AI Governance Engineer
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Reasonably foreseeable misuse

By Updated

Use of an AI system not in accordance with its intended purpose that may result from reasonably foreseeable human behaviour or interaction with other systems, including other AI systems 1. Distinct from an attack; kept in a misuse register that feeds tests, runtime policy and the instructions for use.

Developed in
ch. 14, Reasonably foreseeable misuse
ch. 15, Secondary use and downstream harm
Chapters
ch. 14, Development · ch. 15, Deployment
Contrast with
Intended purpose
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

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

Patterns that use this term

One pattern page uses the term.

  • Downstream use register

    The record of every consumer of an AI system's outputs (a system, team, partner or training pipeline), each with its approved use, the re-test that cleared…

  • Function creep

    The gradual reuse of personal data or an AI system for purposes nobody approved, usually by configuration rather than a new release.

  • Instructions for use

    The information a provider of a high-risk AI system must give deployers: intended purpose, declared accuracy and robustness, known risks, how to read the…

  • AI system

    For governance, the object the AI definition brings into scope.

Sources

  1. [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)

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

Cite this term

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

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026reasonablyforeseeablemisuse,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Reasonably foreseeable misuse}},
  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/reasonably-foreseeable-misuse}
}