After President Biden rhymed off a long list of foreign policy accomplishments in a valedictory address on Monday, he called on his successor to carry forward his work in two specific — and somewhat surprising — areas: artificial intelligence and climate.
The two items were not on the radar when Biden, 82, entered public life — and they were overshadowed during his four years at the White House by the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, pushback against China, and the rough exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
But Biden singled out those two issues as having the potential to shape the future, and urged President-elect Donald Trump to carry them forward.
"On artificial intelligence, we are the lead. We must stay in the lead. We must not offshore artificial intelligence, as he once did with computer chips and other critical technologies," Biden said.
"AI has the power to reshape economies, governments, national security, entire societies," he said.
The only overt criticism he leveled at the incoming Trump administration came when he talked about skepticism among some members of the incoming team about clean energy.
"They don't even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They're wrong. They are dead wrong. It's the single greatest existential threat to humanity," Biden said.
He said China was working to dominate the market, and said the United States must not allow that to happen.
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