AI Has Fewer Safety Rules Than Milk, Microsoft President Warns
Consumer products as mundane as a carton of milk or a washing machine face tougher safety oversight than artificial intelligence does today, according to Microsoft president Brad Smith, who is pushing for a coordinated set of global rules to govern the technology.
Speaking on the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast, Smith argued that AI functions as both a “tool and a weapon” and said the world cannot afford to wait any longer to bring it under control. “Let’s get started today,” he said.
“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, framing the gap as untenable given how far AI capabilities have advanced.
Among his proposals: companies should be forced to build “emergency brakes” – industry shorthand for kill switches – that could halt or slow an AI system that begins behaving unpredictably. He also wants a legal duty on firms to produce formal “incident reports” and notify anyone harmed if a system malfunctions or turns rogue, alongside a system of independent government evaluators who would sign off on new AI products before release.
“We know how to do this for other products,” he said. “We should build on that knowledge and think about how to apply it to AI.”
A rift with the White House
Smith’s position puts him squarely at odds with President Donald Trump, who has argued the industry should police itself so American companies do not cede ground to Chinese competitors – a stance he has distilled into the line that “whoever wins AI, wins.” Pressure for binding rules has nonetheless grown, with leaders at Anthropic, OpenAI and Google DeepMind all voicing support for slowing AI development, something Trump has resisted.
Even so, Smith suggested Washington might be warmer to regulation if it originated in London rather than Brussels. He pointed to the UK’s AI Security Institute – created under former prime minister Rishi Sunak as the AI Safety Institute – as evidence the country already has the technical standing to lead. “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,” he said, adding that “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 described the current moment in stark terms: “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. 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.”
Voluntary pledges “not sufficient”
Smith’s comments follow a White House gathering late last month at which Trump hosted the chief executives of OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, SpaceX, Meta and Google, who signed a “morally binding” pledge to work with independent auditors and ensure their systems do not “hack or access technical systems in unintended ways.”
Smith said Microsoft backs the pledge and is “happy to sign it,” calling it “a good step, it’s a necessary step.” But he does not think voluntary commitments go far enough on their own. “I don’t think it’s sufficient any longer,” he said, arguing that self-regulation only works for companies already inclined to act responsibly. “The good companies will do what you want. It’s the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about.”
Source: BBC News