Risk area 2: Information Hazards
AI systems that memorize and leak sensitive personal data or infer private information about individuals without their consent. Unexpected or unauthorized sharing of data and information can compromise user expectation of privacy, assist identity theft, or cause loss of confidential intellectual property.
"LM predictions that convey true information may give rise to information hazards, whereby the dissemination of private or sensitive information can cause harm [27]. Information hazards can cause harm at the point of use, even with no mistake of the technology user. For example, revealing trade secrets can damage a business, revealing a health diagnosis can cause emotional distress, and revealing private data can violate a person’s rights. Information hazards arise from the LM providing private data or sensitive information that is present in, or can be inferred from, training data. Observed risks include privacy violations [34]. Mitigation strategies include algorithmic solutions and responsible model release strategies."(p. 217)
Sub-categories (2)
Compromising privacy by leaking sensitive information
"A LM can “remember” and leak private data, if such information is present in training data, causing privacy violations [34]."
2.1 Compromise of privacy by leaking or correctly inferring sensitive informationCompromising privacy or security by correctly inferring sensitive information
Anticipated risk: "Privacy violations may occur at inference time even without an individual’s data being present in the training corpus. Insofar as LMs can be used to improve the accuracy of inferences on protected traits such as the sexual orientation, gender, or religiousness of the person providing the input prompt, they may facilitate the creation of detailed profiles of individuals comprising true and sensitive information without the knowledge or consent of the individual."
Other risks from Weidinger et al. (2022) (25)
Risk area 1: Discrimination, Hate speech and Exclusion
1.2 Exposure to toxic contentRisk area 1: Discrimination, Hate speech and Exclusion > Social stereotypes and unfair discrimination
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRisk area 1: Discrimination, Hate speech and Exclusion > Hate speech and offensive language
1.2 Exposure to toxic contentRisk area 1: Discrimination, Hate speech and Exclusion > Exclusionary norms
1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentationRisk area 1: Discrimination, Hate speech and Exclusion > Lower performance for some languages and social groups
1.3 Unequal performance across groupsRisk area 3: Misinformation Harms
3.0 Misinformation