Identify AI harms

An allocative harm is a wrongdoing that occurs when an AI system’s use or behavior withholds opportunities or resources or information in domains that affect a person’s wellbeing.

For example, if AI tools don’t provide the same information to everyone, some people may be denied access to education, healthcare, fair housing, or other opportunities

Quality-of-service harm is a circumstance in which AI tools do not perform as well for certain groups of people based on their identity.

Representational harm, an AI tool’s reinforcement of the subordination of social groups based on their identities.

For instance, the AI powering a language translation app might associate certain words with feminine or masculine traits, and choose gender specific translations based on those assumptions

Social system harm; This harm refers to macro-level societal effects that amplify existing class, power, or privilege disparities or cause physical harm as a result of the development or use of AI tools

An example of a social system harm might be if a deepfake of a school board candidate showed that person saying something they didn’t say.

Interpersonal harm, which is the use of technology to create a disadvantage to certain people that negatively affects their relationships with others or causes a loss of one’s sense of self and agency

Sometimes people can share private information with an AI tool that could be misused by others, like locking someone out of an online account or surveilling them.