Versatile AI Risk Assessment

Glossary Threats and weaknesses

Model theft and model extraction

Theft of model weights or reconstruction of the model through the interface.

As of: September 2026 · Glossary with 28 terms

What is Model theft and model extraction?

Model theft covers the theft of model weights and extraction via the interface: attackers issue systematic queries to reconstruct a model’s behaviour, training data or system instructions. This affects both self-trained models and licensed models with contractual protection duties.

Typical controls are access and rate limiting, anomaly detection on query patterns, hardening of the model infrastructure, and contractual as well as technical safeguards for weights and system prompts.

MITRE ATLASOWASPIntellectual property

More terms from the subject area Threats and weaknesses.

Prompt Injection Manipulated input or planted content redirects a language model. Hallucination (confabulation) Plausible sounding but factually wrong output, inherent to the technology. Data Poisoning Manipulated training or reference data steers a model wrong on purpose.

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“Model theft and model extraction”. Versatile AI Risk Assessment, glossary of AI risk analysis, as of September 2026.
https://www.versatile-ai-risk-assessment.com/en/wissensbasis/glossary/model-theft/

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