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Brad Smith

Microsoft

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the world’s most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.    

As a 30-year veteran of an industry driven by disruption, Brad Smith hosts candid conversations with his guests that examine, reframe, and explore potential solutions to the digital issues shaping our world today, including cybersecurity, privacy, digital inclusion, environmental sustainability, artificial intelligence, and human rights.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith

You may not know Norma Kamali by name, but you certainly know the designer’s fashions – from the iconic Sleeping Bag Coat, to dresses worn by celebrities like Jessica Biel. 57 years into her career, she’s added AI to her design toolbox and has never been more excited about what’s coming out of her studio. In this episode, Norma makes the case for AI as a valuable tool to enhance creativity for artists of all types, and walks Brad through her process for crafting a great AI prompt.

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Norma Kamali: From canvas to code, redefining creativity with AI

Fei-Fei Li is a pioneering AI scientist breaking new ground in computer vision, a Stanford professor, and currently leading the innovative start-up World Labs. While her career is deeply rooted in technical expertise, Dr. Li's journey is driven by an insatiable curiosity. In this episode, Brad and Dr. Li reflect on poignant moments from her memoir, "The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI," highlighting the crucial role of keeping humanity at the center of AI development. They also explore how government-funded academic research, driven by curiosity rather than profits, can lead to unexpected and profound discoveries that propel innovation and economic opportunities.

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Fei-Fei Li: Staying curious at the forefront of AI

What will it take for a great power today to remain one? Based on research from Jeffrey Ding, a professor at George Washington University, it’s probably not the flashy technology everyone is focused on. We discuss his recent book, Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, as he challenges conventional wisdom about how technology has shaped the rise of great powers like the United States.

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Jeffrey Ding: AI and the Rise of Great Powers

As Microsoft celebrates its 50th birthday, I had the chance to sit down with my friend and the company’s cofounder, Bill Gates. We discuss his memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, Microsoft’s impact over the past 50 years, and how the next phase of the digital revolution is the most exciting one yet.

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Bill Gates: Starting the Digital Revolution

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO from 2000 to 2014, was instrumental in scaling the company from a small 30-person startup to one of the most valuable companies on the planet. Ahead of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, I had the chance to catch up with my former boss. We talked about the early days of Microsoft and the pitch that convinced him to take a chance on a small company in a new industry. We also discussed how three traits—irrational confidence, realism, and persistence—have helped him succeed at Microsoft and today as the owner of the LA Clippers.

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Steve Ballmer: Scaling the digital revolution

I often sit down with Satya Nadella, my boss, and Microsoft’s third CEO—but rarely with microphones. In the final segment of our Microsoft CEO trilogy, we talk about his journey from his early days playing cricket to leading Microsoft, the link between poetry and programming, and how the company is leading the next wave of technological transformation—redefining how we build and interact with technology.

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Satya Nadella: Leading through the AI Revolution

With things heating up around the world—environmentally, socially, and politically, now is the time to discuss the role technology plays – for good and bad – as we work together to solve our biggest challenges. 

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the world’s most critical issues at the intersection of technology and society.

Brad Smith is Microsoft's vice chair and president, leads a team of more than 1,900 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals working in 56 countries. He plays a key role in spearheading the company’s work to advance trust, inclusion, fundamental human rights, 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." Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Coming Soon: Tools and Weapons

Since his first night anchoring The Daily Show in 2015, Trevor Noah has used comedy to connect the dots between local events and global issues. In this episode, Brad and Trevor discuss the intersection of the news of the day and technology. Focusing on the rise of disinformation, they explore how we become susceptible to it, the threat of ”cybertribes” that dehumanize and pit groups of people against each other, and how automobile regulation in the U.S. could hold answers to fixing the bugs that lead to disinformation’s viral spread. 

Trevor Noah is Africa’s most successful comedian and is the host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, where he uses incisive humor to address some of today’s thorniest issues, from race to politics and climate change. Born in Apartheid-era Johannesburg to parents of different races, Noah was, as the title of his autobiographical book reflects, Born a Crime. Noah began his career in South Africa in 2002 and took over hosting duties of The Daily Show in 2015. In 2020, Noah received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia. In 2019, The Daily Show received two Primetime Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Variety Talk Series and Outstanding Interactive Program. In 2018, Time Magazine named Noah one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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Trevor Noah: Who do you trust (when you don’t trust the news)?

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is determined to stop the spread of extremism and radicalization online. In the aftermath of the 2019 terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, she saw the livestream of the tragedy go viral across social media feeds, including her own. In response, she led the creation of the Christchurch Call, a commitment by governments and tech companies to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. In this episode, Brad and Prime Minister Ardern discuss the Christchurch Call, how algorithms fan the flames of extremism and the need to address misinformation to create a stronger, more connected society.

Since being elected Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017, Jacinda Ardern has placed wellbeing at heart of her Government’s work. Along with holding the Child Poverty Reduction portfolio, she has championed efforts to tackle long-term challenges like climate change, social inequality, and unaffordable housing. She entered Parliament in 2008 as a list MP, and was later elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate. During this time, she was responsible for a wide range of policy areas, including Social Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage, Children, Justice, and Small Business. Throughout her career, she has been a strong advocate for children, women, and the right to meaningful work.

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: Can we work together to end violent extremism online?

Thomas Friedman believes if you want to understand human nature, live with people in extreme situations. And if you want to know the future, hang around people inventing it. As a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Thomas Friedman has spent a career reporting from a civil war in Beirut, observing some of the world’s leading companies from the inside, and discovering that the key to understanding globalization is studying the only system that mirrors it in complexity – nature. In this episode Brad and Thomas explore how our biggest challenges in society are tied to the environment and the economy, and how the key to our future hinges not on what we know, but on how well we listen.

Thomas Friedman is an internationally renowned author, reporter, and columnist. He is the recipient of three Pulitzer Prizes—two for international reporting from the Middle East and a third for his columns written about 9/11. He started his journalism career with United Press International in 1978. After serving as a Beirut reporter for UPI for two years, Friedman was hired by the New York Times in 1981, where he served as the Beirut bureau chief, Jerusalem bureau chief, chief diplomatic correspondent, international economics correspondent and, since 1995, its foreign affairs columnist. He is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers — From Beirut to Jerusalem; The Lexus and the Olive Tree; Longitudes and Attitudes; The World Is Flat; Hot, Flat, and Crowded; That Used to Be Us (with Michael Mandelbaum); and, most recently, Thank You For Being Late.

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Thomas Friedman: It's not what we know, but how well we listen

As a young child, His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama developed his confidence and leadership skills through video games, which sparked his passion for history, strategy, and problem-solving.

Today, he’s putting these skills to use as the first in the world to hold a cabinet level position on AI as the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications in the United Arab Emirates.

In this episode of Tools & Weapons, H.E. Omar Sultan Al Olama highlights how the region’s rich history and its aspirations for the future shape its embrace of AI. He shares how the elements that make a great game apply to leading transformational change. And he emphasizes the importance of AI education programs for government decision-makers, not just school kids.

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His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama: The journey from gaming to government

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