Microsoft president calls for global AI safety rules as sector outpaces regulation

Microsoft president Brad Smith called for global artificial intelligence safety rules, saying the technology is currently regulated less strictly than milk and washing machines.

Smith said AI should be treated as both a tool and a weapon. Companies, he argued, should build “emergency brakes” to pause systems if they begin operating beyond human control.

He also proposed legal requirements for developers to file incident reports and notify victims when autonomous AI agents cause breaches. New AI products, he said, should be reviewed by independent evaluators before release.

Britain’s proposed role in AI standards

Smith described the United Kingdom as the country best placed to advance international AI standards. He pointed to its AI Security Institute, launched under former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s government as the AI Safety Institute.

He said Washington might be more receptive to standards led by Britain than to rules from the European Union, arguing that US officials view London differently from Brussels.

Smith diverges from Trump’s approach

Smith’s position differs from President Donald Trump’s calls for the sector to regulate itself so US companies do not lose ground to Chinese rivals. Trump has also repeatedly said that whoever wins AI wins overall.

Smith said he welcomed a statement signed late last month by leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta and Google, who agreed to work with independent auditors. He called the measure necessary but insufficient, saying self-regulation does not adequately address companies that act less responsibly.