During his "My Take," Wednesday, "Varney & Co." host Stuart Varney pushed back against the government's effort to break up America's Big Tech companies because they are too "big and powerful," arguing the money and resources among the "big five" is essential to the U.S. leading the global A.I. race.
STUART VARNEY: In the 1990s, the government went after Microsoft.
They called it a monopoly and put restrictions on its business that set it back a decade.
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The government had put a Big Tech player on the sidelines.
We should have learned from that mistake, but we didn't.
The crown jewels of American business are under attack again, just as we need their money and expertise to develop artificial intelligence.
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Let's call them "the big five." Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon.
Politicians on the left, and some on the right, want to break them up.
They're so big and powerful that they are stifling competition. Engaging in predatory pricing, exploiting smaller companies.
Censoring our politics. A lot of that is accurate, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Another cliché is: don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
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It may feel good to rail against the big bad corporations, but we need these companies, and we need them now.
If AI is indeed the big game-changer, then we need the big and powerful on our side.
The only companies that have the technical and financial resources are the big five.
The global competition has started. America leads. Europe, as usual, trails. China is playing desperate catch-up.
On September 13th, Senate leader Schumer will host a closed-door meeting with Big Tech leaders, including Google's Sundar Pichai and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. Elon Musk will be in there, too.
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The meeting will try to figure out the rules for A.I. development. That's good.
Figure out how to support America's A.I. effort and don't attack the crown jewels of American business.
