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Issue (versus incident)

By Updated

A defect, deviation or control weakness that has not produced a harmful event, such as an eval regression in staging or a drift alert. It is tracked to closure with an owner and a due date and starts no legal clock; most issues are nonconformities in management-system terms 1.

Developed in
ch. 17, Incident, hazard, issue and serious incident
Chapters
ch. 17, Incidents
Contrast with
AI incident
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Commonly confused

  • AI incident versus Issue (versus incident)

    AI incident
    In the OECD's definition, an event or series of events where the development, use or malfunction of one or more AI systems directly or indirectly leads to harm to health, critical infrastructure…
    Issue (versus incident)
    A defect, deviation or control weakness that has not produced a harmful event, such as an eval regression in staging or a drift alert.

    The differenceHarm has happened, against a defect or deviation that has not produced a harmful event.

    Why it mattersIncidents start reporting clocks and CAPA; issues go to a tracked backlog with an owner and a due date.

Where it is used

The term is not used under this name in running prose; the sections listed under "Developed in" treat it.

Issue (versus incident): related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastIssue (versus incident)Related terms (5)AI hazard · RelatedAI hazardDrift · RelatedDriftNear miss · RelatedNear missSerious incident · RelatedSerious incidentWidespread infringement · RelatedWidespread infringementContrast with (1)AI incident · ContrastAI incident
Issue (versus incident): related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedContrastRelated terms (5)AI hazard · RelatedAI hazardDrift · RelatedDriftNear miss · RelatedNear missSerious incident · RelatedSerious incidentWidespread infringement · RelatedWidespread infringementContrast with (1)AI incident · ContrastAI incidentIssue (versusincident)
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Issue (versus incident)
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI hazardRelated
Related termsDriftRelated
Related termsNear missRelated
Related termsSerious incidentRelated
Related termsWidespread infringementRelated
Contrast withAI incidentContrast
  • AI hazard

    In the OECD's definition, an event or series of events where the development, use or malfunction of an AI system could plausibly lead to an AI incident.

  • Near miss

    A hazard that a control, or luck, interrupted before harm occurred: the guardrail blocked the exfiltration, the reviewer caught the invented dosage.

  • Serious incident

    Under AI Act Article 3(49), an incident or malfunction of an AI system that directly or indirectly leads to (a) a death or serious harm to health, (b) serious…

  • Widespread infringement

    Under AI Act Article 3(61), an act or omission contrary to Union law protecting individuals' interests that harms, or is likely to harm, the collective…

  • Drift

    The gradual divergence of a model's inputs, outputs or performance from its validated baseline over time; a runtime signal that a control or eval must catch.

Sources

  1. [1] ISO/IEC 42001:2023, AI management systems (referenced by identifier only; requirements for an AI management system; clause 10.2 nonconformity and corrective action). ISO/IEC. 2023. https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html (verified: secondary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Issue (versus incident). In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/issue-versus-incident. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026issueversusincident,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Issue (versus incident)}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/issue-versus-incident}
}