The most cited risks for the next two years were misinformation and disinformation, extreme weather events, societal polarization, cyber insecurity, and interstate armed conflict. Over the next 10 years, extreme weather events, critical changes to earth systems, biodiversity loss, natural resource shortages, and misinformation and disinformation were named as the most likely risks. Adverse outcomes from AI technologies were also named as a longer-term concern.
Key takeaways:
- The World Economic Forum's "Global Risks Report 2024" ranks AI-derived misinformation and disinformation as the biggest risk for 2024, ahead of climate change, war and economic weakness.
- The report, produced in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group and Marsh McLennan, surveyed over 1,400 global risk experts, policymakers and industry leaders about their biggest global concerns.
- The most cited risks for the next two years were misinformation and disinformation, extreme weather events, societal polarization, cyber insecurity and interstate armed conflict.
- Looking further ahead, the balance of risks for the next decade shifts toward extreme weather conditions and critical changes to the political world order, with two-thirds of those surveyed anticipating a new multipolar or fragmented world to take shape.