Physical and Psychological Harms

The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants

Gabriel et al. (2024)

Source DOI

Sub-category

Risk Domain

5Human-Computer Interaction

5.1Overreliance and unsafe use

Users anthropomorphizing, trusting, or relying on AI systems, leading to emotional or material dependence and inappropriate relationships with or expectations of AI systems. Trust can be exploited by malicious actors (e.g., to harvest personal information or enable manipulation), or result in harm from inappropriate use of AI in critical situations (e.g., medical emergency). Overreliance on AI systems can compromise autonomy and weaken social ties.

"These harms include harms to physical integrity, mental health and well-being. When interacting with vulnerable users, AI assistants may reinforce users’ distorted beliefs or exacerbate their emotional distress. AI assistants may even convince users to harm themselves, for example by convincing users to engage in actions such as adopting unhealthy dietary or exercise habits or taking their own lives. At the societal level, assistants that target users with content promoting hate speech, discriminatory beliefs or violent ideologies, may reinforce extremist views or provide users with guidance on how to carry out violent actions. In turn, this may encourage users to engage in violence or hate crimes. Physical harms resulting from interaction with AI assistants could also be the result of assistants’ outputting plausible yet factually incorrect information such as false or misleading information about vaccinations. Were AI assistants to spread anti-vaccine propaganda, for example, the result could be lower public confidence in vaccines, lower vaccination rates, increased susceptibility to preventable diseases and potential outbreaks of infectious diseases."(p. 87)

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