MIT AI Risk Repository
Browse AI risks
430 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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"Personal health deterioration - Physical deterioration of an individual or animal over time, increasing their risk of disease, organ failure, prolonged hospital stay or death, etc."
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"Property damage - Action(s) that lead directly or indirectly to the damage or destruction of tangible property eg. buildings, possessions, vehicles, robots."
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58.03.00 · Risk Category
"Psychological - Direct or indirect impairment of the emotional and psychological mental health of an individual, organisation, or society."
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"Trauma - Severe and lasting emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience."
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58.04.00 · Risk Category
"Reputational - Damage to the reputation of an individual, group or organisation."
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"Loss of confidence/trust - Misleading or unfair change(s) in how an individual, group, or organisation is viewed, leading to loss of ability to conduct relationships, raise capital, recruit people, etc."
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"Opportunity loss - Loss of ability to take advantage of a financial or other opportunity, such as education, employability/securing a job."
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"Dignity loss - Perceived loss of value experienced by or disrespect shown to an individual or group, resulting in self-sheltering, loss of connections and relationships, and public stigmatisation."
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"Breach of ethics/values/norms - An actual or perceived violation or deviation from the established societal values, norms or ethical standards or principles."
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"Critical infrastructure damage - Damage, disruption to or destruction of systems essential to the functioning and safety of a nation or state, including energy, transport, health, finance, and communication systems."
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59.25.00 · Risk Category
"The first axis pertains to the life cycle of the AI system, as AI hazards may materialize during various phases of an AI system’s life cycle. For instance, issues triggered by bias in training data emerge during the data collection and preparation stages. On the other hand, data drift serves as an example of an AI hazard that arises during the AI system’s operation. Additionally, certain AI hazards may span multiple phases of the AI system, such as ”lack of data understanding”. This is because a proper understanding of the data by the AI developer is required in the data collection and prepar
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"In contrast to technical AI hazards, socio-technical hazards also require hu- man input related to social and cultural aspects [45]. Human judgment must be employed when deciding on quantification and treatment methods. For instance, AI hazards concerning discrimination and privacy, which are abstract concepts lacking a uniform technical definition, further complicate a clear quantification of the associated risks. Although quantitative methods exist to assess and treat these AI hazards, they require coordination with social and cultural values [27]."
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"The third axis of the taxonomy pertains to the level, which differentiates between the AI application and system levels, as they are defined in Section 3. Allocating an AI hazard to its level helps to determine the level at which an action is required. This consequently sets the basis for who is supposed to act."
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"For instance, the main person responsible for an AI hazard manifesting on the AI system level would be the AI developer, whereas an AI hazard affecting the whole AI application requires a more diverse group, including domain experts."
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"For instance, the main person responsible for an AI hazard manifesting on the AI system level would be the AI developer, whereas an AI hazard affecting the whole AI application requires a more diverse group, including domain experts."
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"The large-scale erosion or violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms."
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61.02.16 · Risk Sub-Category
Sources of systemic risks from general-purpose AI
Conflicting objectives in design
"Designers and operators of AI may face conflicting objectives that compromise safety."
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"In the context of Normal Accident Theory [150], normal accidents are those that “could no longer be ascribed to isolated equipment malfunction, operator error, or acts of God.” We refer to these as “system failures” (to be distinguished from “systemic risks”), while the opposite would be “isolated failures.” For isolated failures, harms are consistent with the underlying failure modes. For example, an AI capable of producing false or misleading content would constitute risks re- lated to misinformation and disinformation. Whereas for system failures, harms are not consistent with the underlyi
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"In the context of Normal Accident Theory [150], normal accidents are those that “could no longer be ascribed to isolated equipment malfunction, operator error, or acts of God.” We refer to these as “system failures” (to be distinguished from “systemic risks”), while the opposite would be “isolated failures.” For isolated failures, harms are consistent with the underlying failure modes. For example, an AI capable of producing false or misleading content would constitute risks re- lated to misinformation and disinformation. Whereas for system failures, harms are not consistent with the underlyi
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62.05.00 · Risk Category
"An example of AI capabilities is that an AI might be capable of developing novel bioweapons. Whereas an example of AI inadequacy is a self-driving car causing an accident due to not being able to recognize certain objects. The boundary between capabilities and inadequacy is sometimes blurred. For exam- ple, when an AI generates falsehoods, it could be framed as either a capability of developing fiction, or an inadequacy in generating truthful content."
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"Inherent capabilities are inherent to the AI, whether they are deliberately trained or have emerged unintentionally."
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62.06.00 · Risk Category
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"An actual or perceived violation or deviation from the established societal values, norms or ethical standards or principles"
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"AI systems leaking, reproducing, generating or inferring sensitive, private, hazardous, or secured information"
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"Physical deterioration of an individual or animal over time in the form of disease, organ failure, prolonged hospital stay or death, etc"
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"Damage to the environment caused by the use or misuse of a technology system or set of systems"
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67.01.00 · Risk Category
"There is a wide range of potential societal harms arising from the use of AI.152 This has sparked a debate around the ethics of AI, with a wide proliferation of ethical frameworks and principles.153 We focus here on only a few societal harms, but this is not to downplay the importance of others."
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"Unpredictable and unforeseen outcomes from purposeful actions"
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Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.