Microsoft president Brad Smith says U.K. is best placed to lead global AI rules

Microsoft president Brad Smith is calling for urgent AI regulation and argues the United Kingdom, rather than the U.S. or the European Union, is best placed to lead on global safety rules, TechCrunch reported on Monday.

On a BBC podcast, Smith called AI both "a weapon and a tool" that is putting the world's cybersecurity at risk and said the "moment has arrived" for global safety rules. He noted that consumer products such as milk and washing machines face more oversight than AI developers.

Britain's AI Security Institute, launched in 2023, receives access to major U.S. frontier models before deployment. The institute confirmed on Monday that it can still access and test the latest models, TechCrunch reported.

"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.