What is AI model supply-chain risk?
It is the risk that a model, dataset or AI library you download or buy is compromised, misrepresented or simply not what you think. Public model hubs host hundreds of thousands of models uploaded by anyone. Some model file formats can execute code when loaded, so a malicious model can compromise the machine that opens it; safer formats exist and should be preferred. A model can be fine-tuned to behave normally except on a hidden trigger, or trained on poisoned data. Names can be copied to look like a well-known publisher's model. And the libraries and plugins around models, such as runtimes, connectors and agent frameworks, change fast and carry ordinary software vulnerabilities. Practical steps: take models only from publishers you can verify, check signatures or hashes where they are published, use safe file formats, run new models in an isolated environment first, keep an inventory of models and versions in use, and patch the surrounding software like any other. A network sensor sees large model downloads and which hosts run model runtimes; it cannot inspect a model's weights.