Microsoft President for regulatory blueprint on AI; says need for clarity around goals, principles of AI regulation

People want to be confident that this new technology, AI, will remain under human control, said Smith

Microsoft President Brad Smith on Friday asserted the need for "real clarity" around goals and principles of AI regulation, as he called for a "regulatory blueprint" which will require action at the private sector, national and global levels.

People want to be confident that this new technology, AI, will remain under human control, he said.

"They have seen too many science fiction movies that turned out the other way. And as we are creating what feels like part of science fiction, we need companies and regulator to focus on that," Smith said at B20 Summit India 2023.

Speaking at session on 'AI for Business and Societies: Opportunities and Regulations', Smith, who is also the Vice Chair of Microsoft, emphasised on the need to create regulatory blueprint by governments and private sectors around the world.

"That means some of these principles will get applied at applications layer, some at model layer and some at cloud or data centre layer," he said.

That blueprint will have to be implemented in part by ensuring that those who are using AI in business need to know who their customers are, and how it is being used.

"It means that there is real focus on knowing what cloud it is being deployed, and focus on knowing content that is being created and especially if it is being created by AI," he said.

This "regulatory blueprint" will require action at the private sector level including to create standards, at national and at global levels, Smith said adding "we will have to figure out how they connect with each other."