AI Governance Engineer
GitHub

Near miss

By Updated

A hazard that a control, or luck, interrupted before harm occurred: the guardrail blocked the exfiltration, the reviewer caught the invented dosage. Near-miss data is evidence; the GPAI Code of Practice asks providers to report connected near-miss patterns with serious incidents 1.

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

Where it is used

3 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Near miss: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter12 Governance Program: 1 mention12 Governance Program114 Development: 1 mention14 Development117 Incidents: 3 mentions17 Incidents3No mentions in the other 20 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Near miss: mentions per chapter5 mentions of the term across 3 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter000102030405060708101112 Governance Program: 1 mention1121314 Development: 1 mention114151617 Incidents: 3 mentions317181920212223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Near miss per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack0No
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined0No
12 Governance Program1No
13 Risk Management0No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI0No
17 Incidents3Yes
18 EU AI Act0No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents0No

Patterns that use this term

3 pattern pages use the term, most mentions first.

Near miss: 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.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code05 AssuranceNear missRelated terms (7)AI incident · RelatedAI incidentGPAI · RelatedGPAIGPAI Code of Practice · RelatedGPAI Code of PracticeGuardrail · RelatedGuardrailIssue (versus incident) · RelatedIssue (versus incident)Serious incident · RelatedSerious incidentWidespread infringement · RelatedWidespread infringementContrast with (1)AI hazard · ContrastAI hazardPatterns using it (3)AI Threat Model, 1 mention · Uses the termAI Threat ModelFRIA-as-Code, 1 mention · Uses the termFRIA-as-CodeIncident Pipeline, 2 mentions · Uses the termIncident Pipeline
Near miss: 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.RelatedContrastColour: stack layer of the pattern01 Govern-as-Code05 AssuranceRelated terms (7)AI incident · RelatedAI incidentGPAI · RelatedGPAIGPAI Code of Practice · RelatedGPAI Code of PracticeGuardrail · RelatedGuardrailIssue (versus incident) · RelatedIssue (versus incident)Serious incident · RelatedSerious incidentWidespread infringement · RelatedWidespread infringementContrast with (1)AI hazard · ContrastAI hazardPatterns using it (3)AI Threat Model, 1 mention · Uses the termAI Threat ModelFRIA-as-Code, 1 mention · Uses the termFRIA-as-CodeIncident Pipeline, 2 mentions · Uses the termIncident PipelineNear miss
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 Near miss
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI incidentRelated
Related termsGPAIRelated
Related termsGPAI Code of PracticeRelated
Related termsGuardrailRelated
Related termsIssue (versus incident)Related
Related termsSerious incidentRelated
Related termsWidespread infringementRelated
Contrast withAI hazardContrast
Patterns using itAI Threat Model, 1 mentionUses the term
Patterns using itFRIA-as-Code, 1 mentionUses the term
Patterns using itIncident Pipeline, 2 mentionsUses the term
  • 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…

  • 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.

  • 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…

  • GPAI

    General-purpose AI model: under the AI Act, a model that shows significant generality, can competently perform a wide range of distinct tasks and can be…

  • GPAI Code of Practice

    The voluntary instrument (published 10 July 2025) that general-purpose-AI providers use to demonstrate compliance with their AI Act obligations until…

  • Guardrail

    A runtime control that inspects or mediates a model's or agent's inputs, outputs or tool calls and blocks, rewrites or escalates what breaks a policy, logging…

Sources

  1. [1] General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, Safety and Security chapter (Commitment 9, serious incident reporting, Measure 9.2; Appendix 1.4 specified systemic risks, incl. loss of control). European Commission. 2025-07-10. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/redirection/document/118119 (verified: primary)

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

Cite this term

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

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026nearmiss,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Near miss}},
  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/near-miss}
}