President Joe Biden delivered stark warnings for the American people during his farewell address to the nation Wednesday night, capping a 50-year career in politics less than a week before his one-term presidency comes to an end.
Biden highlighted some accomplishments of his term, including the passage of major climate legislation and a gun-safety law. But he also said he wanted to warn the country about “the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” he said, adding that the wealthy needed to “pay their fair share of taxes” and play by the same rules as everyone else.
Biden also said he was concerned about “the potential rise of a tech industrial complex” that could pose real dangers for the US, citing a “concentration of technology, power, and wealth.”
“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking,” Biden said, seemingly a reference to Meta moving away from third-party fact checkers. “The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”
Biden said artificial intelligence posed both opportunities and risks for American society, security, and the economy.
“But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind,” he said, adding, “And as the land of liberty, America, not China, must lead the world of the development of AI.”
Biden’s remarks on AI came a day after he signed an executive order to speed up AI infrastructure projects in the US. On Monday he also announced new chip rules aimed at advancing AI development in US-allied countries in an effort to counter China.
At the start of the address, Biden briefly addressed the Gaza cease-fire agreement that the White House had announced earlier on Wednesday after more than a year of conflict in the area.
Biden said the plan was developed and negotiated by his team and would largely be implemented by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. “That’s why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that’s how it should be — working together as Americans,” he said.
A senior administration official said in a call Wednesday evening the Biden administration worked for several months on the terms of the negotiation with officials from Egypt and Qatar, but in its final days, members of Trump’s administration joined the discussions to help finalize the agreement. The official also said the transition from one president to the next helped to create a deadline for the negotiations.
In his message on Wednesday, Biden also emphasized his belief in and the importance of safeguarding American institutions and democracy.
Trump is set to be sworn into office on January 20, kicking off his second term in the White House.
Biden’s presidency is ending after he dropped out of the presidential race last year to serve a second term amid concerns about his age and mental acuity.
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