Where AI Risk Debt Accumulates And How To Manage It

InnovationWhere AI Risk Debt Accumulates And How To Manage ItByExpert Panel®,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 15, 2026, 08:15am EDT gettyOrganizations are racing to embed AI into everyday workflows, decision-making processes and customer-facing systems. As adoption spreads, many are also accumulating a new kind of technical and operational liability: AI risk debt. It can build through routine use, unchecked dependencies and gaps between how AI is deployed and how it’s governed.That debt may not show up right away, but over time, it can increase the likelihood of compliance issues, security exposures, operational failures and reputational damage. Below, Forbes Technology Council members share where they believe AI risk debt is most likely to build unnoticed and what leaders should do about it.Untracked Employee Use Of Consumer AI ToolsOne area of AI risk debt is unmanaged AI use at the employee level—sensitive data fed into free browser tools with no classification, no logging and no record of which decisions were AI-assisted, building and building. When a customer eventually asks whether their data has touched a model, the missing audit trail becomes the liability. The fix: a tiered acceptable-use policy, an honest department-by-department inventory, and one named owner for AI incidents. - Anthony Oren, Nero ConsultingOutdated And Biased Data Feeding AI ModelsIn healthcare, one area where AI risk debt builds up unnoticed is when AI models continue using outdated or biased patient data over time. It slowly affects diagnosis quality, treatment recommendations and fairness across different patient groups without being immediately visible. We should audit AI models, validate clinical accuracy and monitor fairness, privacy and compliance regularly. - Venus Garg, Elevance HealthForbes Technology Council is a...