Interview: Microsoft President Brad Smith calls for an emergency brake for AI development

Dublin. When Brad Smith presented his book “Tools and Weapons” in the Handelsblatt in 2019, his warnings about out-of-control artificial intelligence (AI) still sounded like science fiction. Today, the president and deputy chairman of Microsoft is calling for an “emergency brake” to prevent a catastrophe triggered by rampant AI agents.

The time to act is now, said the 67-year-old Microsoft veteran in an interview with Handelsblatt on the sidelines of the EU’s “AI Summit” in Dublin. Anyone who wants to win the tech race in the long term must invest more in security in the short term, he demanded of his own industry. “And if that means slowing down at the front so that safety can catch up – then just slow down.”

For Smith, Germany and Europe are by no means behind: "You don't have to lead in invention to be ahead in innovation and application. The biggest mistake a country - like a company - can make: envying the success of others and losing sight of your own strengths."