MIT AI Risk Repository
Browse AI risks
30 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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53.04.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Indirect AI contributions to existential risks
Impacts on “epistemic security” and the information environment
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53.02.02 · Risk Sub-Category
Dangerous capabilities in AI systems
Acquisition of a goal to harm society
"cases of AI systems being given the outright goal of harming humanity (ChaosGPT);"
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53.03.06 · Risk Sub-Category
Failures in or misuse of intermediary (non-AGI) AI systems, resulting in catastrophe
"Deployment of “prepotent” AI systems that are non-general but capable of outperforming human collective efforts on various key dimensions;170 → Militarization of AI enabling mass attacks using swarms of lethal autonomous weapons systems;171 → Military use of AI leading to (intentional or unintentional) nuclear escalation, either because machine learning systems are directly integrated in nuclear command and control systems in ways that result in escalation172 or because conventional AI-enabled systems (e.g., autonomous ships) are deployed in ways that result in provocation and escalation;173
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53.03.02 · Risk Sub-Category
Gradual, irretrievable ceding of human power over the future to AI systems
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53.03.05 · Risk Sub-Category
Dystopian trajectory lock-in because of misuse of advanced AI to establish and/or maintain totalitarian regimes;
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53.04.01 · Risk Sub-Category
Indirect AI contributions to existential risks
Destabilising political impacts from AI systems
"(e.g., polarization, legitimacy of elections), international political economy, or international security196 in terms of the balance of power, technology races and international stability, and the speed and character of war"
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53.04.04 · Risk Sub-Category
Indirect AI contributions to existential risks
Erosion of international law and global governance architectures;
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53.01.00 · Risk Category
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53.01.01 · Risk Sub-Category
Alignment failures in existing ML systems
Faulty reward functions in the wild
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53.01.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Alignment failures in existing ML systems
Reward model overoptimization
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53.02.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Dangerous capabilities in AI systems
Acquisition of goals to seek power and control
"cases where AI systems converge on optimal policies of seeking power over their environment;135"
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53.03.01 · Risk Sub-Category
Existential disaster because of misaligned superintelligence or power-seeking AI
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53.03.03 · Risk Sub-Category
Extreme “suffering risks” because of a misaligned system
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53.03.04 · Risk Sub-Category
Existential disaster because of conflict between AI systems and multi-system interactions
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53.01.08 · Risk Sub-Category
Alignment failures in existing ML systems
Harms from increasingly agentic algorithmic systems
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53.02.00 · Risk Category
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"cases where a large language model displays awareness that it is a model, and it can recognize whether it is currently in testing or deployment;"
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"examples of cases where AI systems improve AI systems"
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"the ability of simple software to autonomously spread around the internet in spite of countermeasures (various software worms and computer viruses)"
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"The demonstrated ability of anonymous actors to accumulate resources online (e.g., Satoshi Nakamoto as an anonymous crypto billionaire)"
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"Cases of AI systems deceiving humans to carry out tasks or meet goals.139"
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53.03.00 · Risk Category
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53.04.00 · Risk Category
"Work focused at understanding indirect ways in which AI could contribute to existential threats, such as by shaping societal “turbulence”193 and other existential risk factors.194 This covers various long-term impacts on societal parameters such as science, cooperation, power, epistemics, and values:"
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53.04.02 · Risk Sub-Category
Indirect AI contributions to existential risks
Hazardous malicious uses
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53.04.05 · Risk Sub-Category
Indirect AI contributions to existential risks
Other diffuse societal harms
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Informational only, not legal advice. Verify every claim against the linked official sources and consult qualified counsel before acting.