# Risk Tiers for Use Cases — AI Strategy, Ethics and Governance

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/ai-strategy-governance/risk-tiering

> Classify AI use cases into tiers so effort and controls match the level of risk.

## Proportionate controls

Not every AI feature needs the same scrutiny. A **tiering** scheme sorts use cases by potential harm: for example **prohibited** (never allowed), **high** (decisions about people in areas such as hiring, credit, education or health), **limited** (interacts with users, needs disclosure) and **minimal** (internal helpers). Higher tiers get more testing, documentation, human oversight and senior approval. This keeps low-risk innovation fast and puts the effort where harm could be serious. Regulations such as the EU AI Act use a similar tiered idea, which makes internal tiers a good starting point.

## A tiering function, run

I ran this. The four example use cases land in four different tiers. Real classification needs legal input and many more criteria; this is a teaching sketch.

```python
def tier(use):
    if use.get("social_scoring") or use.get("manipulative"):
        return "prohibited"
    if use.get("decides_on_people") and use.get("domain") in {"hiring", "credit", "education", "health"}:
        return "high"
    if use.get("interacts_with_users"):
        return "limited"
    return "minimal"

tests = [{"social_scoring": True},
         {"decides_on_people": True, "domain": "credit"},
         {"interacts_with_users": True},
         {"internal_summaries": True}]
print([tier(t) for t in tests])
```

Output:

```
['prohibited', 'high', 'limited', 'minimal']
```

## Re-tier when the use changes

A meeting summariser (minimal) that starts feeding performance reviews has become a high-impact use. Re-check the tier whenever the purpose, data or audience changes.

**Quiz:** Why use risk tiers?

- [ ] They only apply to hardware
- [ ] All use cases get identical rules
- [ ] Tiers remove the need for review
- [x] Controls can match the level of risk without slowing every project equally

*Answer:* Controls can match the level of risk without slowing every project equally. Proportionate governance keeps safe innovation quick and focuses scrutiny on serious cases.