AI Security / 2026 Essentials
Know Where Your AI Models and Packages Come From
Treat models, adapters, and third-party packages as software supply-chain dependencies.
Environment and inputs: One AI feature, its model and package manifests, approved download sources and a place to record exact versions and digests.
An AI application depends on more than a model name. Packages, model files, adapters, datasets, and hosting platforms can introduce vulnerabilities or tampering. OWASP’s supply-chain guidance highlights that familiar software risks also apply to AI, alongside additional risks associated with pretrained models and data.
What matters
- Obtain components from trusted publishers and record their exact versions and origins.
- Review licences and security information before bringing a new component into production.
- Evaluate updates in a controlled environment and maintain a way to reverse a problematic change.
Practical example: Before adopting a downloaded model adapter, a team records its publisher, provenance, licence, and evaluation results.
One action today: Create a dependency inventory for one AI feature, including model artefacts and data sources.