  Generative, multimodal artificial intelligence (GenAI) offers transformative
potential across industries, but its misuse poses significant risks. Prior
research has shed light on the potential of advanced AI systems to be exploited
for malicious purposes. However, we still lack a concrete understanding of how
GenAI models are specifically exploited or abused in practice, including the
tactics employed to inflict harm. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of GenAI
misuse tactics, informed by existing academic literature and a qualitative
analysis of approximately 200 observed incidents of misuse reported between
January 2023 and March 2024. Through this analysis, we illuminate key and novel
patterns in misuse during this time period, including potential motivations,
strategies, and how attackers leverage and abuse system capabilities across
modalities (e.g. image, text, audio, video) in the wild.
