Closing the Microsoft Envision conference in Orlando last week, Microsoft President Brad Smith called for governments to create "A Digital Geneva Convention," to protect civilians from cyberattacks in times of peace and to avert attacks on critical infrastructure like electrical grids or hospitals.
Smith noted that this is the 100th anniversary of the armistice of the First World War, once called the war to end all wars. He quoted Albert Einstein, and said that although we have the technology to make human life carefree and happy, to do so we must adjust our policies and organizations to keep up with this technology.
"Alas it was not to be," Smith said, referring to World War I, and in the 21 years after that war, although technology moved forward, it built bombers and tanks, democracies were weakened, multilateralism withered, and the League of Nations died, all in part leading to World War II. We are now in a new century and a new time, Smith said, and though our new technology can do wonderful things, it can also be turned into weapons.
In 2017, almost 1 billion people were victims of cyberattacks, which included WannaCry and NotPetya; Smith called it the year of the wake-up call. "We want to use 2018 as a year to take action," he said, and mentioned a new global tech sector accord that started with 34 companies in March and has now grown to 61.
Smith cited Microsoft's efforts in this area, which include a Defending Democracy Program, as well as the company's announcement of a free Account Guard security program to provide additional threat protection for political parties and think tanks.
But, he said, we need to get the public and private sector to work together to improve security for everyone. In particular, he acknowledged that the "digital native" generation is ready to stand up to protect the technology that is embedded in every part of their daily lives. To that end, at this weekend's Digital Citizen Festival, Microsoft launched its "Digital Peace Now" campaign.
Smith said that what happened after World War I is not just history that we can learn from, but history which can inspire us. "We need to think together, work together, and act together," he said.
"We have the opportunity to make sure that this century is better than the one before."
Why Microsoft's Business Model Sets it Apart
Most of Smith's talk focused on policy and business issues – and not products – in his effort to impress the audience of CIOs and senior executives at a conference that ran concurrently with the larger Ignite conference.
"Technology requires we innovate together," he said, and it starts with the business model. "We're comfortable with who we are," Smith said, adding that Microsoft also knows what it is not; it is not a grocery store or a pharmacy, and it is not going to make cars or enter the shipping business. While he didn't mention them by name, this sounded like a dig at Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. He relayed a story of CEO Satya Nadella, who told college recruits they shouldn't come to Microsoft to be cool, they should come to Microsoft to help other people be cool; in other words, to help other people be successful.
Smith said that digital transformation means that businesses are connected in ways that they weren't before; Microsoft no longer thinks only about creating a platform, but finding new ways to share it.
He talked about the "Azure IP advantage," and said that customers who chose Azure will have the benefit of Microsoft's patent portfolio if they ever needed to defend themselves in a patent lawsuit. And he discussed Microsoft's "shared innovation initiative," which says that if the company and one of its big customers create technology together, it's the customer that would own the patent rights.
Smith discussed how the company has become a much larger supporter of open source, and how its recent acquisition of GitHub gave it a new responsibility to be a good steward of the home of software developers who work for its customers, for the open-source community, and even for its competitors.
Smith said the company is taking new steps to ensure it is still "earning the world's trust." This includes creating tools for GDPR and privacy that can be used as services for all of its customers, and extending GDPR privacy rights to customers worldwide—not just in Europe. Smith said Microsoft will continue to fight for its privacy principles in court, such as the right to have independent judicial review; a universal right to notices; and a complete legal process. He said it's important to have modern rules and new international agreements, but emphasized that the most important thing is transparency.
Smith also discussed ethics for AI. "Ultimately the question is not only what computers can do; it's what computers should do," he said, and outlined six principles for AI: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. Smith and Microsoft EVP of Artificial Intelligence and Research Harry Shum have written a book on the subject, The Future Computed. "We need a global conversation about ethics in AI, because we'll need to reach a global understanding," he said. "The world will conclude we need not just new principles, but new laws to address AI."
Finally, Smith talked security, and as other Microsoft executives did in many sessions during the week, Smith highlighted three areas of focus: operations, technology, and partnerships.
He also talked about the new announcements at the show, and how the company's 3,500 security professionals respond to 6.5 trillion signals each day. Smith focused on the company's digital crimes group, which works to detect and deter cyberattacks, whether these come from criminal groups or nation states. But he mostly focused on partnerships with others, and said that this is crucial.