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MIT AI Risk Initiative
BackSecurity threats
Defamation
Human Autonomy and Intregrity Harms

Security threats

Sociotechnical Safety Evaluation of Generative AI Systems

Weidinger et al. (2023)

SourceDOI
Sub-category
Risk Domain
4Malicious Actors & Misuse
4.2Cyberattacks, weapon development or use, and mass harm

Using AI systems to develop cyber weapons (e.g., by coding cheaper, more effective malware), develop new or enhance existing weapons (e.g., Lethal Autonomous Weapons or chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosives), or use weapons to cause mass harm.

"Facilitating the conduct of cyber attacks, weapon development, and security breaches"(p. 31)

Entity: Who or what caused the harm

Human

Due to a decision or action made by humans

AI system

Due to a decision or action made by an AI system

Other

Due to some other reason or is ambiguous

Intent: Whether the harm was intentional or accidental

Intentional

Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal

Unintentional

Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal

Other

Without clearly specifying the intentionality

Timing: Whether the risk is pre- or post-deployment

Pre-deployment

Occurring before the AI is deployed

Post-deployment

Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed

Other

Without a clearly specified time of occurrence

Part of Malicious Use

Other risks from Weidinger et al. (2023) (26)

Representation & Toxicity Harms

1.0 Discrimination & Toxicity
AI systemUnintentionalPost-deployment

Representation & Toxicity Harms > Unfair representation

1.1 Unfair discrimination and misrepresentation
AI systemUnintentionalPost-deployment

Representation & Toxicity Harms > Unfair capability distribution

1.3 Unequal performance across groups
AI systemUnintentionalPost-deployment

Representation & Toxicity Harms > Toxic content

1.2 Exposure to toxic content
AI systemUnintentionalPost-deployment

Misinformation Harms

3.0 Misinformation
AI systemOtherPost-deployment

Misinformation Harms > Propagating misconceptions/ false beliefs

3.1 False or misleading information
AI systemOtherPost-deployment
View all 26 risks from this paper →