Microsoft president says UK is best placed to drive AI regulation

Microsoft president Brad Smith is calling for urgent regulation of AI, and his argument is that consumer products like milk and washing machines have more oversight than the companies building artificial intelligence. On a recent 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” to institute global safety rules.

微软总裁布拉德·史密斯（Brad Smith）呼吁对人工智能进行紧急监管，他的论点是，牛奶和洗衣机等消费品所受到的监管比开发人工智能的公司还要多。在最近的一档BBC播客节目中，史密斯称人工智能既是“武器也是工具”，正使全球网络安全面临风险，并表示制定全球安全规则的“时刻已经到来”。

Smith also said the U.K., and not the U.S. or European Union, is best placed to lead on global safety rules. Britain’s AI Security Institute (AISI), launched in 2023, receives access to major models from U.S. frontier labs before they are deployed and has quickly become a leader in AI safety testing. That role has been under threat in recent weeks, with U.S. president Donald Trump warning against “globalist” organizations, which he claims are interfering with American companies.

史密斯还表示，英国（而非美国或欧盟）最适合引领全球安全规则。英国人工智能安全研究所（AISI）于2023年成立，在主要模型部署前即可获得美国前沿实验室的访问权限，并已迅速成为人工智能安全测试领域的领导者。近几周来，这一角色受到威胁，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）对“全球主义”组织发出警告，声称这些组织正在干预美国公司。

Last month, he reportedly asked Anthropic and OpenAI to withhold new models from British testers, but AISI confirmed on Monday that it is able to access and test the latest models. Despite the president’s pushback, however, Smith argued the U.K. can regulate AI in ways that the U.S. cannot. “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 told the BBC. “That’s a strength.”

据报道，上个月他曾要求Anthropic和OpenAI不要向英国测试人员提供新模型，但AISI周一证实，它仍能访问并测试最新模型。然而，尽管总统持反对意见，史密斯认为英国能够以美国无法做到的方式监管人工智能。他告诉BBC：“在华盛顿特区，人们看待英国和伦敦的方式与看待布鲁塞尔的方式不同，这是一种优势。”

His comments come amid rallying cries from tech leaders, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, to slow the pace of AI development in the wake of several incidents where AI agents went rogue. Last month, Trump hosted tech leaders of companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, AMD, SpaceX, Meta, and Google, at the White House to discuss AI safety. They signed a “morally binding” document in which they agreed to work with “independent auditors” to assess the safety and capabilities of their AI models.

史密斯的言论正值科技领袖（包括Anthropic的达里奥·阿莫代和OpenAI的萨姆·奥特曼）纷纷呼吁放缓人工智能发展步伐之际，此前曾发生多起人工智能代理失控的事件。上个月，特朗普在白宫接待了包括OpenAI、Anthropic、英伟达、AMD、SpaceX、Meta和谷歌在内的科技公司领导人，讨论人工智能安全问题。他们签署了一份“道德约束性”文件，同意与“独立审计师”合作，评估其人工智能模型的安全性和能力。

Smith says the document is a “good step,” but it stops short of the type of regulation that is necessary. The problem with voluntary self-regulation, he said, is that only the “good companies” will comply. “It’s the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about,” he said.

史密斯表示，这份文件是“良好的一步”，但还达不到必要的监管程度。他说，自愿性自我监管的问题在于，只有“好公司”才会遵守。“你需要担心的是那些不那么负责任的公司，”他说。

Smith outlined several AI safety rules he’d like to see put into place, like a legal obligation to alert an organization if its system was breached by rogue AI agents. He also appears to be in favor of AI labs getting the approval of outside evaluators before an AI product is released and spoke positively about kill switches to pause or slow down AI if humans lose control of it. “Let’s speak calmly, maybe even softly, but firmly, and start to bring people together,” Smith said. “I hope that’s the role we can play as a company. I hope that’s the role the U.K. can play as a country.”

史密斯概述了他希望实施的几项人工智能安全规则，例如在系统被失控的人工智能代理入侵时，有法律义务通知相关组织。他还似乎支持人工智能实验室在发布产品前获得外部评估机构的批准，并对在人类失去控制时暂停或减缓人工智能的“终止开关”持积极态度。“让我们冷静地，甚至轻声但坚定地交谈，开始把人们团结起来，”史密斯说，“我希望这是我们作为一家公司可以发挥的作用。我希望这是英国作为一个国家可以发挥的作用。”