Microsoft President Brad Smith Calls for Urgent AI Regulation, Says UK Best Positioned to Lead

Key facts

• Microsoft President Brad Smith is calling for urgent regulation of AI, comparing it to consumer products like milk and washing machines that have more oversight.
• Smith said on a BBC podcast that AI is both a "weapon and a tool" putting global cybersecurity at risk, and that the "moment has arrived" for global safety rules.
• Smith argued the U.K., not the U.S. or EU, is best placed to lead on global AI safety rules.
• The U.K.'s AI Security Institute (AISI), launched in 2023, receives access to major models from U.S. frontier labs before deployment and leads in AI safety testing.
• U.S. President Donald Trump has warned against "globalist" organizations and reportedly asked Anthropic and OpenAI last month to withhold new models from British testers.
• AISI confirmed on Monday that it is able to access and test the latest models.
• Last month, Trump hosted tech leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, AMD, SpaceX, Meta, and Google at the White House, where they signed a "morally binding" document to work with independent auditors on AI safety.
• Smith called the document a "good step" but insufficient, and advocated for rules including breach alerts, pre-release approval by outside evaluators, and kill-switches.