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3 - When Things Go Wrong

Understanding AI Risks and Harms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2026

Onur Bakiner
Affiliation:
Seattle University
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Summary

Chapter 3 presents the other side of the coin, namely AI risks and harms. Automated decision systems, chatbots, recommender systems, and other AI-powered software and platforms have been found to cause potential risks or actual harms to affected persons and communities. Such risks and harms include bias and discrimination, surveillance, inaccurate, incorrect and unreliable output, disinformation, misinformation or manipulation, harm to life, livelihood and wellbeing, privacy violations, decline in product and service quality, political polarization, online radicalization and algorithmic censorship, and job replacement. Some of these harms, such as bias and discrimination, have already been experienced frequently, while others, like job replacement, point to future risks. It is also worth noting that AI risks and harms often aggravate existing social and political problems. For example, political polarization and radicalization, while exacerbated by algorithmic curation, appear to have origins in societal divisions. Finally, AI is criticized for causing system-level harm in the form of environmental degradation, exploitation of labor, and market concentration.

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Type
Chapter
Information
Governing AI
A Primer
, pp. 41 - 72
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2026

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  • When Things Go Wrong
  • Onur Bakiner, Seattle University
  • Book: Governing AI
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009738347.004
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  • When Things Go Wrong
  • Onur Bakiner, Seattle University
  • Book: Governing AI
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009738347.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • When Things Go Wrong
  • Onur Bakiner, Seattle University
  • Book: Governing AI
  • Online publication: 20 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009738347.004
Available formats
×