MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 63.07.03

Chaos

Category: Destabilising Dynamics

Open the MIT Risk Navigator All entries from Hammond2025

Description

"Chaos. Unlike the systems that tend towards fixed points or cycles described above, chaotic systems are inherently unpredictable and highly sensitive to initial conditions. While it might seem easy to dismiss such notions as mathematical exoticisms, recent work has shown that, in fact, chaotic dynamics are not only possible in a wide range of multi-agent learning setups (Andrade et al., 2021; Galla & Farmer, 2013; Palaiopanos et al., 2017; Sato et al., 2002; Vlatakis-Gkaragkounis et al., 2023), but can become the norm as the number of agents increases (Bielawski et al., 2021; Cheung & Piliour

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: Other
Timing: Other

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)

Other entries from Hammond2025

Miscoordination Risk Category · 7.6
Miscoordination Additional evidence
Incompatible strategies Risk Sub-Category · 7.6
Incompatible strategies Additional evidence
Credit Assignment Risk Sub-Category · 7.6
Limited Interactions Risk Sub-Category · 7.6
Conflict Risk Category · 7.6
Conflict Additional evidence
Conflict Additional evidence
Social Dilemmas Risk Sub-Category · 7.6
Military Domains Risk Sub-Category · 7.6
Coercion and Extortion Risk Sub-Category · 7.6