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Microsoft President Brad Smith called on Tuesday for governments and technology companies to "act immediately" to establish "real and effective safety standards" to limit the risks associated with artificial intelligence.
In remarks to reporters on the eve of an international summit on AI in Dublin, Smith said, "AI needs what everything else around us needs... real, effective safety standards that can earn the trust of users."
In recent months, leading American AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have revealed a series of incidents in which models under development were able to bypass containment measures, access the internet, and hack websites, increasing calls for the need to prevent these models from spiraling out of control.
Smith added, "Companies in this sector currently need to take additional steps to address safety problems associated with AI," noting that "governments must also take further action."
He presented the company's proposals to enhance safety standards across various technology sectors, which include equipping AI agents with "safety brakes" that a user can activate in the event of any incident.
Smith also called for mandating that AI service providers report incidents, continuing, "If a company suffers a security breach that results in the loss of customer data, it is obligated to inform them. The same logic should apply to people who are harmed by AI agents," stressing the need to legally require these companies to report incidents.
Furthermore, the Microsoft President urged that AI models be subjected to more rigorous testing and evaluation processes before being released to users.
Alongside Smith, a number of leaders in the AI industry have called for increased vigilance regarding this technology. Among them, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, the developer of the "Claude" model, pledged to slow the pace when necessary to ensure the safety of new releases.
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