feedback Loops

Category: Destabilising Dynamics

Open the MIT Risk Navigator All entries from Hammond2025

Description

"Feedback Loops. One of the best-known historical examples to illustrate destabilising dynamics in the context of autonomous agents is the 2010 flash crash, in which algorithmic trading agents entered into an unexpected feedback loop (Commission & Commission, 2010, see also Case Study 10).37 More generally, a feedback loop occurs when the output of a system is used as part of its input, creating a cycle that can either amplify or dampen the system’s behaviour. In multi-agent settings, feedback loops often arise from the interactions between agents, as each agent’s actions affect the environmen

From Multi-Agent Risks from Advanced AI (Hammond2025), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).

Classification

Domain: 7. AI system safety, failures, & limitations
Subdomain: 7.6 Multi-agent risks
Causal entity: AI
Intent: Unintentional
Timing: Post-deployment

Subdomain definition: Risks from multi-agent interactions, due to incentives (which can lead to conflict or collusion) and/or the structure of multi-agent systems, which can create cascading failures, selection pressures, new security vulnerabilities, and a lack of shared information and trust.

How other frameworks describe this risk

Groups of LLM-Agents May Show Emergent Functionality
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Collusion between LLM-Agents
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Multi-Agent Safety Is Not Assured by Single-Agent Safety
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Foundationality May Cause Correlated Failures
Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)
Financial instability due to model homogeneity
Risk Sources and Risk Management Measures in Support of Standards for General-Purpose AI Systems (Gipiškis2024)
Impact on Financial Stability
Frontier AI Risk Management Framework (v1.0) (Tse2025)
Multi-agent collaboration capability
Frontier AI Risk Management Framework (v1.0) (Tse2025)
Multi-agent collusion propensity:
Frontier AI Risk Management Framework (v1.0) (Tse2025)

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