When AI Fails, Accountability Still Belongs to Us
The new AI Safety Report from RAIDS AI Limited, shared with me by Nikolas Kairinos, analyzed more than forty real cases where artificial intelligence systems caused measurable harm. The total damage exceeds one hundred billion dollars. These are not theoretical risks or futuristic scenarios. They are happening now in hospitals, financial markets, and customer service operations where AI is already making decisions that shape economies and lives.
What stood out to me was that in every one of these failures, the machine performed exactly as instructed. It did not rebel. It did not make a random mistake. It optimized the goal it was given, even when that goal stopped making sense. The failure was not in the code. It was in the leadership.
AI is not replacing accountability. It is exposing where accountability never existed. The report found that AI-related incidents rose by more than fifty percent in the last year, yet fewer than one in four organizations actively monitor their AI behavior. Most are operating with blind spots large enough to cause irreversible damage. When a system drifts off course, it often goes unnoticed until it has already impacted thousands of people.
This is not a technology problem. It is a culture problem. In aviation, safety did not come from better engines but from a culture of discipline, communication, and responsibility. Leaders must now create that same cultural infrastructure for AI. Every new system needs a monitoring plan. Every team should question what its success metrics truly measure.
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