Biden on AI and Online Privacy

From the White House.

(00:00)
I was at the real fresh of the fake press back there. That was a joke, it was a joke. I tell you what, I have a bunch of grandchildren and with all due respect, they don’t read the same newspapers or watch the same television I do. They listen to all you. Listen to all of you. Look, I want to welcome you here to the White House and I’m glad you’re all here. The fact is that you are the future. You are the future. And to my grandchildren, ranging age from 30 down to… Well, the little ones isn’t watching yet, but to 14, you are the source of their news. And there more people want to go into your business than the other these days. When I retire, where do you think I’m going? I got contacts, man. You all think I’m kidding. Anyway, look, my staff tells me that the greater economy is valued at $250 billion. I’d like to talk to you about borrowing some money from here.

(01:45)
And that is expected to double in the next few years. Folks, look, your tired of hearing me talk about it, but I talk about these inflection points in history, how history gets changed by mostly technology and it changes it drastically. And, think about it. Think about, I wonder if any of you, when you started in this side of the equation, you thought it’s going to have the consequence it has. I really mean it. Think about it. It’s staggering. And they’re changing not only what people listen to and what they’ve put their faith in, but what they’re doing, they’re also changing the idea of what’s consequential and where they go. And, one of the things that I found, at least as I’ve tried to stay current, is that you all understand that you have an obligation, an obligation to record what you think is true and say what you think is true. But, we’ve divided into competing camps. Now, I know I only look like I’m 40. You can smile.

(03:00)
Okay. But I’ve been around a long time and it is never been this bad before. I don’t mean the press, I mean the way we treat each other in politics. And it is literally getting incredibly difficult to count the number of lies people hear. They don’t know what to believe, they don’t know what to count on. But, you break through. You break through in ways that I think are going to change the entire dynamic of the way in which we communicate. And that’s why I invited you to the White House because I’m looking for a job. I thought I might be… Anyway. And I asked my team to send me a writeup of your conversations today because I want to hear from you. Look, the innovation entrepreneur spirit in this room is what makes America, America.

(04:05)
I know you’ve heard me say this before, but when I spent an awful lot of time as Xi Jinping when I was vice president, and over 80 hours alone just he and I talking, I turned in all my notes by the way, and we were near the Tibetan Plateau for real. I was traveling in China with him and he asked me, he said, “Can you define America for me?” I said, “Yes I can.” It’s all on record. I said, “Yes I can. One word, possibilities. Possibilities.” When you go around the world, as many of you have, they look at America like these guys can do anything when they set their mind to it. It’s just a nation of possibilities and change. And you are the new possibilities. You are the new breakthrough in how we communicate and it matters. And for example, one of your colleagues interviewed me on… I’ve been fighting the drug companies for a long, long time, since 200 years ago when I was in the Senate.

(05:10)
Put all kidding aside, when I was a United States senator, I spent a lot of time trying to take on the drug companies. They charge exorbitant profits, I mean, exorbitant amount of money. And a lot of people are in real tough shape. American taxpayers paying billions of dollars they shouldn’t have to pay because they… Medicare. And what’s happened is I was interviewed by one of your colleagues and it was about insulin. And I was standing in… I was walking through a retail establishment and a guy came to me and said, “I thank you. I take insulin now $35 instead of $400.” He talked about how it changed his life and what was more is coming. That got more coverage about what I’ve been fighting for in terms of fair drug price than anything I’d done. I mean everything else was done. Everything. Well, I mean it. I genuinely mean it.

(06:12)
I used to have a friend, you got to know how to know. And part of it knowing how to know is know where to go. I really mean it. For example, tomorrow I’m going to be doing an announcement that we announcing what we’ve done in the first bill that I got passed. The first bill I got passed, it covered everybody, these reduction in prices, whether you’re on Medicare or not. And by the way, it saves the American taxpayers billions and billions and billions of dollars. The one thing I got past is already projected to save over the next 10 years, $760 billion in taxpayers dollars because they don’t have to pay that out for Medicare. And in addition, it’s saving people’s lives. But what I wrote in there when that first piece of legislation, it’s the law now, unless the other guy makes it, I’m not being facetious, he wants to get rid of it, is that beginning this year, this next calendar year, it’s 10 new drugs every year to 20, so they’re going to cover over the next as far as the eye can see.

(07:19)
I would always say when I show up at a function on the road when I’m campaigning, I say, if they ask about drug prices, said, “Anyone of you want to get in an Air Force One with me, bring your prescription from a domestic American drug company, fly you to anywhere from Toronto to Belgium, to Paris, to anywhere around the world. Get you the same exact drug, same exact drug to 40 per 60% less, 40 to 60% less. You know how much it costs them make that insulin? $10. $10. Package it and everything, $12. They’re still making $35 and, excuse me, triple what cost them.” So my point is, this isn’t socialism, it’s about just basic fairness, decency for something that matters to people’s lives. From the time I got involved in public life, and this is not hyperbole, my one goal has been give everybody a fair shot.

(08:26)
I come from a typical middle class family like a lot of you do where trickle down economics, not a lot trickle down on my dad’s kitchen table. You’ve heard me say it before, my dad used to say, “Joey, a job’s…” Not a joke. My dad was an extremely well-read man, very engaged, but my dad never got to go to college. He got into Johns Hopkins, I didn’t even know this until four years ago. Got into Hopkins when he was in his early twenties, but because of the war and working the shipyard, he didn’t get to go. But he was very, very, very real read guy. And he said, “Joey, your job’s about a lot more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about…” I’m not joking, “It’s about your dignity. It’s about your being able to look your kid in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay,’ and mean it. Have a fair shot.” And I think what you guys are doing, and it’s not the national press, they’re good people. They’re not that crazy about me, but I like them.

(09:31)
But they’ll tell you, I’m putting words in their mouth and they’re going to write about how I’m wrong. But they’ll tell you how things are changed, how things have changed. There are no editors anymore. There’s no editors anymore. You want get to get your name in the news, you want to get a click, it’s not always best to get it by doing something positive. And by the, I’m not being facetious, these are really bright, smart, decent people, but it’s all changed. I hope you all thought about the consequence of what you’re undertaking, what it means and what a presumptuous… Me sounding like a preacher, but what obligations you have to do it on the level, do it on the level. So for example, when I do this thing tomorrow, I hope a couple of you show up because it really matters. Like I said, almost every drug over the next 10 years are going to be covered. And we’re talking about drugs that are real heart diseases, cancer drugs.

(10:37)
Now, some of these drugs cost $10,000 to $12,000 a year just to stay alive, just to have a shot. So, I think we’re going to make a big change. There’s much more than just a drug issue, but my generic point is that it’s how we explain to ordinary people who are busting their rear ends. Bless me, mom, but I forgot. But all kidding aside, I just think that, as I said, I got a close friend who said, you got to know how to know. Part of dealing with government is just, even though when it’s well intended, it’s a gigantic bureaucracy. The vast majority of people in it are trying to do good, but it’s complicated. How do you break through? And you’re breaking through in ways that it’s never been done before, at least in the 800 years I’ve been involved. Anyway, I wanted to say something else to you, and I can’t remember what it was now.

(11:50)
Oh, well. I guess a way to end, but I’m about… What I came to say to you is there’s been such a decline in trust in America. I mean, across the board. How many just in politics, in trust. And you had one of my team over here talking about mental health. You know, when I appointed Vivek Murthy to be the surgeon general, he’s been on me to make the point and we’re working on it. The single greatest consequence of that pandemic was mental health. I’m not joking. Mental health of the American people. And it’s really, really, really important we invest. I noticed that other team got the message, they’re going to stop trying to do away with Obamacare. All of a sudden after 53 attempts, they figured that’s not going to work. At least, that’s what they’re saying. My point is that the media is good and bad, like there are in public lives are good and bad, not morally bad, good and accurate and inaccurate, partisan and nonpartisan.

(13:04)
But think about it, if you turn on the television or watch the news program, you pick the news program you think is most likely to agree with you. I don’t know a whole lot of people or Trump supporters watching MSNBC. I don’t know, a whole lot of that are Commonwealth people who are watching that other show. So anyway, the biggest thing you got going for you, and I hope you keep it, is you’re trusted, you’re trusted, and it makes a difference. Now, my staff always tells me this, any of the non press, the non press, one, ask me a question. You can ask me. I may not answer it. I’d like to stay on topic. I don’t want to get into talking about what’s going on in foreign policy and the like right now. But if anyone asks what I’ve said, I’d be happy to touch or respond.

Mr. President, [inaudible 00:14:03] been speaking yet.

I’m not talking to you guys. Yes.

Do you recognize and move little [inaudible 00:14:14]?

I’m not going to answer your question. I’m talking to them first. Okay, the audience first. Okay? Yes, sir.

Thank you so much. Thank you, press.

Thank you, press.

Thank you, press.

I understand [inaudible 00:14:23].

Mr. President, can you comment on inflation? Can the US beat inflation, Mr. President?

Yes, yes, yes. I told you you we’re going to have a soft landing. We’re going to have a soft landing. My policies are working. Start writing that way. Okay?

And Mr. President-

Anyway, thank you so much.

Thank you so much. We got to move this way, Gabe. We got to go this way.

And Mr. President, did you know your son reached out to a US ambassador about Burisma?

Thank you, press this way.