Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith

For nearly 160 years, the International Telecommunication Union has helped the world communicate across borders, from the telegraph to the telephone, television, satellite, the internet, and now AI. In this episode of Tools and Weapons , Brad Smith sits down with Doreen Bogdan, Secretary-General of the ITU, to discuss why connectivity remains one of the world’s most important foundations for oppor...

At a moment some are calling the “Mythos Moment” for artificial intelligence, the conversation around technology is shifting in real time. In this episode of Tools and Weapons , Brad Smith sits down with former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, now working at the center of global AI policy and innovation, to explore what happens when breakthroughs move faster than the systems built to govern them. Th...

Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft Chief Data Scientist and Director of the AI for Good Lab, joins Brad Smith to unpack the latest AI diffusion report and what it reveals about how artificial intelligence is spreading around the world. In this quarterly update, Juan shares new data on where adoption is accelerating, how AI is reshaping software development, and why emerging divides between regions and...

A lot of people are asking the same question right now: Will I be left behind?  In this episode, Brad Smith sits down with Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn and Executive Vice President at Microsoft, for a practical conversation about AI, the future of work, and what people can do now to stay ahead. Drawing on ideas from his new book, "Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI," Ryan shares a...

Wildfires devastate communities, ecosystems, and lives, and they are becoming harder to stop. But what if firefighters could spot a blaze in its earliest moments, before anyone even calls 911? In this episode of Tools and Weapons , Brad Smith travels to California to meet Deputy Fire Chief Zachary Wells and Dr. Neal Driscoll, a professor at the University of California, San Diego and one of the le...

From the collapse of the pearl trade to becoming a global powerhouse in oil and gas, the UAE has repeatedly reinvented itself through resilience and long-term thinking. In this episode, His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, joins Brad to explore how Mubadala thinks about long-term capital investment, why the UAE is positioned as an early leader in AI adoption,...

Generative AI is spreading fast, but not evenly. In this special edition of Tools and Weapons, I sit down with Juan Lavista Ferres, Director of Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, to unpack the latest AI Diffusion Report and what it reveals about who benefits most from this new technology. We explore why diffusion, not just invention, determines long-term impact, examine the widening gap between the Glob...

From chalkboards to tablets, technology has transformed the NFL. In this episode, Ed Policy, president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, joins Brad to explore how digital tools on the sidelines and innovation hubs like TitletownTech are reshaping the game and driving economic growth beyond Lambeau Field. From growing up in an Ohio football family to steering a uniquely community-owned franchise in...

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos joins Brad Smith for a conversation about the constant reinvention behind one of the world’s most influential entertainment platforms. They explore how bold leadership and a culture of innovation keep Netflix ahead—not just as a media company, but as a force shaping industries and audiences alike. Ted shares how intuition and data combine to turn daring ideas into pract...

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 tech...

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 al...

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. Click here for the episode transcript.

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. Click her...

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 Di...

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 art...

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Maria Ressa, and her co-founders created Rappler to harness social media’s connecting power to bring journalists directly to audiences. But those same social networks were then used by others against her – as a weapon – to spread disinformation and to seek to silence her. Brad and Maria also discuss turning crisis to opportunities and how the golden rule she learned as...

Brad was recently a guest on What Now? with Trevor Noah, and we're excited to share their conversation with our listeners. Here's what the podcast had to say about this episode: Trevor puts on a suit (no, he’s not returning to The Daily Show) and heads to Microsoft. This week Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft talks AI, explains why he doesn’t believe it will be the end of humankind...

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber is the President of COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference hosted by the UAE last year. He's also the CEO and Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), where he leads efforts to produce cleaner energy today and invests in sustainable energy solutions for the future. In this episode, Dr. Sultan shares how his leadership united diverse stakeholders to adop...

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson considers himself a scientist at heart, a chemical engineer by training, and a lifelong student of biotechnology. Now at the helm of a 160-year-old German pharmaceutical and agriculture company, he's employing science and technology with a bold mission — Health for All, Hunger for none. In this episode, Bill discusses AI’s role in accelerating agricultural breakthroughs tha...

Gutenberg's invention of the printing press led to a new economy, which created a new sector of businesses, industries, and jobs. Generative AI is providing a similar opportunity today. In this episode, Brad Smith draws on the lessons from the printing press and supporting industries to illustrate how different technologies are coming together to create a new AI economy. He explains the critical p...

Yves Ubelmann is a technologist, artist, and architect who is on a mission to digitally preserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage. He is the founder and CEO of Iconem, a company that creates stunning 3D models of endangered sites and environments. In this episode, Brad and Yves take a boat trip through Venice, touring the subject of his most ambitious project: an AI-generated digital twin...

As the United States’ first Ambassador-at-Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy, Nathaniel Fick is leading a tech-centered global diplomatic mission. Nate brings extraordinary depth to this important role in contemporary foreign policy – not as a career diplomat, but from a wide range of experiences: a Classics graduate from Dartmouth, a Marine leader in Afghanistan and Iraq, a venture capitalis...

Ben Rhodes had a front-row seat to one of the great transformations of our time - how people consume and react to information on social media. From his post as Deputy National Security Advisor and speechwriter serving under Barack Obama, Ben watched, as this technology evolved from a democratizing force of the Arab Spring to a weapon used to spread disinformation and divide societies. In this epis...

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...

Throughout her impressive career leading businesses, nonprofits, and now as the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman has been driven by a simple question: "What are we going to do about it?" This relentless focus on action propelled her as she transformed eBay from a fledgling startup into a global e-commerce powerhouse and guided her as CEO navigating HP through a high-stakes corporate split. In...