Brad Smith, "Tools and Weapons"

Brad Smith discusses his book, "Tools and Weapons", at Politics and Prose.

As president of Microsoft, Smith is acutely aware of both the promise and the threat of technology. As he emphasizes in this behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s most influential companies, he believes it’s incumbent on Big Data not only to advance technology’s benefits as widely as possible but also to take responsibility for the problems it causes. Discussing issues such as privacy, cybercrime and cyberwar, social media, the moral dilemmas of artificial intelligence, big tech's relationship to inequality, and even its consequences for democracy, Smith shows how Microsoft is grappling with a range of unprecedented challenges. Smith is in conversation with David E. Sanger, national security correspondent for The New York Times.

Brad Smith is Microsoft's president, where he leads a team of more than 1,400 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals working in 56 countries. He plays a key role in spearheading the company's work on critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including cybersecurity, privacy, artificial intelligence, human rights, immigration, philanthropy and environmental sustainability. The Australian Financial Review has described Smith as "one of the technology industry's most respected figures," and the New York Times has called him "a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large."

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Produced by Tom Warren