President Joe Biden concludes Bay Area visit
SAN FRANCISCO – President Joe Biden has concluded his three-day trip to the Bay Area after departing Wednesday morning from San Francisco International Airport on Air Force One.
On Monday, Biden visited Palo Alto to announce a $600 million investment toward climate adaptation strategies across the country.
He announced the investment at Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve, a marshland estimated to protect nearly 1,600 homes from flooding and sea level rise. Biden noted the preserve as a "success story" in the efforts to better prepare for climate-induced natural disasters and mitigate carbon pollution.
He also announced an additional $67 million in federal funds for California to build power lines. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who also attended the announcement, said the assistance will support the state's push for 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
A White House representative said Biden then went on to attend two re-election campaign fundraising events, one hosted in Los Gatos and another hosted in Atherton.
On Tuesday, Biden discussed the future of artificial intelligence technology with Newsom and a collective of tech leaders at the Fairmont San Francisco hotel.
The discussion comes as AI tools like ChatGPT emerge into the public sector. The technology is both promising and risky -- Biden noted that while it may boost productivity, AI can also make spotting misinformation harder and put human jobs at risk.
The president said he is committed to implementing safeguards to ensure there are no threats to national security or the economy before these tools become public.
The discussion included input from Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Tristan Harris of the Center for Human Technology and Jim Steyer of Common Sense Media, among other Silicon Valley stakeholders.
Later Tuesday, Biden attended two more fundraisers in Marin County and San Francisco before heading back Wednesday morning to Washington, D.C., according to White House officials.