Microsoft’s chief scientist, Dr. Eric Horvitz, says well-crafted regulation could accelerate AI progress rather than hinder it countering growing anti-regulation rhetoric in U.S. tech and politics.
Speaking at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Horvitz urged scientists to help policymakers understand that “guidance, regulation, reliability, controls” are not obstacles but enablers of faster, safer innovation. “We should be cautious about slogans like ‘no regulation’ – done properly, it can speed us up,” he said.
His remarks come amid reports that Microsoft is part of a Silicon Valley lobbying push, alongside Google, Meta, and Amazon, supporting a Trump-backed 10-year federal ban on state-level AI regulation. The ban, included in Trump’s proposed budget bill, reflects investor fears that China may outpace the U.S. in AI, and is backed by figures like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and U.S. Vice President JD Vance.
The apparent contradiction between Horvitz’s stance and Microsoft’s lobbying efforts highlights tensions within the AI industry, where calls for responsible oversight clash with commercial concerns over fragmented state laws. Microsoft’s U.S. government affairs VP Fred Humphries defended the federal approach, saying: “We cannot afford to wake up to a future where 50 different states have enacted 50 conflicting approaches.”
Meanwhile, fellow AI expert Prof. Stuart Russell of UC Berkeley issued a stark warning, questioning why society would “deliberately allow the release of a technology which even its creators say has a 10% to 30% chance of causing human extinction.”
Despite the ongoing debate, Microsoft has heavily invested in AI – pouring $14 billion into OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman recently predicted humanoid robots “doing stuff” on city streets within five to 10 years. Predictions about achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI) remain varied, with Meta’s Yann LeCun estimating decades, while Mark Zuckerberg has committed $15 billion to chasing “superintelligence.”
The debate underscores the growing urgency to align innovation with responsibility before the technology outpaces oversight.
The headline and text of this article were amended because an earlier version incorrectly summarised remarks of Eric Horvitz as saying that Trump’s plan to ban US states from AI regulation “will hold us back”. To clarify: he said that AI regulation, done properly, can “speed us up”. For context, more of Eric Horvitz’s remarks have been included and a comment from Microsoft has been added.
