Business leaders

Brad Smith

vice chair and president of Microsoft

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This is intended to address what people often describe as an existential threat to humanity, that you could have runaway AI that would seek to control or extinguish humanity. It’s like every Terminator movie and about 50 other science fiction movies. One of the things that is striking to me after 30 years in this industry is often life does imitate art.

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Brad Smith

vice chair and president of Microsoft

In a February 2024 EL PAÍS interview, Smith said the AI safety brake he has proposed addresses what people often describe as an existential threat — runaway AI that would seek to control or extinguish humanity — and that we had better have a way to slow down or turn off AI, especially if it is controlling critical infrastructure.

President of MicrosoftPublished February 20, 2024 · date of remarks not establishedEL PAÍS interview

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It’s all about the implementation. Q. You have called for an AI “safety brake” in the U.S. Senate. What does it consist of? A. This is intended to address what people often describe as an existential threat to humanity, that you could have runaway AI that would seek to control or extinguish humanity. It’s like every Terminator movie and about 50 other science fiction movies. One of the things that is striking to me after 30 years in this industry is often life does imitate art. It’s amazing that you can have 50 movies with the same plot: a machine that can think for itself decides to enslave or extinguish humanity, and humanity fights back and wins by turning the machine off. What does that tell you? That we better have a way to slow down or turn off AI, especially if it’s controlling an automated system like critical infrastructure. It’s been nine months since I first introduced this concept, and what’s most striking to me is that everywhere I go, the conversation is more or less the same. It starts with this concern: “oh my gosh, there’s this existential risk.”

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And let's do one other thing, as well--maybe it's one of the most important things we need to do so that we ensure that the threats that many people worry about remain part of science fiction and don't become a new reality. Let's keep AI under the control of people. It needs to be safe. And to do that, as we've encouraged, there need to be safety breaks, especially for any AI application or system that controls critical infrastructure.

Exact quote, beginning

Brad Smith

vice chair and president of Microsoft

At a September 2023 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Smith said AI should be kept under the control of people and that there need to be safety brakes for any AI application or system that controls critical infrastructure, such as the electrical grid, self-driving cars, or the water supply.

Vice Chair and President, Microsoft CorporationSeptember 12, 2023U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law

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… think about the connection between, say, the role of a central agency that will be on point for certain things, as well as the obligations that, frankly, will be part of the work of many agencies and, indeed, our courts as well. And let's do one other thing, as well--maybe it's one of the most important things we need to do so that we ensure that the threats that many people worry about remain part of science fiction and don't become a new reality. Let's keep AI under the control of people. It needs to be safe. And to do that, as we've encouraged, there need to be safety breaks, especially for any AI application or system that controls critical infrastructure. If a company wants to use AI to, say, control the electrical grid, or all of the self-driving cars on our roads, or the water supply, we need to learn from so many other technologies that do great things but also can go wrong. We need a safety break. Just like we have a circuit breaker in every building and home in this country to stop the flow of electricity if that's needed. Then I would say let's keep one third goal in mind, as well. This is the one where I would suggest you maybe consider doing a bit more to add to the framework. Let's remember the promise that this offers.

What this quote does not say

The GPO publication year is shown only as a year, not a day-level publication date.
Smith frames the safety brake as a way to ensure 'the threats that many people worry about remain part of science fiction and don't become a new reality' — it is a preventive proposal, not a claim that loss of control is occurring.

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But it takes time for technology to diffuse across an economy and around the world. There are some who look at the power of AI and predict its massive diffusion in just a few years. It’s always possible that this time will be different, but the world has never previously seen technology diffusion at that pace. The reason is not grounded in technology. It’s people.

Brad Smith

vice chair and president of Microsoft

In a June 2026 essay, Smith wrote that it takes time for technology to diffuse across an economy and around the world, and that the world has never seen diffusion at the pace some predict for AI because the constraint is people, not technology.

Vice Chair & President, MicrosoftPublished June 10, 2026 · date of remarks not establishedPerson-authored Microsoft essay

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And like previous general purpose technologies, AI will displace some jobs, even as it creates others and changes many of the ways we currently work. But it takes time for technology to diffuse across an economy and around the world. There are some who look at the power of AI and predict its massive diffusion in just a few years. It’s always possible that this time will be different, but the world has never previously seen technology diffusion at that pace. The reason is not grounded in technology. It’s people. As Professors Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor have written, “diffusion is limited by the speed of human, organizational, and institutional change.”

What this quote does not say

This qualifies labor-market timing, not Smith's separate loss-of-control framing.
The page is a corporate-hosted essay and may have passed through editorial review despite first-person authorship.

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