Microsoft’s Brad Smith says the UK is best placed to lead global AI safety rules

What Smith said

Microsoft president Brad Smith said on a BBC podcast that the UK, rather than the US or the EU, is best placed to lead on global AI safety rules, TechCrunch reported on 12 October 2026.¹ “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,” he said.¹

In an ITV News interview published on 8 October, Smith said: “I think the time to act is now.”² He added that AI is “less regulated than your washing machine, it is less regulated than a carton of milk”.² He also said he does not believe AI is an existential threat today.²

The rules he proposed

Across the two interviews, Smith called for:¹²

• a legal duty to notify people or organisations when AI agents go rogue or systems are breached;
• independent safety testing before AI products are released;
• an “emergency brake” or kill-switch, so AI systems can be paused or taken offline if humans lose control.

ITV reports he also said developers should be legally liable if negligence leads to catastrophic harm.²

Why the UK

ITV reports Smith said the UK is respected in the US, China and Europe.² TechCrunch notes the UK’s AI Security Institute gets access to major US models before release, and that the institute said on Monday it can still test the latest models, after Politico reported that the White House asked Anthropic and OpenAI to hold back new models from UK testers.¹

Voluntary pledges

Smith called a recent White House pledge by tech leaders to work with independent auditors a “good step”, but said voluntary measures mostly bind responsible companies.¹ “It’s the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about,” he said.¹

What it means

These are proposals from one company’s president, not new law. The UK government has not announced matching legislation.