Microsoft President Brad Smith is calling for urgent regulation of AI, and his argument is that consumer products like milk and washing machines face more scrutiny than companies developing artificial intelligence.
In a recent BBC podcast, Smith called AI a “weapon and a tool” that endangers global cybersecurity and said the “time is now” to institute global security rules.
Smith also said the United Kingdom, not the United States or the European Union, is best placed to lead global security rules. The UK’s AI Security Institute (AISI), launching in 2023, has access to key models from US border labs ahead of deployment and has quickly become a leader in AI security testing.
That role has come under threat in recent weeks as US President Donald Trump has warned of “globalist” organizations, which he says are interfering with US businesses. Last month it reportedly asked Anthropic and OpenAI to deny the new models to UK testers, but AISI confirmed on Monday that it was able to access and test the latest models.
Despite the president’s misgivings, Smith argued that the UK could regulate AI in a way that the US could not.
“In Washington, DC, people don’t look at the UK or London in the same way they look at Brussels,” he told the BBC. “It’s a strength.”
His comments come amid rallying cries from tech leaders, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, to slow the pace of AI development following several incidents of AI agents going rogue.
Last month, Trump hosted technology executives from companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, AMD, SpaceX, Meta and Google at the White House to discuss AI safety. They signed a “morally binding” document agreeing to work with “independent auditors” to assess the safety and capabilities of their AI models.
Smith says the document is a “good step,” but it falls short of achieving the type of regulation needed. The problem with voluntary self-regulation, he says, is that only “good companies” will comply.
“It’s the companies that aren’t as responsible that you need to worry about,” he said.
Smith outlined several AI security rules he would like to see put in place, such as a legal requirement to alert an organization if its system was breached by malicious AI agents. He also appears to favor AI labs getting approval from external reviewers before releasing an AI product and spoke positively about kill switches to pause or slow down AI if humans lose control of it.
“Let’s speak calmly, maybe even gently, but firmly, and start bringing people together,” Smith said. “I hope that’s the role we can play as a business. I hope that’s the role the UK can play as a country.”
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