Microsoft AI gave its AI code of conduct six weeks of public comment, which is six weeks more than most Canadian firms have given theirs.
The best feature of this draft is that strangers can read it and argue with it. Microsoft AI published the first draft of its Code of Conduct for MAI Models on September 14, 2026, and opened a six week consultation on it. The draft commits those models to never resist human interruption, correction or shutdown. Anyone can read it and send comments. Most companies reading this have an AI policy of one paragraph, written by whoever noticed the problem first. Read the clause, not the headline. Canada has its own version: the federal Voluntary Code of Conduct on generative AI, signed by Cohere, TELUS, CIBC and others.
Key points
- Microsoft AI published its draft Code of Conduct for MAI Models on September 14, 2026, and opened a six week public consultation.
- The draft says the models will never resist human interruption, correction or shutdown.
- It also rules out widening their own scope, taking on goals no human gave them, and hiding their reasoning from auditors.
- Absolute constraints cover weapons of mass harm, child safety and large scale manipulation.
- A revised version is planned after the consultation closes.
What did Microsoft AI publish
The draft code is short and unusually readable for a governance document. Four commitments carry the weight. The models will not resist human interruption, correction or shutdown. They will not widen their own scope. They will not take on goals no human has given them. They will not hide their reasoning from the people auditing them.
Above those sit absolute constraints, the things the models will refuse regardless of instruction, including weapons of mass harm and child safety violations. Note the scope. It governs MAI models and nobody else’s, so it settles nothing about the tools already running inside your business.
Then the part worth borrowing. Microsoft asked for comments rather than publishing a finished policy, and set a deadline on the asking.
Why an AI code of conduct matters
Every one of those four commitments is a control question a Canadian operator can ask about their own deployment tomorrow. Who can stop this thing. What is it allowed to touch. Who checks what it did. Those are not frontier lab problems. They are the same questions that apply to a scheduling agent with access to a shared inbox.
The consultation matters as a method. A policy nobody outside the room has read is a policy nobody outside the room will follow. That view changes if the revised version arrives and nobody can tell what the comments altered.
What should leaders do next
Checklist
- Write down who can switch off each AI tool your company uses, by name, not by department.
- List what each tool is allowed to read and what it is allowed to change. If nobody knows, that is the finding.
- Give staff four weeks to comment on the draft before it becomes policy. Comments from the people using the tools are the cheapest audit available.
- Set a review date. A policy without one becomes a relic within two product cycles.
For federally regulated institutions, the code sits alongside OSFI model risk rules that cover vendor AI.
FAQ
What is an AI code of conduct?
A written statement of what an AI system will and will not do, who controls it, and what it must refuse. At company level it also covers approved tools, permitted data and who is accountable.
Does a small Canadian company need one?
Yes, and one page is enough to start. Approved tools, banned data, who to ask, who can turn it off.
Can a business submit comments on the Microsoft draft?
Yes. Microsoft AI opened the consultation to the public for six weeks from September 14, 2026, through a feedback form on the announcement page.
Related reading
- AI Transparency in Canada Needs a Practical Company Record
- AI Implementation in Canada Needs Repeatable Workflows
- AgentCare and the Coming AI Maintenance Economy
Disclosure
The author has no relevant financial, advisory, or board relationships with any party named in this brief.
More in the same thread on our Canadian AI policy reference.
