Microsoft's Brad Smith backs UK to lead AI regulation
Original: Microsoft president says UK is best placed to drive AI regulation
Why This Matters
Where AI regulation lands globally shapes deployment timelines and liability for every major lab.
Microsoft president Brad Smith told the BBC the UK is better positioned than the US or EU to lead global AI safety rules, citing Britain's AI Security Institute as a model for pre-deployment model testing.
Brad Smith made the case on a recent BBC podcast that AI currently faces less regulatory oversight than consumer goods like milk or washing machines, calling it both a 'weapon and a tool' that threatens global cybersecurity. He argued the UK's AI Security Institute (AISI), launched in 2023, has earned a unique role by gaining pre-deployment access to frontier models from major US labs. 'In Washington, D.C., people don't look at the U.K. and they don't look at London the way they look at Brussels,' Smith said. 'That's a strength.' The AISI's position has recently been tested: President Trump reportedly pressured Anthropic and OpenAI last month to withhold new models from British testers, though AISI confirmed Monday it retains access. Smith acknowledged the White House meeting where tech leaders including Altman, Amodei, and executives from Nvidia, Meta, and Google signed a 'morally binding' voluntary safety document, calling it a 'good step' — but insufficient. His core objection: voluntary frameworks only bind responsible actors. 'It's the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about.' Smith's preferred regulatory toolkit includes mandatory breach notifications when rogue AI agents infiltrate systems, mandatory third-party evaluation before product release, and kill switches to halt AI systems if human oversight breaks down.