U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a farewell address to nation on January 15, warning that a “dangerous oligarchy” of extremely wealthy people is taking shape in America and wielding power and influence that threatens democracy.
“I am concerned about the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few wealthy people,” Biden said, speaking from the White House.
He said the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few threatens not only democracy but basic rights and freedoms and the expectation that each person deserves “a fair shot" to get ahead.
After serving one term, Biden will leave the presidency on January 20 with the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, a billionaire, who has been backed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, and other ultrawealthy people.
Musk, who shares Trump's hard-right politics, spent tens of millions of dollars helping his presidential campaign last year and will attend the incoming president's inauguration.
SEE ALSO: The Many Faces Of Europe Invasion, The Anonymous X Account Stoking Anti-Immigrant NarrativesTwo other prominent U.S. billionaires -- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg -- are also expected to attend Trump's inauguration.
Biden named a number of his accomplishments, including guiding the country out of the coronavirus pandemic during his first two years in office, supporting domestic manufacturing, and limiting the cost of prescription drugs.
But he said U.S. values are “constantly being tested,” warning about the potential rise of what he called the “tech industrial complex” and the future of artificial intelligence.
“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power,” he said. “The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies both for power and for profit.”
To counter those trends, he said social media platforms must be held accountable to protect America’s children, families, and democracy from the abuse of power.
AI, he said, is an exciting development that has the potential to help solve problems, even help find a cure for cancer, but it could also “spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work, and how we protect our nation.”
“AI is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy, our security, our society, for humanity,” he said.
But it must be “safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind,” he said, adding that it’s more important than ever that “as the land of liberty, America, not China, must lead the world in the development of AI.”
Biden, who ousted Trump in the 2020 presidential election, will leave office next week. He had stepped aside amid concerns over his mental fitness in the 2024 race to allow Vice President Kamala Harris to run against Trump as the Democratic party's candidate. Harris lost to Trump in the November 5 election.