Microsoft president Brad Smith says the US is now regulating AI without a clear set of rules. The uncertainty, he warns, is a problem for the whole industry. He made the case to Fortune on the sidelines of the AI for Good Global Summit.
“What we really have right now is regulation without transparent or complete rules,” Smith said. “Without rules, businesses can’t plan.”
One blunt tool
His concern follows two abrupt moves by the Trump administration. Last month the Commerce Department used export-control law to pull Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models worldwide. It cited a cybersecurity risk. Weeks later, officials pressed OpenAI to delay the public launch of its GPT-5.6 family. Early access went to government-vetted partners only.
Both curbs have since eased. Fable 5 came back online this month, and GPT-5.6 is rolling out publicly. Smith says Washington was right to act on the Fable concern. The problem, he argues, is the tool it reached for.
