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President Biden warned successful his farewell code of an "ultra-wealthy" "oligarchy" posing a menace to America arsenic large tech CEOS person been warming up to President-elect Trump successful caller months.
Biden spoke Wednesday arsenic reports emerged this week that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – the 3 astir affluent radical successful the satellite who collectively are worthy much than $850 billion, according to Forbes – volition beryllium seated adjacent to Trump’s furniture picks and elected officials adjacent Monday astatine his inauguration.
"I person nary uncertainty that America is successful a presumption to proceed to succeed. That's wherefore successful my farewell code tonight, I privation to pass the state of immoderate things that springiness maine large concern. And that's the dangerous attraction of powerfulness successful the hands of a precise few, ultra-wealthy people. And the unsafe consequences if their maltreatment of powerfulness is near unchecked," Biden said from the Oval Office.
"Today, an oligarchy is taking signifier successful America of utmost wealth, powerfulness and power that virtually threatens our full democracy, our basal rights, freedoms, and a just changeable for everyone to get ahead," Biden continued. "We spot the consequences each crossed America, and we've seen it before, much than a period ago. But the American radical stood up to the robber barons backmost past and busted the trust. They didn't punish the wealthy, they conscionable made the affluent play by the rules everybody other had to."
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Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Bezos, the laminitis of Amazon, and Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, person each met with Trump astatine his Mar-a-Lago location successful Florida pursuing his predetermination triumph successful November.
During the predetermination cycle, Musk gave astatine slightest $277 cardinal successful donations to assistance get Trump and different Republicans elected, according to The Washington Post, which cited filings from the Federal Election Commission.
Tech giants including Amazon, Meta, Apple, Google and Microsoft are reported to person donated $1 cardinal each to Trump’s inauguration connected Jan. 20.
Musk has been tasked with heading up the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which volition analyse issues of authorities spending, waste, ratio and operations.
In bid to bash that, Musk whitethorn inhabit space successful the Eisenhower Executive Office Building close adjacent to the West Wing that houses the bulk of bureau abstraction for White House staffers, the New York Times reported.
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Biden besides said successful his farewell code that American enactment and exertion is an "unparalleled root of innovation that tin alteration lives," but "we spot the aforesaid dangers, the attraction of technology, powerfulness and wealth."
"You know, successful his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the subject concern complex. He warned america past about, and I quote, the imaginable for the disastrous emergence of misplaced power, extremity of quote. Six decades later, I'm arsenic acrophobic astir the imaginable emergence of a tech concern analyzable that could airs existent dangers for our country, arsenic well," Biden added.
"Americans are being buried nether an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the maltreatment of power. The escaped property is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up connected information checking. The information is smothered by lies told for powerfulness and for profit," the president continued. "We indispensable clasp the societal level accountable to support our children, our families and our precise ideology from the maltreatment of power.
"Meanwhile, artificial quality is the astir consequential exertion of our time, possibly of each time. Nothing offers much profound possibilities and risks for our system and our security, our society, for humanity. Artificial quality adjacent has the imaginable to assistance america reply my telephone to extremity crab arsenic we cognize it. But unless safeguards are successful place, AI could spawn caller threats to our rights, our mode of life, to our privacy, however we enactment and however we support our nation. We indispensable marque definite AI is harmless and trustworthy and bully for each humankind," Biden said.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
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