Bloomberg Talks
Microsoft President Brad Smith Talks Using AI to Advance the Global South
18 Feb 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of AI growth disparities between the Global North and South?
Instead of coming in and just doing one thing and it may be more the basic research or checking of citations or sources, I think entry-level work may become a little bit more like apprenticeships. It may become something where you want people to be exposed to multiple different tasks and skills for the first year or two. I think this is a great time for employers that are farsighted.
What do you really care about the most if you're a great employer when you're hiring someone new? Is it somebody who's going to do something that needs to get done for the next six months but may not be all that demanding? Or are you hiring people who are going to become the employees that will lead your firm into the future?
The people who three and five and ten years from now are likely to be sparking the innovation you need. That, I think, is and often should be at the heart of what great employers are looking for. Right now, we all know it's a tough job market for people graduating from universities.
but flip that on its head, it's a great time for employers who are farsighted, who care about talent, who want to invest in people, who are going to build the workforce, not just for the next year, but for the next decade and beyond. I think that's what we want to be at Microsoft. I think that's what everybody who really has a long-term vision should aspire to do, and we need to make AI
and AI tools and AI skills a fundamental ingredient for everybody that we hire in that way.
Brad, I want to take a look at your Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI. How do you see that evolving longer term?
Well, I think it remains a critically important partnership for Microsoft. We bet on each other. but it's not as exclusive as it was, say, a few years ago. OpenAI uses our compute, they train models in our data centers, but they work with other companies as well. We critically rely on OpenAI's frontier models They are among the best. In many days, they are the best in the world.
But we have a relationship with Anthropic. We use open source models. We're developing our own models. So on both sides, we work with more partners. But I think the partnership between the two of us remains an imperative. It's a huge priority for us at Microsoft.
The question is why. Is it a hedge? Is it a strategic pivot? How would you describe that move looking at alternative partners?
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Chapter 3: How can AI help close the economic divide in the Global South?
We'll each do special things with other companies. We'll each do, I think, very special things with each other.
Just one final question, because we're running out of time, apparently. Copilot, is it losing traction?
I don't think so. It's gaining ground. It's getting better every week. It's getting better every month. I say this as a user, not just of M365 Copilot, but our consumer copilot, our researcher agent, our other agents. We're seeing usage grow. We will continue to add features and functionality.
I personally think it is an important part, not just of Microsoft's past and present, it is a key part of our future. It is a key part of, I think, making everyone more creative, more productive. I certainly find that in my own work each and every day.