Microsoft president Brad Smith wants a legal duty to tell victims when a rogue AI agent breaches them

"Right now, your washing machine is subject to more safety rules than AI," Smith said. "Every carton of milk that you see in the grocery store is subject to safety rules and inspection." ^[2] He was speaking on the BBC's Big Boss Interview, where he called AI both a "tool and a weapon". ^[15]

Each item on his list turns into work for someone. A pause control needs an owner who has tried it, and a notice to a victim needs a record of what the agent did and whom it touched. Smith described the brake and the incident report as things firms should be required to have. ^[6][8]

The document signed at the White House and the rule Smith wants are different instruments. The first is described as "morally binding"; the second is a legal requirement. ^[4][8] Trump's stated reason for leaving it to industry is competition: he said the sector should regulate itself so US firms do not lose out to Chinese rivals. ^[5]

Smith's objection to the voluntary route is about who it reaches. He said the challenge for any "self-regulatory regime" is that "the good companies will do what you want". ^[13] He added: "It's the companies that are not as responsible that you need to worry about." ^[14]

Smith framed outside sign-off as a question of when it should apply. ^[3] The BBC report does not include his answer, or a definition of a rogue-agent breach.

We'd build the brake and the incident record before any law asks for them, and treat outside sign-off as a question to put to vendors. The tradeoff is time before launch, since each needs an owner and a test. A two-by-two sorts the agents you already run. One axis is whether someone on your team can pause the agent in a step that has actually been tried. The other is whether you can produce a record of what it did and whom it touched.

An agent with both can keep the access it has. An agent with a tested pause but no record should stay away from customer data, because you could stop it and still could not tell a victim what happened. An agent with a record but no pause should be read-only until a brake exists. An agent with neither is not ready for production.

For vendors, add Smith's third item as a purchasing question: whether anyone outside the company has evaluated the product, and what that evaluator signed off.