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Kim Jong-un Vows to Shutter Nuclear Test Site; President Snubs Reporters, Holds Campaign Rally; White House Correspondents' Dinner; New U.S. Secretary of State to Meet with Saudi King; Family Sues American Airlines after Newlywed's Death; Artificial Intelligence in Action; Las Vegas Shooting Survivor Pays it Forward. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired April 29, 2018 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A new vow from Kim Jong-un. He says he will shut down North Korea's nuclear test site next month.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Donald Trump supporters showed their vocal support, endorsing him for the Nobel. That's what they are chanting -- because of North Korea's actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL (voice-over): And Correspondents' Dinner controversy: the comedian who some say took the jokes too far.

ALLEN (voice-over): There are also questions about that at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. We are coming to you live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL (voice-over): And I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters. NEWSROOM starts right now.

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HOWELL: 4:00 am on the U.S. East Coast. We start with new developments out of the Korean Peninsula. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un putting forward a new timeline to denuclearize He says that his country's main nuclear test site will be shut down next month.

And foreign experts and journalists will be invited into North Korea to ensure transparency of closure.

ALLEN: Mr. Kim also says he is not the kind of person to fire nuclear weapons at South Korea or the United States. All this is according to a South Korean official. Mr. Kim reportedly made the comments at the summit with South Korean president Moon Jae-in Friday.

HOWELL: Let's go live to Seoul, South Korea, CNN's Paula Hancocks live on the story this hour.

Paula, these new statements from the North Korean leader, walking back some of his past war rhetoric and a timeline to shut down his nuclear test site certainly in stark contrast to what we've heard before.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Just a year ago, he threatened to turn Seoul into a sea of flames. It's not the first time we've heard that rhetoric from North Korea. That was the standard rhetoric up until a matter of months ago.

I think there were some eyebrows that were raised when he said I'm not the kind of person to hit mainland United States with a nuclear weapon. To be fair, I think there were few that truly believed that Kim Jong-un would ever do that.

But clearly he wanted that capability to be able to come to this kind of negotiation and what we saw on Friday. But it is the exact opposite really that we have seen from Kim Jong-un over the past few years.

There have even been videos made from North Korea, showing Washington being destroyed in a nuclear blast. Certainly that was a move from what we were used to. We do know we have a timeframe at least for this closing of the Punggye-ri test site. We know it's May at some point, according to the Blue House spokesman that was quoting Kim having spoken to President Moon. Again, this is still not directly from Kim Jong-un himself. But he did mention that there were two extra tunnels, two deeper tunnels that were actually in very good conditions.

So Kim Jong-un, according to this official, did negate the Chinese geologists' rumors that Punggye-ri was obsolete and wasn't working anymore -- George.

HOWELL: Paula Hancocks, live in Seoul, South Korea, with these new developments. Thank you, Paula.

ALLEN: Statements from the Korean leaders come ahead of another potential diplomatic breakthrough, a summit between the North Korean leader and U.S. President Donald Trump.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I remember, you know, it was very rough, three or four months ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: This was Mr. Trump at a rally in the state of Michigan on Saturday. Some of his supporters there chanting that he should get the Nobel Peace Prize for the talks between the Koreans and a push for denuclearization. He says he's been speaking with the South Korean President Moon and a U.S. summit with North Korea could be weeks away. The prime minister of Japan is praising the North and South Korean leaders for their announced goals of seeking a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. Shinzo Abe spoke to South Korea's President Moon on Sunday.

ALLEN: According to the South Korea Blue House, Prime Minister Abe expressed North Korea's move as "forward-looking," and hopes that this declaration will lead to concrete actions.

Let's talk more about the developments, just how serious Mr. Kim is about peace and getting rid of nuclear weapons. We're joined from Seoul by Andrei Lankov. He's a professor at Kookmin University and the director of the Korea Risk Group analysis firm.

Hi, there, Andrei; thank you for joining us.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: If Kim Jong-un is so ready and willing to toss out his nukes --

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ALLEN: -- why taunt and threaten the world with nuclear annihilation up until the moment he said, I'm done; let's make peace, not war?

ANDREI LANKOV, KOREA RISK GROUP: Well, there are two reasons probably. Actually, there are two possible explanations. And the exact answer is unlikely to be known maybe for many decades ahead.

Some people say that he was just playing his usual trick. It's what the North Korean government has done for many years. You need something, you first create a crisis. You look dangerous. You threaten everybody. You promise to make Seoul or Tokyo, Washington, into the sea of fire.

And then suddenly you change your tone, you smile broadly and you say, and let's talk. And for your willingness to essentially solve the crisis you yourself created in the first place, you are getting some concessions.

Second option is slightly different, probably such a kind of diplomacy war is what the North Korean leaders initially wanted to do but they faced a completely different situation.

There is Donald Trump, being the United States president. And over the last year there have been many signs, many leaks and hints that the White House was serious about a military operation. Such a military operation no doubt would become a disaster for everybody, including the Americans.

But (INAUDIBLE) it would be a disaster for North and South Koreans. So they were sufficiently terrified. And it is quite possible that, if you like, President Trump preempted Chairman Kim and Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, decided to push the brakes, not completing the initial plan. And now they want to negotiate sort of stability, promises that nobody

will start shooting at them and that some of the sanctions, international economic sanctions, will be lifted, if they behave themselves, if they freeze and partially dismantle their nuclear program --

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: -- I want to ask you that point you made in number 2, so do you give much credit to President Trump then for pushing Mr. Kim to this moment in his leadership?

We just heard some of Mr. Trump's supporters chanting, "Nobel, Nobel," indicating they think he might be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize if this continues along this path.

LANKOV: Well, I would say I would credit President Trump. But it's also -- it's sort of disappointing to see how something which cannot be described in any way by international blackmail does work. However it is a very risky game. And I'm afraid that this success will lead to more, I would say, generous application of the same blackmail tactics.

In many places in Korean current opinion so -- and it is likely not just backfire but bring very dangerous results. For example, if North Korea is under (INAUDIBLE) pressure, probably they will not give in but will keep raising the stakes, too.

So it's a big issue, whether it's going work in the long run but so far it has worked.

ALLEN: Andrei Lankov, we so appreciate your thoughts. And we hope to have you on again with us to talk more about it. Thank you.

HOWELL: Well, here in the United States, the political divide on full display in what you could call a tale of two Washingtons. Here's the Washington, D.C., Saturday night, the White House Correspondents' Dinner is historically a place where they roast politicians. Many of the punchlines this year targeting the man right there, the U.S. president.

ALLEN: If often does. But there has been war between the media and the president for some time now. In another Washington, more specifically Washington Township, Michigan, President Trump targeted the media and Democrats. Our Boris Sanchez starts us off from the president's rally there in Michigan.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president kicked off his event here in Washington Township, Michigan, by noting that he was invited to another event in Washington, D.C., alluding to the White House Correspondents' Dinner, but saying that he would rather be here among his supporters. The president calling that event "phony" and saying that he did not want to sit there and smile as he was being insulted. The president also took aim at a number of his favorite targets,

including the media and certain Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the governor of California, Jerry Brown, before targeting Montana senator Jon Tester.

Of course, Tester is the ranking Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee and he had some role in sinking the president's nominee, Ronny Jackson --

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SANCHEZ: -- for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The president at one point seemed to threaten Tester. Listen to what he said during his speech.

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TRUMP: Senator Jon Tester of a really great place, Montana, who voted by the way in favor of sanctuary cities, who's weak on the border, didn't vote for tax cuts. He took a gentleman, who is a truly high- quality human being, and what they said about him, what they said about this great American doctor, Ronny Jackson, an admiral in the Navy and Tester started throwing out things that he's heard.

Well, I know things about Tester that I could say, too. And if I said them, he would never be elected again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president calling what Jon Tester did "a disgrace."

One other noteworthy moment, President Trump accusing Vladimir Putin of planting Natalia Veselnitskaya, that attorney that was in a meeting at Trump Tower in June of 2016 with Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner among others, saying that Putin intentionally had her declare that she was an informant to the Kremlin this week in order to sow chaos within the United States.

One of a number of claims by President Trump during his speech here. He also talked about immigration and trade, a number of his favorite topics. And the crowd ate it all up to different chants of "Build the wall" and at one point also chanting, "Nobel, Nobel," suggesting that the president should win the Nobel Peace Prize for the ongoing talks between North and South Korea, moving toward denuclearization. The president also saying that he looks forward to the potential meeting between him and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in Washington Township, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Boris, thank you.

Now we're joined by Steven Erlanger. Steven the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for "The New York Times," live in Brussels with us this hour. Steven, always a pleasure to have you on the show. Looking ahead to next month, there is potential for a really big meeting between the U.S. president Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Let's put this into context. The midterm elections are just around the corner.

Could such a big possible win eclipse the controversial patterns of this president to bolster his party?

STEVEN ERLANGER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": That may be one of the ideas. Trump is in trouble with the midterms. Everybody knows that but his advisers keep telling him about it. And he is quite confident; this other part of his characteristic. He just doesn't believe bad news.

And it is possible that they will try to, you know, do the PR version of the Kim meeting to help his stature in the world. He would be better off pushing ahead to voters tax reforms, tax cuts. That's what his aides are telling him.

Now on the Kim question, you had very some good discussion. But nothing's really happened. Let's be fair. And I would be shocked, shocked if Kim denuclearized. It is nuclear weapons that make him important in the world.

As someone said, North Korea without nuclear weapons would be like Saudi Arabia without oil. No one would care. And it is very important that Kim keep his stature because he is running a cult-like country with deep, deep economic problems.

So let's see what happens. It's better that they chat, better that they talk and better that they smile. But if Mr. Trump goes in expecting real commitments to real denuclearization, I think this could be very disappointing indeed.

HOWELL: I want to talk about two points that came up at the rally, first, the issue of border security came up when the president was speaking in Michigan. And another threat coming from the president of a possible government shutdown. Let's listen.

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TRUMP: We have to have borders and we have to have them fast. We need security. We need the wall. We're going to have it all. Again, that wall has started. We are $1.6 billion. We come up again on September 28th. And if we don't get border security we'll have no choice. We'll close down the country because we need border security.

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HOWELL: We have heard threats like this before, Steven.

When do statements like this just become empty threats?

ERLANGER: Well, it is an empty threat because no one's going to shut down the country. That makes no sense. You couldn't shut down the country even if you wanted to. You -- actually, if you look at the figures, you'll find illegal

immigration for Mexico way down and the Mexican economy is doing better. More people are going home. Fewer people are actually coming.

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ERLANGER: But it's a big border and even if there's a wall, there will always be a tunnel. Just look at Gaza. It's not hard to get under walls.

So shut down the country?

We are an open country. We are a country that believes in trade. We are a country of immigrants. We have been built as the country of immigrants. So this one does -- Trump very often has a point. This point seems to be simply political. You cannot shut down the country nor would it be a very good idea. This one, I think, is an empty threat.

HOWELL: All right. Also at the rally, the crowd there was chanting. Let's listen to the chant.

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HOWELL: The chant there, "Nobel, Nobel." This obviously due to the possible breakthrough with North Korea, Steven.

The question though, Mr. Trump and a possible Nobel honor, your thoughts.

ERLANGER: Well, maybe the crowd thought he should get the prize for literature.

Who knows what they thought?

(LAUGHTER)

ERLANGER: I mean, making a joke, of course. But you know, I think we are pretty far down to road. Let's see what happens in North Korea.

I mean, it's a crowd that loves him. That's why he went there. The White House Correspondents' Dinner was going on at the same time. Trump said at his rally, very honestly, why should I sit there and take shot after shot and pretend to smile?

He said that seems no fun. I'm sure it is no fun. And he had much more fun where he was in that other Washington. So the crowd will love. They also were shouting things like "lock her up" about Hillary Clinton. They were shouting some of the things that marked the Trump campaign. This was a campaign rally, the people who were clearly his supporters.

Now does it mean a lot?

Probably not. Trump did all of his old tried and tested goodies. And they still work with a lot of people who still loved him. I'm sure he enjoyed that much more than he would have done at the other Washington.

HOWELL: Steven, you had me when you turned the corner with the word "literature." So we'll have to see how this --

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ERLANGER: Well, I don't think it will be chemistry or physics or economics but maybe it'll be literature.

(LAUGHTER)

HOWELL: A pleasure to have you on the show, Steven, always there in Brussels. We'll stay in touch with you as we see what happens next month. Take care.

ALLEN: Maybe they need you to create a new category for President Trump, Nobel.

Well, while the president skipped the White House Correspondents' Dinner, he repeatedly encouraged his staff to attend.

HOWELL: But White House officials may not have been amused with some of the jokes made at their expense, as our Kate Bennett explains.

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KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner is wrapping up here at the Washington Hilton Hotel. The annual Nerd Prom, as people like to call it, that mash-up of journalists who cover Washington and the White House, politicians and, although no president Donald Trump was here again, several members of his administration and his staff at the White House.

We were told the president personally encouraged members of his team to attend this year when last year they were told not to come.

Everyone seemed to be getting along fairly well. There was Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' attorney, chatting on the red carpet with people like Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Sanders. The dinner got underway. Scholarships were handed out. There was a lot of celebration about the First Amendment and the importance of journalism.

And then comedian Michelle Wolf took the stage. And that's when things got a little iffy. We always expected the comedians at this dinner to make fun of the president, to sort of joke and roast.

However, about midway through her routine, Wolf got a little personal specifically when it came to press secretary Sarah Sanders, who was also sitting at the main table just a few feet away from Wolf as she was giving her routine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICHELLE WOLF, COMEDIAN: I actually really like Sarah. I think she is very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash got to create a perfect smoky eye.

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WOLF: Like maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's lies. It's probably lies.

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BENNETT: One topic Wolf didn't avoid was the controversy with Stormy Daniels and the president and the alleged affairs and the salacious headlines. She actually made a joke, saying if we wanted her to be quiet, she might accept a similar payment to the one Michael Cohen made the porn star.

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WOLF: I'm a woman so you cannot shut me up unless you have Michael Cohen wire me $130,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENNETT: All in all, I have to say, toward the end of the jokes --

[04:20:00]

BENNETT: -- we watched the room go quiet. We watched people's faces get stony-faced. I'm not just talking about the members of the White House staff or the president, I'm talking about journalists, who also felt somewhat uncomfortable that the comedian might have gone a tad too far in her personal attacks on members of the president's administration, from Kellyanne Conway, again, to Sarah Sanders, Reince Priebus. She also made jokes about Ivanka Trump.

The evening, the reviews might come out a little bit differently than previous years. But still Nerd Prom 2018 is a wrap -- I'm Kate Bennett at the Washington Hilton for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Kate, thank you.

And the U.S. president choosing not to be there for those jokes.

ALLEN: The first president to not attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner other than Reagan, who didn't because he had been shot.

HOWELL: Still ahead here, Mike Pompeo makes his first visit to the Middle East and the U.S. secretary of state and he is bringing a message from the U.S. president.

ALLEN: Also you may have to pay more for your favorite bottle of wine. We'll tell you why global wine --

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: -- we'll tell you why global wine production has hit a historic low.

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HOWELL: The new secretary of state of the United States, Mike Pompeo, hitting the ground running in his new role. Right now he is in Saudi Arabia, where he's set to meet with King Salman.

He's also been meeting with U.S. embassy staff in Riyadh. Expected to top his agenda, Syria's civil war and the Iran nuclear deal. Pompeo has said the U.S. will likely leave that deal if substantial changes are not made to it.

ALLEN: Pomp will head to Israel and then Jordan in the coming hours. CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for us and our Ben Wedeman is in Amman, Jordan.

Ben, let's start with you. The Trump administration is closely aligned with Saudi Arabia and just this week, the president reiterated the Iran nuclear deal is on the table. Even Pompeo said a few days ago the president would likely not stay in it.

How will that go over in Saudi Arabia?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly Saudi Arabia from the very beginning was a fierce opponent of Barack Obama's Iran deal. Therefore, they will probably see eye to eye on that, the idea of the United States pulling out somehow from that agreement, despite the fact that all the other signatories to that agreement -- Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China -- are opposed to that.

In fact, Iran has been certified as abiding by the conditions of the agreement. But one of the main concerns of Saudi Arabia and the United States and Israel as well is the Iranian missile program.

While Secretary Pompeo is in Saudi Arabia, he will probably get an earful from the Saudis about what they see as the threat of Iranian supplied missiles to the rebels in Houthi rebels Yemen.

Yesterday the Saudi news agency reported that four ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis were intercepted over Jizan province in southwestern Saudi Arabia. And therefore that will probably be part of the topic.

But by and large Secretary Pompeo, who, prior to joining the Trump administration, was also a harsh critic of the Iran nuclear deal, he will probably get a receptive audience from the Saudis when he meets with King Salman and, no doubt, the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman in Riyadh -- Natalie.

ALLEN: As the crown prince got a very warm reception here in the U.S.

Ben, thank you for that. Now over to George.

HOWELL: All right. Ben, thank you.

As we mentioned, the next stop for Mike Pompeo is Israel. CNN's Oren Liebermann live in Jerusalem on the story.

Oren, following what Ben said, Pompeo's suggestion that the U.S. may back out of the Iran nuclear deal certainly must be music to the ears of the Israeli prime minister, who never hid his dislike for this deal specifically with regards to Iranian missiles.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ben was absolutely right there. There are two critics of the deal, the Saudis and the Israelis, perhaps the only difference being that the Israelis, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were far more vocal and outspoken in their criticism of the Iran deal.

Netanyahu has said repeatedly, even inventing or creating a new catchphrase, "Fix it or nix it." So in the event that it won't be fixed in the next couple of weeks, which seems unlikely, Netanyahu will be lobbying for Trump to pull out of the Iran deal.

So that's what he wanted to hear. Israelis, Netanyahu very much has the same concerns as the Saudis in this case. That would be Iran's ballistic missile program, which was left out of the Iran deal and then what has been called here the sunset clauses.

If Iran is compliant for the term of the deal, there are restrictions on the economy and restrictions on the nuclear program that are lifted, that's been Netanyahu's other big concern.

So if those addressed, if those aren't fixed, Netanyahu very much lobbying for the U.S., for President Trump to pull out of the Iran deal. Also worth pointing out that Pompeo's trip is a bit of politics, a bit of diplomacy. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson never swung by Israel, never visited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while he was secretary of state.

So Pompeo making that trip right at the beginning here, a strong show of force and diplomacy between Israel and the United States for partnership as well there -- George.

HOWELL: Oren Liebermann, on the story live in Jerusalem, thank you for the report. We'll stay in touch with you.

Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, a woman coming back from her honeymoon dies on an American Airlines flight. Why the family is now suing. We'll tell you about it.

ALLEN: Also ahead here, a survivor of the Las Vegas mass shooting doesn't want attention, just to help other survivors of the tragedy. We'll have his story.

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ALLEN: Welcome back. We appreciate you watching. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell.

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ALLEN: American Airlines is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after a woman died aboard a flight in 2016.

HOWELL: Her family claims that the airline did not get the woman the appropriate medical attention when she needed it. CNN's Polo Sandoval reports they want American Airlines to re-examine its policies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A newly filed lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of what happened to this 25-year-old woman aboard a Dallas-bound American Airlines flight two years ago.

Newlyweds Brittany Oswell and her husband, Corey, were flying home from Hawaii, according to the lawsuit. Three hours into the flight over Los Angeles, Oswell started feeling dizzy and disoriented. As the plane flew over New Mexico, she took a turn for the worse, vomiting in the lavatory and eventually lost consciousness. The complaint filed by Oswell's family --

[04:35:00]

SANDOVAL (voice-over): -- alleges a doctor on the flight recommended the plane land immediately to get her to a hospital. That didn't happen. The lawsuit says the flight continued another 90 minutes, the rest of the way to Dallas after the flight crew consulted American Airlines' own doctor on the ground.

By the time the plane landed, Oswell was without a pulse and died three days later from a blood clot in her lung. Oswell's family attorney, Brad Cranshaw, says the airline was negligent in not diverting the flight.

BRAD CRANSHAW, OSWELL FAMILY ATTORNEY: Why did the pilot make the decision to continue on with the flight when he had a doctor 10 feet away on the cabin floor, telling him that she needed to land, that my client, Brittany Oswell, was in distress and needed emergency medical care?

That's what it boils down to.

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Cranshaw also alleging medical equipment on board the plane malfunctioned, further complicating potentially life- saving efforts. American Airlines saying the company is saddened by Oswell's death but would not address specific claims.

In a brief statement, they wrote, "We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and we are looking into the details of the complaint."

Aviation expert Mary Schiavo says there are still plenty of questions that still need to be answered.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: What really we have to ask is what would be the issue or the cost on a diversion?

And that's something I think that this lawsuit will address.

Why could the plane not be immediately landed?

Or is there a problem in sequencing, getting clearances?

SANDOVAL (voice-over): Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Polo, thank you.

Another airline carrier here in the United States is also being sued. In this case, Southwest Airlines, for its fatal engine failure that happened earlier this month. A passenger says that she is suffering from physical and emotional injuries after that flight.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the engine fan blade broke; shrapnel shattered a window and one woman was killed.

ALLEN: The passenger alleges Southwest and the plane manufacturer disregarded passenger safety. Southwest says it is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate why that happened.

Well, the future is closer than we think. Coming up here, why some scientists say unchecked artificial intelligence could be dangerous, even if these robots are kind of cute.

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ALLEN: Now to what a U.N. official calls a forgotten humanitarian crisis. A decades-old fight between ethnic Kachin rebels and the military in Myanmar's Kachin State escalated this month, forcing about 10,000 people to leave their homes. Reports say thousands are now trapped in a forest with no access to humanitarian aid.

HOWELL: The Kachin in Northern Myanmar are mostly Christian. They have been fighting for many years now for more control over their lives in the predominantly Buddhist nation. This isn't the only minority conflict in Myanmar. About 800 kilometers or nearly 500 miles to the south is Rakhine State. And that's where violence has forced 670,000 Rohingya Muslims to escape to neighboring Bangladesh from attacks.

Will artificial intelligence be a blessing or a curse?

There are more different opinions on that issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN (voice-over): This is Atlas. He is obviously a robot. But he behaves in surprisingly human ways. Take a look.

Sticks the landing.

(LAUGHTER)

ALLEN (voice-over): That is the brainchild of Boston Dynamics, a group that's building advanced robots, been teaching them to function on their own. He'll be ready for the Olympics.

The robots essentially teach themselves to achieve goals with artificial intelligence.

HOWELL: Right after that video was released, the billionaire entrepreneur and outspoken AI critic Elon Musk tweeted this, "This is nothing. In a few years, that bot will move so fast, you'll need a strobe light to need it. Sweet dreams."

Later, Boston Dynamics released this video of their prized robot dog, named Spot Mini. He's a little more helpful than your average canine- shaped robot. For instance, he can open this door for his little friend. Wow.

ALLEN: He doesn't have a head.

He can do a lot without a head.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: Another video shows Spot Mini teaching himself to operate around a set of unexpected obstacles, stopping at nothing until he reaches his goal.

And that's the part of AI that's worrying people like Elon Musk (INAUDIBLE) throw us into who advocates for strict regulation of artificial intelligence technology.

HOWELL: Just last August he tweeted this, "If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be," along with a picture that says, "In the end machines will win."

Sober.

Some experts in artificial intelligence are paying attention to Elon Musk's warning. Critics fear that there is far more sinister a potential to this side of technology than friendly animal robots.

ALLEN: Some see a future where AI could even lead to -- wait for it -- human extinction. CNN's Erin McLaughlin spoke with some of the experts to see what they think.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the picturesque Swiss town of Lugano, scientist Jurgen Schmidhuber works toward a revolution. If he's successful, the world will never be the same.

JURGEN SCHMIDHUBER, AI SCIENTIST: Ours is going to be much more than another Industrial Revolution. It will be something that transcends humankind itself and even biology itself.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Schmidhuber is an AI pioneer. His goal: to create artificial intelligence radically smarter than humans. He's helped develop the algorithms to define the field as we know it now. Artificial intelligence or AI is what makes Siri respond to your commands...

SIRI, AUTOMATED VOICE: Here is what I found.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): -- and enables Google to translate.

MCLAUGHLIN: What do we have here?

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Inside Schmidhuber's labs, AI pushes beyond that. Cars teach themselves to park...

SCHMIDHUBER: When you now move your head, you are going to follow and you can direct it.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): -- drones learn to follow humans...

MCLAUGHLIN: I go forward. I go backward.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): -- AI even teaches itself to run.

SCHMIDHUBER: The important thing is, there's no teacher and what you see there, it's trying all kinds of things. In the beginning it's a total failure. And the goal is just to maximize the distance covered.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): The next step: developing robots which can --

[04:45:00]

MCLAUGHLIN: -- teach themselves to perform simple tasks. Still, none of this comes close to super intelligence. SCHMIDHUBER: These are mobile platforms...

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Schmidhuber believes it can be achieved in mere decades.

MCLAUGHLIN: So there are those who are skeptical, who say that actually AI could very well enter another sort of deep freeze period, where nothing happens.

SCHMIDHUBER: At the moment, I don't see that as a possibility at all because all the tendency is that I observe in my own lab, in other labs, the general hardware acceleration coming another story.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Other leaders in the field agree. Nick Bostrom is the director of the Future Humanity Institute at Oxford University.

NICK BOSTROM, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: I think it will affect all aspects of our lives, all segments of the economy.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): He worries not enough is being done to prepare for the potential dangers.

MCLAUGHLIN: Given your research, given everything you know so far, are you optimistic about the future of humanity?

BOSTROM: I think this transition to the machine super intelligence era will be associated with some significant risk, including these existential risks of human extinction and such. But on the other side, and this doesn't get as much air time, but I think there is this enormous upside.

MCLAUGHLIN: Schmidhuber says he's confident the enormous upside will prevail. But he admits it's like playing with fire.

SCHMIDHUBER: We have to be aware of the potential dangers of AI but we are not going to stop the further development of AI because the pros outweigh the cons so much.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): It may be unpredictable but Schmidhuber and others agree, when it comes to AI, the match has been struck -- Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Lugano, Switzerland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: I'm thoroughly creeped out.

What about you?

HOWELL: Let's transition to wine now.

ALLEN: Yes. I was going to say, it's enough worry to make one want to drink. But if you want to drink wine, that's our little segue here to our next story. It's going to cost you more and it's because of the weather. Derek Van Dam will have that for you -- coming up.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ALLEN: Well, you're going to pay a little more for that vino. Derek's here to tell you -- Derek somehow wrapped drinking wine into his weathercast.

(CROSSTALK)

ALLEN: Blame it on the weather. Now we even pay more for wine.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you promised not to whine about it.

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: I'll be here all day, folks.

No, really, this is going to affect us your favorite bottle of wine will see an uptick in the price at the supermarket. And some countries impacted more than others. The global wine production slumped to its lowest level in 60 years in 2017. This is according to data from the International Organization of Vine and Wine. That's a decrease of 8.6 percent compared to 2016.

This is due mainly to poor weather conditions across some of those major grape-growing areas across the world, from Europe into South Africa. So we are talking about a major decline in our global wine production. We are talking about a 60-year low in terms of how much wine was produced in 2017.

Where was it impacted?

Spain, France into Italy and also South Africa. That area is also in the midst of one of the worst droughts in over a century. Combine drought with wildfires, frost, hail, you name it, the impacts have been felt across the wine industry throughout the world and some areas hit worse than others.

France, your bottles of wine expected to increase by 10 percent in terms of cost; Spain, 45 percent increase and Italy, up to 74 percent increase in some of your favorite wines as you head to the store.

Now this particular gentleman, a global beverage strategist, said that wine companies targeting low prices will be hit the worst because their margins are so low. So that cheap bottle of wine, that is where they expect to see the greatest increase in wine.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ALLEN: All right. We'll make a turn here to a horrible tragedy that occurred in this country. Last October, the Las Vegas mass shooting killed over 50 people. Many who made it out alive are still recovering both mentally and physically.

HOWELL: CNN's Nick Watt reports, one survivor is making it his mission to help others affected by this massacre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're so beautiful and --

LUCA ICLODEAN, LAS VEGAS SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I'm glad you're here.

WATT (voice over): Hug after hug.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So good to see you.

WATT: Luca Iclodean was shot that Sunday night in October, lost most of a lung, has more surgeries to come.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How you doing?

ICLODEAN: OK. Hanging in there.

WATT: But money his colleagues and bosses here at the Hard Rock Hotel gave him, Luca is now giving to other survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are -- you are truly amazing.

WATT: $1,000 each, $11,000 in all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please do not lose hope.

WATT (voice-over): Luca's shy, wouldn't be interviewed and strangely I like him more for that.

WATT (on camera): Is the sentiment and the emotion behind this, you know, as important as the money itself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's actually more important just really somebody who's there to say, hey, I'm going to hold your hand and we're going to go through this together and you're going to be OK.

[04:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was the most important thing to me. More than money.

WATT (voice over): But that $1,000 will help take care of some bills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to say no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What a beautiful thing he's doing and makes me want to see what I can do to help the next person.

WATT: Shaina Cataldo (ph) and Zanni Manjabi (ph) were bartending that night at the Route 91 Festival. Zanni (ph) tried to help the injured.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even during the day, I feel like I'm still having nightmares. Like, flashbacks of what happened and things that I felt I could have done and didn't have enough time to, you know, maybe saved more lives. I carried all that weight with me.

WATT (on camera): There's no real clear motive as to why this guy did it. I mean is that --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- one of the biggest things. If we had some kind of reason of why it happened, it would kind of put some of us at a little bit of peace.

WATT (voice over): Millions have already been raised by other charities in the state but given mostly to families of the dead and the physically injured. The need goes on.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, LAS VEGAS SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I mean there are thousands of people who were at that concert who are in need of financial assistance to help with things like medical bills and mental health treatment.

WATT (voice-over): Brian Claypool was there that night under fire, then on CNN's "NEW DAY".

CLAYPOOL: Everybody was screaming. You know -- and, you know, you -- you didn't know what to do.

WATT (voice-over): With fellow survivor Lisa Fine, they co-founded Route 91 Strong.

LISA FINE, LAS VEGAS SHOOTING SURVIVOR: Our team is unstoppable and our team is going to move mountains for you survivors.

WATT (voice-over): They're holding a fundraising concert in June and, right now, distributing Luca's donation.

WATT (on camera): There were thousands of people who were there, like you and who are scarred by this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, definitely. That scar, it's inside us, you know, for the rest of our lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

WATT (voice-over): Nick Watt, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And the day's top stories are just ahead.

HOWELL: The next hour of NEWSROOM right after the break.