---
title: "Issue (versus incident)"
description: "A defect, deviation or control weakness that has not produced a harmful event, such as an eval regression in staging or a drift alert."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/issue-versus-incident
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-24
---

# 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. 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](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/incidents#incident-hazard-issue-and-serious-incident)
- Chapters: [ch. 17, Incidents](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/incidents)
- Contrast with: [AI incident](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/ai-incident)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-issue-versus-incident

## Commonly confused

- **AI incident** vs **Issue (versus incident)**: Harm has happened, against a defect or deviation that has not produced a harmful event Incidents start reporting clocks and CAPA; issues go to a tracked backlog with an owner and a due date

## Sources

[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)