MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 70.01.01
Purposeful or malicious harm
Category: Physical Risks
Description
"EAI systems present distinct physical risks due to their embodiment in the physical world. EAI technologies have already been designed and deployed with lethal intent, such as AI-controlled drones [52, 53]. However, fully autonomous military robots, often integrated with bespoke AI architectures [54, 55], are not yet widely used in combat. While highly or fully autonomous warfare is distinctly possible in the future [56], immediate risks arise from commercially available EAI systems, including AI-controlled quadrupeds and autonomous driving assistants."
From Embodied AI: Emerging Risks and Opportunities for Policy Action (Perlo2025), 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