An information hazard is a concept coined by Nick Bostrom in a 2011 paper1 for Review of Contemporary Philosophy. He defines it as follows;
Bostrom points out that this is in contrast to the generally accepted principle of information freedom and that, while rare, the possibility of information hazards needs to be considered when making information policies. He proceeds to categorize and define a large number of sub-types of information hazards. For example, he defines artificial intelligence hazard as
The table below is reproduced from (Bostrom 2011).
TYPOLOGY OF INFORMATION HAZARDS |
I. By information transfer mode |
Idea hazard |
Attention hazard |
Template hazard |
Signaling hazard |
Evocation hazard |
II. By effect |
ADVERSARIAL RISKS |
Intellectual property hazard |
Commitment hazard |
Knowing-too-much hazard |
RISKS TO SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND MARKETS |
Unveiling hazard |
Recognition hazard |
RISKS OF IRRATIONALITY AND ERROR |
Distraction and temptation hazard |
Role model hazard |
Biasing hazard |
De-biasing hazard |
Neuropsychological hazard |
Information-burying hazard |
RISKS TO VALUABLE STATES AND ACTIVITIES |
Spoiler hazard |
Mindset hazard |
Belief-constituted value hazard |
(mixed) |
RISKS FROM INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS |
Information infrastructure misuse hazard |
Artificial intelligence hazard |
RISKS FROM DEVELOPMENT |