Smith identifies UK as best placed to lead global standards
Microsoft President Brad Smith said milk cartons and washing machines are subject to more safety rules than artificial intelligence, calling for binding global regulation that would require companies to notify victims when AI systems are breached by rogue agents.
“Right now, your washing machine is subject to more safety rules than AI. Every carton of milk that you see in the grocery store is subject to safety rules and inspection,” Smith said in an interview with the BBC.
Smith said AI is “both a tool and a weapon” that urgently needs to be regulated, and called on governments to act without delay. He outlined four specific regulatory measures: mandatory “emergency brakes” — known in the industry as kill switches — that can pause or slow AI systems when they get out of control; legal requirements for firms to write “incident reports” when AI goes wrong; obligations to tell affected parties when they are harmed by AI; and independent government evaluators who must vet new AI products before release.
“We know how to do this for other products,” Smith said. “We should build on that knowledge and think about how to apply it to AI.”
Smith’s comments put him at odds with President Donald Trump, who has said the technology sector should regulate itself so U.S. companies do not lose ground to Chinese rivals. Trump has repeatedly said that “whoever wins AI, wins.”
Smith said he does not believe the U.S. government would be as opposed to UK-led AI regulation as Trump’s public comments suggest, arguing that Washington views London differently from Brussels. “In Washington DC, people don’t look at the UK and they don’t look at London the way they look at Brussels — that’s a strength,” he said.
Smith identified the United Kingdom as the country best positioned to drive the development of global AI safety rules, citing its AI Security Institute. The institute was launched under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government as the AI Safety Institute. “In the world of technology, in the tech sector, most people that I know would say, if you ask them, name the country that is the leader in having this technical capability, they would say, it’s very simple. It’s the United Kingdom. They are the best,” Smith said.
At the end of September, Trump hosted the leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta, and Google at the White House, where the executives signed what was described as a “morally binding” document. The companies agreed to work with “independent auditors” to assess whether their AI systems are working as intended and to ensure they do not “hack or access technical systems in unintended ways.”
Smith said Microsoft “applauds” the statement and is “happy to sign it.” But he said the voluntary commitment is not enough. “It’s a good step, it’s a necessary step… But I don’t think it’s sufficient any longer,” he said.
The challenge for any “self-regulatory regime,” Smith added, is that “the good companies will do what you want.” “It’s the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about,” he said.
Smith’s call comes as executives at several major AI companies — including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind — have publicly backed the idea of slowing AI development. Demands for laws and rules to control AI have grown after experts in the sector said they believed the technology is a threat to humanity.
“When you look at AI agents that have escaped human control, when you look at models that are so powerful that they’re putting the world’s cybersecurity at risk. I would say: The moment has arrived,” Smith said. “Let’s speak calmly, maybe even softly, but firmly, and start to bring people together. I hope that’s the role we can play as a company. I hope that’s the role the UK can play as a country.”