Brad Smith is Vice Chair and President of Microsoft and the company's principal public-facing voice on AI policy, cybersecurity, and digital rights. He is a frequent Senate witness and is associated with the "it's time for AI government" framing. He authored the books Tools and Weapons (2019) and The Future Computed (2018).
Background and roles
Smith joined Microsoft in 1993 and became General Counsel in 2002, a role he held through 2015, leading the company through the tail end of its antitrust litigation. He served as President and Chief Legal Officer from 2015 to 2021, and has been Vice Chair and President since 2021. As President since 2015 he has been Microsoft's principal public-affairs and policy representative, particularly on AI regulation, cybersecurity, and digital rights. He is widely regarded as the most polished and credible industry interlocutor with governments on AI matters, and Microsoft is frequently described as the "adult in the room" on AI policy.
Positions on AI policy
Governance framing
Smith authored and promoted the 2023 "Governing AI: A Blueprint for the Future," framed around five tenets: implement safety frameworks; require safety brakes on systems controlling critical infrastructure; develop legal and regulatory frameworks; promote transparency; and pursue public-private partnerships. He has repeatedly used the phrase "it's time for AI government" — that is, time for governance institutions to govern AI — in Senate testimony and public remarks.
Regulation
Smith supports federal regulation with clear rules of the road and has been explicit that Microsoft welcomes a licensing regime for highly capable models. He publicly supports voluntary frameworks — the Seoul, Hiroshima, and Bletchley frameworks — as bridges to binding regulation. His tone is more pro-regulation than that of most industry peers.
Safety and accountability
Smith supports third-party testing through the UK AISI and US AISI network. Microsoft signed the Seoul Frontier AI Safety Commitments, with Smith as the principal Microsoft signatory. He advocates for clear liability rules for deployers and developers and has specifically called for AI incident reporting regimes.
Elections and democracy
Smith helped organize the 2024 Munich Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in Elections. He is vocal on synthetic media, deepfakes, and election integrity, an area in which Microsoft has pushed industry self-regulation faster than most rivals (see AI Content Moderation).
Cybersecurity
Smith is the public face of Microsoft's post-2023 Secure Future Initiative, which followed the Storm-0558 and Midnight Blizzard incidents.
Notable actions
Smith gave Senate Judiciary Committee testimony in 2023 on AI regulation, which has been widely cited, and authored Microsoft's public AI governance blueprint the same year. He represented Microsoft at the 2023 UK AI Safety Summit and at the subsequent Seoul and Paris summits, and was the principal Microsoft signatory to the Seoul Commitments. He provided frequent public commentary during the 2023 Sam Altman OpenAI board crisis.
Relationships
- related: Satya Nadella — Microsoft CEO
- related: OpenAI — principal Microsoft partner; Smith represents the partnership externally
- related: Seoul Commitments — signatory
- related: Bletchley Declaration, Hiroshima Code, Paris Summit Declaration — participated
- related: AI and the First Amendment — Microsoft has not joined xAI's stance
- supports: AI Safety Frameworks, federal licensing regimes
- related: AI Content Moderation, election integrity