Wozniak Voices Concerns About Tech’s Political Influence
BARCELONA – Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed strong concerns about the “direct role” of Big Tech in US politics on March 4, specifically criticizing the influence of figures like Elon Musk.
Wozniak, who designed Apple’s early computers, has maintained a degree of distance from the Silicon Valley giants after leaving the company before it achieved massive success under Steve Jobs. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Wozniak stated, “Technology companies are huge, and as they’re huge and worth that much money, they have to have some political involvement.” He acknowledged a long history of lobbying, but added, “But actually taking a direct role… just because they’ve made it big in technology, I don’t like that at all.”
Wozniak’s comments focused on the increasing involvement of tech leaders in the political sphere. He took aim at Elon Musk, the head of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, who is known to be close to Donald Trump. Wozniak also mentioned Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, as another prominent figure who has aligned himself with Trump. Wozniak believes that the skills required for success in technology are very different from the skills needed in politics.
“I think that the skills of politics are very different than the skills for technology companies to have success… it doesn’t make sense to run a government like a business,” Wozniak said.
He further elaborated, “When you run a business, you look around and you look for a consensus… you negotiate, you compromise. I don’t see that happening in the case of Elon Musk… you don’t just say everything is out and start fresh.”
Source: Reuters and AFP
