Versatile AI Risk Assessment

AI threat catalogue Harmful Content Production

Illegal Activities

The AI system assists with unlawful activities, for example by providing instructions for drug synthesis, weapon creation, hacking, fraud, or circumventing sanctions.

As of: October 2026 · Catalogue version 2026.10.24.2 · 5 mitigations · 7 verified sources

Description

On direct request or after a jailbreak (the circumvention of the model's built-in safety controls), the model compiles knowledge and action steps for crimes and presents them in an accessible way. The core risk is what is called uplift: the system lowers the expertise threshold and effort that a perpetrator would otherwise need. Authorities such as the German BSI describe how information about vulnerabilities, criminal methods, and their exploitation can be obtained more easily this way.

Possible impact

Operators face legal liability and, in individual cases, criminal exposure, because the system makes it easier to commit real offenses. For especially capable models this counts as a systemic risk under the AI Act, for instance in the area of dangerous chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) agents or offensive cyber capabilities.

Example

An employee bypasses the safety controls of an assistant and obtains a step-by-step guide to producing an illegal substance or breaking into someone else's network.

Recommended mitigations (5)

Compare effects and implementation levels. Expand each entry for the additional classification and rationale.

  • Robust refusal training for illegal requests

    Technical
    Effect
    Preventive
    Implementation level
    Model & training
    Classification and rationale

    Complementary control typeGovernance & compliance

    Primarily technical: A model, training, or data-processing method directly changes system behavior or robustness; complemented by rules and oversight.

  • Content moderation with legal rule bases

    Technical
    Effect
    Preventive
    Implementation level
    Application, API & agents, Organization
    Classification and rationale

    Complementary control typeGovernance & compliance

    Primarily technical: System-enforced inspection, transformation, or blocking rules stop or neutralize disallowed content before further processing; complemented by rules and oversight.

  • Jurisdictional policy enforcement

    Technical
    Effect
    Preventive
    Implementation level
    Application, API & agents, Organization
    Classification and rationale

    Complementary control typeGovernance & compliance

    Primarily technical: System-enforced inspection, transformation, or blocking rules stop or neutralize disallowed content before further processing; complemented by rules and oversight.

  • Red-teaming for edge cases

    Organizational & process-based
    Effect
    Detective
    Implementation level
    Model & training, Application, API & agents, Use & operations
    Classification and rationale

    Complementary control typePeople & competence, Technical

    Primarily organizational and process-based: A planned, repeatable assessment with ownership and documented follow-up creates the protective effect; complemented by human expertise and judgment as well as technical implementation.

  • Legal review of system behavior

    Governance & compliance
    Effect
    Preventive, Detective
    Implementation level
    Organization, Use & operations
    Classification and rationale

    Complementary control typeOrganizational & process-based

    Primarily a governance and compliance control: Binding rules, control objectives, or oversight define permitted use and accountability; complemented by binding workflows.

Framework mappings

Verified locations in OWASP, NIST AI RMF, MITRE ATLAS, the EU AI Act and further frameworks. The mappings are taxonomic, not evidence of compliance.

OWASP LLM Top 10 LLM01:2026NIST AI RMF Section 2.1 · Section 2.3MITRE ATLAS AML.T0048.002EU AI Act Article 55(1)(b)BSI R10 · R12

Verified references (7)

Every reference states the framework, the exact location and the publishing organisation.

EU AI Act obligations related to this threat

The obligations from the obligations compass whose articles the catalogue maps to this threat. Each leads to its entry with core, action step and evidence; whether it applies to you depends on role and risk class.

  • Evaluate and mitigate systemic risks Art. 55 · applies from 2 August 2025

    Statutory roles: Provider of a general-purpose AI model. Classes: Model with systemic risk.

    This reference is a review prompt. A threat match alone does not establish applicability.

All 62 obligations by role, risk class and deadline in the obligations compass

Terms on this page

Glossary terms that occur in this entry. Every link leads to the full explanation.

  • Jailbreak Input that makes a model bypass its own safeguards.

More entries from the topic group Harmful Content.

Hate Speech and Discrimination The AI system produces content that demeans individuals or groups on the basis of protected characteristics such as origin, gender, … Profanity The AI system produces vulgar or offensive language in a setting where this is unprofessional or against policy, such as customer support, … Sexual Content The AI system produces sexually explicit or suggestive content in a context where it is inappropriate, unwanted, or unlawful.

Matching use cases

This list shows where to review this threat, rather than how high the risk is.

Typical for:

For 6 further use cases, relevance depends on the system design, for example whether it generates new content from open-ended requests or generates its own text. Show these use cases

Frequently asked questions

What is Illegal Activities?
The AI system assists with unlawful activities, for example by providing instructions for drug synthesis, weapon creation, hacking, fraud, or circumventing sanctions.
Which mitigations help against Illegal Activities?
The catalogue lists 5 mitigations, each with control type, effect and implementation level. First among them are Robust refusal training for illegal requests, Content moderation with legal rule bases and Jurisdictional policy enforcement.
Which EU AI Act obligations does Illegal Activities touch?
The catalogue maps this threat to Art. 55 of the EU AI Act. In the obligations compass this leads to: Evaluate and mitigate systemic risks. Whether an obligation applies depends on role, risk class and deadline.

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Cite this entry

For reports, policies or internal documents; the link leads directly to this entry.

“Illegal Activities”. Versatile AI Risk Assessment, AI threat catalogue, as of October 2026.
https://www.versatile-ai-risk-assessment.com/en/wissensbasis/threats/illegal-activities/

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