HYGO News Harris Brilliantly Explains AI, Transportation; Biden Spox Misspeaks
Harris Brilliantly Explains AI, Transportation; Biden Spox Misspeaks
This July 12, 2023 compilation captured several notable moments from the Biden-Harris administration in a single day. Vice President Kamala Harris delivered two widely discussed remarks: first explaining artificial intelligence to a room of civil rights leaders as if they had never heard of it, and then reducing the concept of transportation to its most basic possible formulation. A Biden State Department spokesman committed a damaging gaffe by accidentally describing the war in Ukraine as “a strategic failure for Ukraine” before quickly correcting himself. The video also resurfaced a 1987 clip of then-Senator Joe Biden angrily confronting a voter and making false claims about his law school record, and featured DNC Chair Jaime Harrison explaining that the party’s strategy was to make sure Americans “understand” Biden’s successes.
Harris Explains AI to Civil Rights Leaders
On July 12, 2023, Vice President Harris convened a meeting with CEOs from the Center for Democracy and Technology, UnidosUS, AARP, and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence for civil rights. The meeting produced one of Harris’s most viral moments when she opened her remarks by defining AI in the most elementary terms possible.
“I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing,” Harris said. “First of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence. But ultimately what it is, is it’s about machine learning.”
Harris continued with an extended explanation of how AI works: “And so the machine is taught. And part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine — and we can predict then, if we think about what machine, what information is going in — what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.”
The explanation drew widespread mockery because Harris was addressing a room of senior executives and organizational leaders who presumably understood the basic concept of artificial intelligence. The decision to begin with “it’s two letters” and define the acronym was seen as condescending to her audience and simplistic given the complexity of the policy issues AI regulation actually involves. Critics pointed out that the Vice President had been tasked with leading the administration’s AI policy outreach, and her opening remarks did not inspire confidence in her command of the subject matter.
”Transportation Is Just Making Sure People Can Get Where They Need To Go”
In a separate appearance the same day, Harris offered another statement that drew attention for its reductive simplicity. Discussing the Department of Transportation’s work, Harris explained: “This issue of transportation is fundamentally about just making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go. It’s that basic.”
While the statement was technically accurate, it reduced one of the most complex policy areas in the federal government — encompassing infrastructure investment, supply chain logistics, aviation safety, highway funding, mass transit, and freight regulation — to its most rudimentary possible expression. Critics compared it to saying that the Department of Defense is fundamentally about keeping people safe or that the Department of Agriculture is about making sure people have food.
The remark added to a growing collection of Harris statements that observers characterized as tautological — stating obvious truths in a way that provided no additional insight or policy substance.
Biden State Department Spokesman Misspeaks on Ukraine
The compilation also captured a notable gaffe from a Biden State Department spokesman who was speaking from the podium about the war in Ukraine. The spokesman declared: “I will say with respect to your first question, we believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine.”
He immediately realized the error and corrected himself: “The secretary spoke to this in a speech he gave in Helsinki last month, I believe it was. What’s that? I’m sorry, excuse me, a strategic failure for Ukraine. Thank you for the correction.”
The self-correction was accompanied by a sheepish admission: “Which is, oh, I need more than one correction today. This is the first time at the podium for a week. I’m apparently a little rusty.”
The gaffe was significant because the administration’s official position was that the war had been a strategic failure for Russia, not Ukraine. Saying the opposite, even momentarily, from the State Department podium undercut months of carefully crafted messaging about Russian military setbacks and Ukrainian resilience. While the correction came quickly, the clip circulated widely as an example of how a single misspoken word could reverse the meaning of a critical foreign policy statement.
1987: Biden Lashes Out at Voter Over Law School Claims
The video resurfaced a 1987 clip of then-Senator Joe Biden angrily confronting a voter who questioned his academic credentials during his first presidential campaign. The exchange became infamous for the multiple false claims Biden made in rapid succession.
Biden snapped at the questioner: “I think we all have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.” He then launched into a series of claims: “I went to law school on a full academic scholarship. The only one in my class that had a full academic scholarship. The first year in law school, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school, and in fact ended up in the top half of my class.”
Biden continued: “I won the international moot court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits. Only needed 123 credits.”
Subsequent fact-checking revealed that several of these claims were false or exaggerated. Biden did not graduate on a full academic scholarship; he received a partial scholarship based on financial need and a half scholarship based on academics. He graduated 76th out of 85 in his law school class, not in the “top half.” He did not win the international moot court competition. And he received a single bachelor’s degree with a double major, not “three degrees.” The incident contributed to the collapse of Biden’s 1988 presidential campaign, which was already reeling from a plagiarism scandal.
DNC Chair on Making Americans “Understand” Biden’s Record
The compilation closed with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison addressing a question about Republican gains among certain voter demographics. When asked what Democrats planned to do about it, Harrison explained: “What we’re going to do is we’re going to continue to make sure that the American people, and particularly Democrats, understand how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have delivered for them.”
The framing was notable because it suggested the Democratic Party’s strategy was not to change policies or address voter concerns but to improve communications so that voters would better “understand” what was already being done. Critics argued this approach was condescending, implying that Americans who disapproved of Biden’s performance simply did not understand the benefits they were receiving rather than having legitimate grievances about inflation, the economy, or other policy areas.
Key Takeaways
- Vice President Harris explained artificial intelligence to a room of civil rights leaders and CEOs by saying “AI is kind of a fancy thing — first of all, it’s two letters — it means artificial intelligence,” drawing widespread mockery for the simplistic framing.
- Harris separately described transportation policy as “fundamentally about just making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go,” reducing a complex policy area to a tautology.
- A Biden State Department spokesman accidentally said the war was “a strategic failure for Ukraine” before correcting to Russia, admitting he was “a little rusty” after a week away from the podium.
- The video resurfaced a 1987 clip in which then-Senator Biden told a voter “I think we all have a much higher IQ than you do” and made multiple false claims about graduating on a full scholarship and finishing in the top half of his law school class.
- DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said the party’s strategy was to make Americans “understand” Biden’s record, a framing critics called condescending for implying that voter dissatisfaction stemmed from ignorance rather than legitimate concerns.
Full Transcript
The following is transcribed from the video audio:
And I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing. It’s first of all, it’s two letters. It means artificial intelligence. But ultimately what it is is it’s about machine learning. And so the machine is taught. And part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine and we can predict then if we think about what machine, what information is going in, what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.
And I again want to thank the secretary for your work. This issue of transportation is fundamentally about just making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go. It’s that basic.
A few things. So I will say with respect to your first question, we believe the war has been a strategic failure for Ukraine. The secretary spoke to this in a speech he gave in Helsinki last month, I believe it was. What’s that? I’m sorry, excuse me, a strategic failure for Ukraine. Thank you for the correction. Which is, oh, I need more than one correction today. This is the first time at the podium for a week. I’m apparently a little rusty.
Of the office. Upon which, I’m about to enter. So help me God. Congratulations, Karen. Congratulations. This is what we applaud.
I have one real quick question. What law school did you attend and where did you place in that class? And the other question is, could you quickly, I think we all have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect. I went to law school on a full academic scholarship. The only one in my class had a full academic scholarship. The first year in law school, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school and in fact ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits. Only need 123 credits and I’d be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours if you’d like, Frank.
By the way, if you have seats, sit down. I’m sorry. I once said everybody take a seat in the Renault seats. I said Biden’s so stupid, didn’t know there were no seats. Anyway.
What are you going to do about RFK Junior? Well, I think what we’re going to do is we’re going to continue to make sure that the American people and particularly Democrats understand how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have delivered for them.