THE LIMITED LETTERS COLLECTIVEIndependent inquiry · Archive edition / 2026
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Risk taxonomy / 2021

Ethical and social risks of harm from Language Models

Laura Weidinger et al.

Evidence note / abstract-based

What the paper contributes

A structured review describes 21 risks across six areas, spanning discrimination, information hazards, misinformation, malicious uses, human–computer interaction and wider social effects.

Why it belongs here

Helps identify which harms a letter emphasizes and which it leaves outside its frame.

What this does not establish

A taxonomy of established and anticipated risks, not a measurement of every model’s risk. Categories do not tell us which intervention will work.

Read it alongside

Statement on AI Risk

A Right to Warn

Explore the mechanism

The lab translates a governance question into a hypothetical arrangement. It illustrates assumptions; it does not reproduce the paper’s results or predict an outcome.

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