President Joe Biden devoted much of his farewell speech warning about the concentration of power and wealth, especially when it comes to what he called the “tech-industrial complex.”
In a speech from the Oval Office, Biden did not mention the name of Elon Musk, who is preparing to assume a central role in Donald Trump’s administration, or Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who have taken aggressive steps to woo the former president. Celebrity Apprentice Hosts.
But to borrow a phrase from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who warned of the rise of the military-industrial complex in his final address to the nation, Biden said he was “equally concerned about the potential rise of the technology-industrial complex.”
“It could pose a real danger to our country as well. Americans are buried under a torrent of misinformation and disinformation, allowing for the abuse of power. The free press is collapsing. Editors disappear. Social media is giving up on fact checking. The truth is suffocated by lies, told for the sake of power and for profit. We must hold social media platforms accountable, to protect our children and families in a democratic system from abuse of power.”
Biden’s warning was part of a broader alarm about the lack of deterrence for abuse of power.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America — extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our fundamental rights and freedoms, and our fair chance for all to get ahead.”
Last week, Zuckerberg announced that Meta would stop fact-checking its platforms, in reference to Trump, who criticized the content moderation practices of social media platforms.
Meanwhile, Musk suspended fact-checking on Twitter after purchasing it and later renamed it to X, replacing it with a community feedback system, a system that Zuckerberg plans to adopt. Musk himself has spread lies and misinformation on his own account.
Biden’s warning highlighted what has eluded his presidency for much of his term, as he and his advisers have struggled to get their message across in a diffuse information environment where audiences for legacy media are dwindling.
During its four years in office, the Biden administration has often battled the spread of falsehoods on social media, especially as it has sought vaccine acceptance to address the Covid pandemic.
The president reviewed his legislative and other accomplishments in the earlier part of his speech, including the passage of the Infrastructure Act, another law aimed at boosting the semiconductor industry and another to lower the cost of prescription drug prices. He promoted the passage of important climate change legislation while noting the creation of 17 million new jobs, surpassing his predecessors.
“It will take time to feel the full impact of all we have done together, but the seeds have been planted,” Biden said.
The Biden administration has tried to address the rise of AI, including through largely voluntary initiatives by major companies like OpenAI to put safeguards in place. But despite months of sessions devoted to concerns about artificial intelligence, Congress has passed no significant law.
“Unless safeguards are in place, artificial intelligence could generate new threats to our rights, our way of life, our privacy, how we work, and how we protect our nation,” Biden said. “We must ensure that AI is safe and trustworthy.”
More to come.
