Artificial intelligence (AI) may the “the most consequential” technological change in our lifetime, and governments now need to learn how to control it, according to Microsoft President Brad Smith.

Speaking at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Smith said that the

Microsoft’s Brad Smith Calls for More Regulation of Artificial Intelligence

“government needs to move faster” to stay on top of the developments that are happening in AI.

And while Smith called for governments to step up, he also said that the private sector has a role to play in controlling how AI develops.

As part of the private sector’s role, Smith announced Microsoft’s “5-point blueprint for governing AI,” saying on Twitter that the firm’s aim is to bring the public and private sectors together so that AI “serves all society.”

“We don’t necessarily have the best information or the best answer, or we may not be the most credible speaker. But, you know, right now, especially in Washington D.C., people are looking for ideas,” he said.

According to some estimates, Microsoft has spent some $13 billion on backing OpenAI and on integrating the ChatGPT into its Bing search engine.

The comments from Microsoft’s President come after more than 1,100 industry insiders in March signed an open letter asking governments to “pause giant AI experiments.”

“AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity,” the experts wrote in the letter while calling for “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”