MIT AI Risk Repository
Browse AI risks
126 risk entries extracted from 74 frameworks, coded by domain, subdomain, causal entity, intent and timing. Filter, then export the current selection with its licence and citation attached.
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"The integration of AI systems within critical infrastructure, ranging from trans- portation to power systems, can cause substantial damage in cases of failure or malfunction. With the increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and interconnected cyber-physical systems, critical infrastructure becomes even more vulnerable [171, 174]."
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62.30.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Critical infrastructure component failures when integrated with AI systems
"When relying on GPAI in critical infrastructure, there may be common mode failures that begin with vulnerabilities or robustness issues in the underlying model architecture or training setup. These failures may happen accidentally (in edge-cases) or due to adversarial inputs to the AI systems [58]."
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62.30.04 · Risk Sub-Category
AI Systems interacting with brittle environments
"Deployed AI systems can rely on physical sensors and data sources that may exhibit hardware drift and thus data distribution drift over time. This distribu- tion drift may affect system robustness and performance. This usually involves AI systems working in undigitized and physical environments."
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62.32.04 · Risk Sub-Category
Models generating code with security vulnerabilities
"Models can generate code or coding suggestions that contain security vulner- abilities. This may occur across various LLM-based model families, including more advanced models with superior coding performance, where the tendency to produce insecure code is even more pronounced [26]."
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62.34.01 · Risk Sub-Category
Homogenization or correlated failures in model derivatives
"Homogenization refers to common methodologies and models used across down- stream GPAI systems, which may lead to uniform failures and amplification of biases [176, 30]. This risk arises when numerous downstream AI systems are built upon a few large-scale foundation models."
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"Laws and other restrictions can limit or prohibit the use of some data for specific AI use cases."
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"Laws and other regulations might limit the collection of certain types of data for specific AI use cases."
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"Laws and other restrictions can limit or prohibit transferring data."
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"Data contamination occurs when incorrect data is used for training. For example, data that is not aligned with model’s purpose or data that is already set aside for other development tasks such as testing and evaluation."
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"Unrepresentative data occurs when the training or fine-tuning data is not sufficiently representative of the underlying population or does not measure the phenomenon of interest."
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"Using undesirable output (for example, inaccurate, inappropriate, and user content) for retraining purposes can result in unexpected model behavior."
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"Improper collection and preparation of training or tuning data includes data label errors and by using data with conflicting information or misinformation."
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"Poor model accuracy occurs when a model’s performance is insufficient to the task it was designed for. Low accuracy might occur if the model is not correctly engineered, or there are changes to the model’s expected inputs."
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"When a model provides advice without having enough information, resulting in possible harm if the advice is followed."
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"End user's loss of productivity due to the underperfomance of a genAI application, including producing nonsensical or poor quality outputs, degrading its utility."
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69.02.00 · Risk Category
"The chatbot makes a deal, commitment, or other consequential action with its output that the deployer did not intend."
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69.04.00 · Risk Category
"The chatbot gives guidance that ranges from simply unhelpful to harmful if acted on."
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69.04.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Bad advice/failure to generate helpful content
Bad links and references
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"Automation in sectors ranging from manufacturing to healthcare has and will increasingly put humans into close contact with EAI systems [7]. This interaction increases the risk of accidental physical harm. Though accidental harm has been a longstanding issue in industrial robotics, increased AI capabilities could exacerbate this risk; several recent reports document an increase in industrial injuries following the introduction of AI-controlled robots [66–68]."
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"Radiological risks involve both immediate operational hazards, such as exposure incidents or containment failures during the automated handling of radioactive materials, and broader security concerns regarding the potential misuse of AI systems in nuclear research."
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"Physical (mechanical) risks are associated with robotics and automated systems, which could lead to equipment malfunctions or physical harm in laboratory settings."
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72.03.00 · Risk Category
"Risks arising from operational failures, model misjudgments, or improper human operation of AI systems deployed in safety-critical infrastructure, where single points of failure can trigger cascading catastrophic consequences."
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"General-purpose AI deployed for reactor monitoring, control system optimization, or emergency response coordination could misinterpret sensor data, fail to recognize critical safety conditions, or make erroneous control decisions during emergency scenarios. Given the catastrophic potential of nuclear accidents, even minor AI reasoning errors in safety-critical functions could lead to core meltdowns, radiation releases, or widespread contamination affecting hundreds of thousands of people across international borders."
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"General-purpose AI deployed in power grid management, water treatment facilities, telecommunications networks, or transportation coordination systems could misinterpret operational data, fail to anticipate cascading failure modes, or make control decisions that destabilize interconnected infrastructure networks. Infrastructure failures could result in widespread blackouts, contaminated water supplies, communications breakdowns, and the collapse of essential services supporting hundreds of thousands of people."
Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.