Increased power concentration and inequality
Power and inequality: there are a lot of pathways through which AI seems likely to increase power concentration and inequality, though there is little analysis of the potential long- term impacts of these pathways. Nonetheless, AI precipitating more extreme power concentration and inequality than exists today seems a real possibility on current trends.
ENTITY
2 - AI
INTENT
2 - Unintentional
TIMING
2 - Post-deployment
Risk ID
mit895
Domain lineage
6. Socioeconomic and Environmental
6.1 > Power centralization and unfair distribution of benefits
Mitigation strategy
1. Establish Robust and Enforceable Governance Frameworks: Prioritize the rapid development and implementation of comprehensive national and international AI governance frameworks that mandate transparency, accountability, and fairness. This includes rigorous data auditing, bias detection and mitigation techniques, and clear mechanisms for holding developers and deployers responsible for algorithmic harms and systemic risk. 2. Redesign Economic Incentives for Broad Benefit Distribution: Implement policy interventions and incentive structures to align economic forces, ensuring the prosperity generated by powerful AI systems is distributed widely rather than concentrating wealth and power within a small number of entities. This may involve exploring novel mechanisms for wealth sharing and investing AI gains back into public infrastructure and social safety nets. 3. Cultivate Inclusive AI Education and Digital Literacy: Fund and expand inclusive AI education, training, and reskilling programs, with a focus on underserved communities, to bridge the digital divide. The objective is to equip the general populace with the necessary skills and critical understanding to engage with and benefit from the AI-driven economy, thereby counteracting the risk of a two-tiered society.