Microsoft president Brad Smith called for global AI safety rules on 12 October, arguing that milk and washing machines face more oversight than AI, the BBC reported. “Right now, your washing machine is subject to more safety rules than AI,” he said.
Smith wants firms legally required to file incident reports and notify victims when an AI agent breaches their systems. He also called for “emergency brakes” to pause or slow AI that gets out of control, and suggested that independent government evaluators vet new technology before release.
Smith said the UK was best placed to advance global rules because of its AI Security Institute, launched under former prime minister Rishi Sunak. His position differs from President Donald Trump’s preference for industry self-regulation, which Trump has argued would help US firms compete with Chinese rivals.
At the end of September, executives from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta and Google signed a “morally binding” White House document agreeing to work with independent auditors. Smith called it “a good step” but said it was “not sufficient any longer”. Of self-regulation, he said: “It’s the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about.”
