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arxiv: 2408.12622 · v3 · submitted 2024-08-14 · 💻 cs.AI · cs.CR· cs.ET· cs.LG· cs.SY· eess.SY

The AI risk repository: A meta-review, database, and taxonomy of risks from artificial intelligence

Pith reviewed 2026-05-23 21:54 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.AI cs.CRcs.ETcs.LGcs.SYeess.SY
keywords AI risksrisk taxonomymeta-reviewAI safetyrisk databaseclassification systemhuman-AI risk sources
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The pith

Unified AI risk catalog from 74 frameworks shows human decisions cause 38% of risks

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper collects 1,725 distinct risks from every major AI risk framework published to date, which totals 74 frameworks. It organizes these risks into a single repository using two new classification systems. One system attributes risks to human decisions or to the AI systems themselves and finds humans responsible for 38% while the systems account for 42%. This addresses inconsistent terminology across studies, such as varying definitions of privacy or multiple terms for the same misalignment issue. The resulting database serves as a shared reference for developers doing risk assessments, policymakers drafting rules, and auditors reviewing systems.

Core claim

By systematically reviewing 74 AI risk frameworks containing 1,725 distinct risks, the authors built a unified repository with two classification systems. These systems organize the risks under shared categories and reveal that human decisions cause nearly as many AI risks (38%) as the AI systems themselves (42%). The repository supplies a common reference point that reduces the need to map between separate taxonomies and supports more complete coverage of risks.

What carries the argument

Dual classification systems that map 1,725 risks from 74 frameworks into one database, with one system separating risks caused by human decisions from those caused by AI systems.

If this is right

  • Risk assessments can reference one comprehensive source instead of consulting multiple separate frameworks.
  • Regulations can be drafted against a shared list of risks without gaps from differing terminology.
  • Audits of AI systems can evaluate against the full mapped set of risks in a consistent way.
  • Research findings can be compared across studies without first translating between different taxonomies.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • The repository could function as a living document that incorporates new frameworks as they appear.
  • The balance between human and AI causes points to a need for stronger controls on human choices during AI design and deployment.
  • Widespread adoption might encourage standardized risk reporting requirements across the AI industry.

Load-bearing premise

The 74 frameworks represent all major AI risk frameworks published to date and the mapping of the 1,725 risks into the new classifications preserves original meanings without significant selection or interpretation bias.

What would settle it

Discovery of a major AI risk framework published before the cutoff that was omitted from the 74, or an audit showing that a substantial portion of risks had their meanings altered during the mapping process.

read the original abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping society, from video generation to medical diagnosis, coding agents to autonomous vehicles. Yet researchers, policymakers, and technology companies lack shared terminology for discussing AI risks. Consider "privacy": one framework uses this term to describe a model's ability to leak sensitive training data, while another uses it to mean freedom from government surveillance. Conversely, researchers have introduced "Goodhart's law," "specification gaming," "reward hacking," and "mesa-optimization" to describe the same phenomenon of AI systems optimizing for measured proxies rather than intended goals. This terminological diversity creates friction: comparing findings across studies requires mapping between frameworks, and comprehensive risk coverage requires consulting multiple taxonomies that use different organizing principles. This paper addresses this challenge by creating a comprehensive catalog of AI risks. We systematically analyzed every major AI risk framework published to date-74 frameworks containing 1,725 distinct risks-and organized them into a unified system. Our two classification systems reveal important patterns: contrary to common assumptions, human decisions cause nearly as many AI risks (38%) as the AI systems themselves (42%). The work provides practical tools for anyone working on AI safety, from developers conducting risk assessments to policymakers writing regulations to auditors evaluating AI systems. By establishing a common reference point, this repository creates the foundation for more coordinated and comprehensive approaches to managing AI's risks while realizing its benefits.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

1 major / 1 minor

Summary. The paper conducts a systematic meta-review of 74 AI risk frameworks containing 1,725 distinct risks. It organizes these into a unified repository using two classification systems and reports that human decisions cause 38% of risks while AI systems cause 42%, providing a common reference point for risk assessment, regulation, and auditing.

Significance. If the mapping process is validated, the repository supplies a practical, shared taxonomy and database that could reduce terminological friction across studies and support coordinated AI risk management. The finding that human decisions contribute nearly as much as technical AI properties offers a concrete, falsifiable pattern that shifts focus toward governance and decision-making interventions.

major comments (1)
  1. [Methods] Methods section (classification and coding procedure): the paper does not report inter-annotator agreement, explicit decision rules for hybrid or borderline risks, or sensitivity analyses on the human-vs-AI cause attribution. This directly undermines confidence in the 38%/42% split, as the headline quantitative claim rests on the reliability of assigning each of the 1,725 risks to one of the two cause categories.
minor comments (1)
  1. [Abstract] Abstract and §2: the claim to have analyzed 'every major AI risk framework published to date' would be strengthened by an explicit search protocol, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and date cutoff.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

1 responses · 1 unresolved

We thank the referee for this constructive comment on methodological transparency. We address the points below and will revise the manuscript to strengthen the presentation of our classification procedures.

read point-by-point responses
  1. Referee: [Methods] Methods section (classification and coding procedure): the paper does not report inter-annotator agreement, explicit decision rules for hybrid or borderline risks, or sensitivity analyses on the human-vs-AI cause attribution. This directly undermines confidence in the 38%/42% split, as the headline quantitative claim rests on the reliability of assigning each of the 1,725 risks to one of the two cause categories.

    Authors: We agree that additional detail on the classification process is warranted. In the revised version we will expand the Methods section to provide explicit decision rules for assigning risks to human-decision, AI-system, or hybrid categories, including concrete criteria and examples for handling borderline cases. We will also add a sensitivity analysis that varies the attribution thresholds and reports the resulting range for the 38%/42% split. The original coding was performed through iterative discussion and consensus among the core author team rather than by independent annotators; therefore we cannot report inter-annotator agreement statistics. We will state this limitation clearly and note its implications for the quantitative claims. revision: partial

standing simulated objections not resolved
  • Inter-annotator agreement metrics for the human-vs-AI cause attribution, as the coding was not performed by separate independent annotators

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity: descriptive taxonomy from external sources

full rationale

The paper aggregates 1,725 risks from 74 independently published external frameworks and applies a new dual classification system to produce descriptive statistics such as the 38%/42% human-vs-AI split. No equations, fitted parameters, or self-citations are used to derive these figures; the percentages are direct outputs of the classification applied to sourced data. The process is an aggregation and reorganization exercise with no self-definitional loops or reductions to prior author work.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

This is a meta-review and taxonomy paper whose central contribution is organizational. The primary assumption is the completeness and representativeness of the 74-framework sample; no free parameters or invented entities are introduced.

axioms (1)
  • domain assumption The 74 frameworks analyzed constitute every major AI risk framework published to date.
    Stated directly in the abstract as the scope of the systematic analysis.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5831 in / 1270 out tokens · 39206 ms · 2026-05-23T21:54:31.041680+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

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Forward citations

Cited by 6 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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  2. To Build or Not to Build? Factors that Lead to Non-Development or Abandonment of AI Systems

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  3. The 2025 AI Agent Index: Documenting Technical and Safety Features of Deployed Agentic AI Systems

    cs.CY 2026-02 accept novelty 6.0

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  4. A Closer Look at the Existing Risks of Generative AI: Mapping the Who, What, and How of Real-World Incidents

    cs.CY 2025-05 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Analysis of 499 generative AI incidents shows use-related failures predominate and frequently harm non-users, producing a distinct risk profile from traditional AI.

  5. What People See (and Miss) About Generative AI Risks: Perceptions of Failures, Risks, and Who Should Address Them

    cs.HC 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    A validated survey instrument grounded in real GenAI incidents reveals public perceptions of failure modes, risks, and stakeholder responsibilities, showing potential for guiding AI literacy efforts.

  6. Brainrot: Deskilling and Addiction are Overlooked AI Risks

    cs.CY 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 3.0

    AI safety literature overlooks cognitive deskilling and addiction risks from generative AI despite public concern about them.

Reference graph

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