Lack of economic opportunity or unemployment Inequality Adverse outcomes of AI technologies Misinformation and disinformation Cyber insecurity Societal polarization Online harms Censorship and surveillance Geoeconomic confrontation Adverse outcomes of frontier technologies Disruptions to a systemically important supply chain Erosion of human rights and/or of civic freedoms Disruptions to critical infrastructure Crime and illicit economic activity Lack of economic opportunity or unemployment Inequality Adverse outcomes of AI technologies Misinformation and disinformation Cyber insecurity Societal polarization Online harms Censorship and surveillance Geoeconomic confrontation Adverse outcomes of frontier technologies Disruptions to a systemically important supply chain Erosion of human rights and/or of civic freedoms Disruptions to critical infrastructure Crime and illicit economic activityGlobal risks landscape: Adverse outcomes of AI technologies FIGURE 54 Source World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2025-2026Edges Relative inﬂuence High LowMediumRisk inﬂuenceNodesOverview High LowMediumRisk categories Economic Environmental Geopolitical Societal Technological Going further, AI threatens something more intangible yet fundamental: the value of being human. As cognitive tasks, creative work and even social interaction get automated, it is unclear what remains distinctively human. In education systems that are already long outdated, the integration of AI without other adaptations may erode the development of critical thinking. AI companions may reduce rather than enhance collaboration and increase loneliness and a range of mental health issues. There is also the risk of overdependency on AI as we start leveraging it as our “second brain”. Some researchers are more provocative, anticipating that as AI gets smarter, humans get dumber.161 There are second-degree physiological health impacts as well, deriving from the environmental impacts of generative AI models. These can consume up to 4,600 times more energy than traditional software.162 AI-related infrastructure can result in degraded air quality and pollution from manufacturing, electricity generation and e-waste disposal. In the United States alone, this could impose a public-health burden of over $20 billion annually by 2028.163 Health and well-being could in future also be affected by rising water insecurity in regions with significant data centre buildouts, as these require heavy water use for cooling.164Compounding these economic and psychological stresses is the prospect of information chaos as Adverse outcomes of AI technologies undermine social cohesion (Figure 54). Today, realistic deepfakes and AI-generated Misinformation and disinformation are already flourishing; within a decade they could become ubiquitous, making it impossible for citizens to distinguish truth from deception (see Section 2.3: Values at war). The result is a fragmented public sphere in which consensus on basic facts breaks down. In democracies, elections are contested on the authenticity of evidence itself; any scandal can be dismissed as a deepfake and any deepfake might be real. In autocratic systems, too, the consequences can be dramatic. As fear and conspiracy theories flourish, they can potentially incite violence. Communities might splinter along the lines of those who embrace technology versus those who reject it, further entrenching societal polarization. The ultimate threat to societies is a loss of control to AI systems. Even in the absence of exponential growth in AI capabilities, incremental improvements in capability could lead to a creeping, structural shift of power from humans to AI over the next decade. As ever more capable AI agents, robotic systems and automated infrastructures assume functions Global Risks Report 2026 64