Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-r6c6k Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-05T10:00:30.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - When Things Go Wrong

Understanding AI Risks and Harms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2026

Onur Bakiner
Affiliation:
Seattle University
Get access

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.

Information

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • 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 Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

  • 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
×