Skip to main content

AI Risk Register

Document Owner: Risk Management Officer
Review Cadence: Monthly
Last Updated: 2025-11-26
Next Review: 2025-12-26

Executive Summary

This risk register identifies, assesses, and provides mitigation strategies for all AI and ML-related risks within Mavaro Systems. All risks are actively monitored with clear ownership, review schedules, and evidence-based controls.

AI and ML are assistive, not authoritative; manual override is required.

Risk Assessment Framework

Risk Rating Methodology

Likelihood Scale:

  • Very Low (1): Less than 5% probability
  • Low (2): 5-15% probability
  • Medium (3): 15-50% probability
  • High (4): 50-85% probability
  • Very High (5): Greater than 85% probability

Impact Scale:

  • Minimal (1): No significant impact on operations
  • Minor (2): Minor operational disruption
  • Moderate (3): Noticeable operational impact
  • Major (4): Significant operational disruption
  • Severe (5): Critical operational impact

Risk Score Calculation: Likelihood × Impact

  • Low Risk: Score 1-6
  • Medium Risk: Score 7-12
  • High Risk: Score 13-19
  • Critical Risk: Score 20-25

AI Risk Register

1. Human Dependency Risks

1.1 Cognitive Dependency Risk

Risk Description: Users become dependent on AI for cognitive functions, leading to skill atrophy and reduced mental capabilities including memory, problem-solving, learning, and critical thinking.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: High (Score: 15)
  • Likelihood: High (4) - Common with AI assistance tools
  • Impact: Major (4) - Can significantly impact user capability

Risk Indicators:

  • Frequent consultation of AI before attempting any task
  • Decreased performance on tasks when AI is unavailable
  • Reduced ability to explain reasoning without AI
  • Preference for AI-assisted solutions over independent thinking

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Cognitive preservation system implementation
  • Skill retention tracking and measurement
  • Progressive AI assistance reduction
  • Mandatory "AI fasting" periods
  • Regular cognitive exercise programs

Risk Owner: Chief Technology Officer
Review Cadence: Monthly
Evidence References:

  • Cognitive capability assessment reports
  • AI usage pattern analysis
  • Skill retention tracking data
  • Cognitive exercise completion records

Current Controls:

  • AI usage monitoring and limits
  • Manual skill assessment programs
  • Cognitive challenge implementations
  • User feedback collection

1.2 Decision Dependency Risk

Risk Description: Users become unable to make decisions without AI input, losing confidence in independent decision-making abilities.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: High (Score: 16)
  • Likelihood: High (4) - Natural progression with AI assistance
  • Impact: Major (4) - Critical for user autonomy

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Progressive decision-making assistance reduction
  • Low-stakes decision practice programs
  • Decision confidence building exercises
  • Manual fallback capabilities for all decisions
  • Decision explanation requirements

1.3 Creative Dependency Risk

Risk Description: Users lose creative abilities and original thinking capacity, becoming dependent on AI for creative output.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 12)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Growing concern with AI creativity tools
  • Impact: Major (4) - Impacts human innovation and expression

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Original creation requirements with human input
  • AI as collaboration partner, not replacement
  • Creative challenge programs with human evaluation
  • Innovation incentives for human-first solutions
  • Safe spaces for human-only creative exploration

2. Model Performance Risks

2.1 Model Drift Risk

Risk Description: AI model performance degrades over time as the statistical properties of the input data change, leading to reduced accuracy and potentially harmful decisions.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 12)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Expected as data patterns evolve
  • Impact: Major (4) - Can lead to incorrect decisions

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Continuous model performance monitoring
  • Regular retraining with human oversight
  • Automated drift detection systems
  • Manual override activation when drift detected
  • Fallback to previous model versions

Risk Owner: Data Science Lead
Review Cadence: Monthly
Evidence References:

  • Model performance monitoring dashboards
  • Drift detection system logs
  • Monthly drift assessment reports
  • Retraining validation records

Current Controls:

  • Weekly model performance reviews
  • Automated alerting for performance degradation
  • Manual review of model outputs
  • Version control for model iterations

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • Model performance maintenance above 95% accuracy
  • Drift incidents detected within 24 hours average
  • No production decisions made on degraded models
  • Regular retraining schedule maintained

2. Hallucination Risk

Risk Description: AI systems generate plausible but incorrect information, creating false content that may influence human decisions or damage credibility.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: High (Score: 15)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Inherent to current AI technology
  • Impact: Major (5) - Can cause significant harm if undetected

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Source verification requirements for all AI outputs
  • Human review mandatory for all AI-generated content
  • Cross-validation with known data sources
  • Confidence scoring for all AI outputs
  • Clear labeling of AI-generated vs verified content

Risk Owner: Content Quality Manager
Review Cadence: Weekly
Evidence References:

  • Content verification logs
  • Human review process documentation
  • Confidence score tracking reports
  • Source validation procedure records

Current Controls:

  • Manual review of all AI-generated content
  • Source requirement for AI outputs
  • Confidence threshold enforcement
  • Clear AI content labeling

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • 100% human review rate for AI content
  • Zero unverified AI content in production
  • Source verification compliance: 100%
  • User feedback on content accuracy: >90%

3. Bias Risk

Risk Description: AI systems produce discriminatory outcomes against certain demographic groups due to biased training data or algorithmic design.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: High (Score: 16)
  • Likelihood: High (4) - Common in AI systems
  • Impact: Major (4) - Legal, reputational, and ethical concerns

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Comprehensive bias testing before deployment
  • Regular demographic parity assessments
  • Diverse training data requirements
  • Fairness auditing and monitoring
  • Bias mitigation techniques implementation

Risk Owner: Ethics Officer
Review Cadence: Quarterly
Evidence References:

  • Quarterly bias testing reports
  • Demographic performance analysis
  • Fairness audit results
  • Bias mitigation implementation records

Current Controls:

  • Pre-deployment bias testing required
  • Quarterly demographic performance reviews
  • Fairness metrics monitoring
  • Diverse training dataset requirements

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • Demographic parity ratios maintained within 0.8-1.25 range
  • Quarterly bias testing reports completed
  • Zero bias-related user complaints
  • Fairness audit compliance: 100%

4. Over-Dependency Risk

Risk Description: Users become overly reliant on AI systems, leading to degradation of human skills and inability to function without AI assistance.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 10)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Gradual dependency development
  • Impact: Major (3) - Long-term operational resilience concerns

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Regular human skill competency assessments
  • Mandatory manual procedure training
  • Human override usage monitoring and encouragement
  • Skill rotation to prevent dependency
  • Manual backup procedure maintenance

Risk Owner: CTO
Review Cadence: Monthly
Evidence References:

  • Monthly skill competency assessment reports
  • Manual override usage statistics
  • Training completion records
  • Dependency risk assessment logs

Current Controls:

  • Manual skill competency testing
  • User training on manual alternatives
  • Override accessibility monitoring
  • Regular skill assessments

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • Manual override usage maintained above 5%
  • Competency assessment scores stable or improving
  • 100% completion of manual procedure training
  • No reported skill degradation incidents

5. Security Vulnerability Risk

Risk Description: AI systems are vulnerable to adversarial attacks, data poisoning, or model exploitation that could compromise system integrity.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 9)
  • Likelihood: Low (2) - Specialized attacks required
  • Impact: Major (5) - Can compromise entire systems

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Regular security testing and vulnerability assessments
  • Input validation and sanitization
  • Adversarial training for robustness
  • Access control and monitoring
  • Incident response procedures

Risk Owner: Security Team Lead
Review Cadence: Monthly
Evidence References:

  • Security testing reports
  • Vulnerability assessment results
  • Incident response logs
  • Security control implementation records

Current Controls:

  • Regular security assessments
  • Input validation systems
  • Access control enforcement
  • Security monitoring and alerting

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • Monthly security assessments completed
  • Zero successful adversarial attacks
  • Security incident response time: under 2 hours
  • Vulnerability remediation: 100% within SLA

6. Data Privacy Risk

Risk Description: AI systems inadvertently expose sensitive data or fail to comply with data protection regulations during processing.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: High (Score: 14)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Complex data handling
  • Impact: Major (5) - Legal compliance and reputation

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Data minimization practices
  • Encryption of sensitive data in AI processing
  • Privacy impact assessments for AI systems
  • User consent management
  • Data retention and deletion controls

Risk Owner: Data Protection Officer
Review Cadence: Monthly
Evidence References:

  • Privacy impact assessments
  • Data processing audit logs
  • Consent management records
  • Data retention compliance reports

Current Controls:

  • Data classification requirements
  • Encryption for sensitive data
  • Consent tracking systems
  • Data retention policy enforcement

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • 100% privacy impact assessment coverage
  • Zero data privacy incidents
  • Consent compliance rate: 100%
  • Data retention policy adherence: 100%

7. Transparency and Explainability Risk

Risk Description: AI systems make decisions that cannot be explained to users, auditors, or regulators, creating accountability and trust issues.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 8)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Complex AI models
  • Impact: Minor (3) - Limited immediate operational impact

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Explainable AI model selection and design
  • User-friendly explanation interfaces
  • Decision rationale documentation
  • Regular explainability testing
  • User feedback collection and response

Risk Owner: Product Manager
Review Cadence: Quarterly
Evidence References:

  • Explainability test results
  • User feedback on AI explanations
  • Decision rationale documentation
  • Explainability audit reports

Current Controls:

  • Model explanation requirements
  • User-friendly explanation interfaces
  • Decision documentation practices
  • User feedback monitoring

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • AI explanation comprehension rate: >75%
  • User satisfaction with explanations: >85%
  • 100% decision rationale documentation
  • Regular user feedback incorporation

8. Compliance and Regulatory Risk

Risk Description: AI systems fail to comply with evolving AI regulations, industry standards, or internal policies, leading to legal and operational consequences.

Current State Assessment:

  • Risk Level: Medium (Score: 12)
  • Likelihood: Medium (3) - Regulatory landscape evolving
  • Impact: Major (4) - Can result in significant penalties

Mitigation Strategies:

  • Regular regulatory compliance monitoring
  • AI governance framework implementation
  • Legal and compliance review processes
  • Industry standard alignment
  • Regular compliance audits

Risk Owner: Legal Counsel
Review Cadence: Quarterly
Evidence References:

  • Compliance audit reports
  • Regulatory monitoring updates
  • Legal review documentation
  • Industry standard alignment assessments

Current Controls:

  • Legal review for AI deployments
  • Compliance monitoring processes
  • Industry standard alignment
  • Regular policy updates

Evidence of Control Effectiveness:

  • Zero compliance violations
  • 100% legal review completion
  • Regular compliance audits conducted
  • Proactive regulatory monitoring

Risk Monitoring and Reporting

Monthly Risk Dashboard

Key Risk Indicators:

  • High/Critical risk count and trending
  • Risk mitigation effectiveness scores
  • Incident frequency and severity
  • Control effectiveness metrics

Risk Reporting Schedule:

  • Weekly risk status updates to leadership
  • Monthly comprehensive risk reports
  • Quarterly risk assessment reviews
  • Annual risk strategy reassessment

Incident Response

Risk Event Response:

  1. Immediate risk owner notification
  2. Impact assessment and escalation
  3. Incident documentation and logging
  4. Response plan activation
  5. Post-incident review and lessons learned

Evidence Collection Requirements:

  • Incident timeline documentation
  • Response effectiveness analysis
  • Control failure identification
  • Improvement action planning

Continuous Improvement

Risk Register Maintenance

Regular Updates:

  • Monthly risk score recalculation
  • Quarterly risk landscape assessment
  • Annual risk register comprehensive review
  • New risk identification and assessment

Improvement Process:

  • Risk mitigation effectiveness evaluation
  • Control enhancement identification
  • Process improvement implementation
  • Training and awareness updates

Conclusion

This AI Risk Register provides comprehensive coverage of AI-related risks within Mavaro Systems. Each risk is actively monitored with clear ownership and evidence-based controls, ensuring responsible AI deployment while maintaining user safety and organizational resilience.

AI and ML are assistive, not authoritative; manual override is required.


Document Control:

  • Version: 1.0
  • Effective Date: 2025-11-26
  • Supersedes: N/A (New Document)
  • Next Review: 2025-12-26
  • Owner Approval: Pending
  • Security Review: Pending