MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 66.06.04
Cultural disposession
Category: Representation and Toxicity
Description
"Intentional and/or unintentional erasure of cultural goods and values, such as ways of speaking, expressing humour, or sounds and voices that contribute to a cultural identity, or their inappropriate re-use in other cultures"
From A Closer Look at the Existing Risks of Generative AI: Mapping the Who, What, and How of Real-World Incidents (Li2025), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).
Classification
Subdomain definition: Unequal treatment of individuals or groups by AI, often based on race, gender, or other sensitive characteristics, resulting in unfair outcomes and representation of those groups.
Real-world incidents in this subdomain
- DOGE Reportedly Relied on Unvetted ChatGPT Outputs in Canceling National Endowment for the Humanities Grants
- Sora Video Generator Has Reportedly Been Creating Biased Human Representations Across Race, Gender, and Disability
- Meta AI Characters Allegedly Exhibited Racism, Fabricated Identities, and Exploited User Trust
- Alleged AI-Generated Photo Alteration Leads to Inappropriate Modifications in Speaker's Conference Picture
- Algorithmic Bias in French Welfare System Allegedly Discriminates Against Marginalized Groups
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) AI Systems Allegedly Discriminate Against Single Mothers