Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

Melbourne Stabbing Incident Treated as Terror Attack; 12 Dead in California Mass Shooting; California Camp Fire Forces Residents to Evacuate; Rick Scott Claims Rampant Fraud in Florida Midterm Elections; Robert Mueller Final Report on US-Russia Probe; Kristie Lu Stout Interviews Bill Gates while in Beijing for Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing; Google Announces Changes in Sexual Harassment Policies; World Headlines; China Promoting a Model of Cyber Security and Control; Hong Kong Denies Entry to British Journalist; A Sign of Things to Come? AI-Produced Artwork Sells for $433K, Smashing Expectations; Apple Emoji Milestone. Aired at 8-9a ET

Aired November 09, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream." Treated as terror, police in Melbourne

investigate a deadly stabbing attack.

Racing to escape, fast moving wildfires spread across California.

And pushing for a brighter future, Bill Gates says he will work with any government to help the world's forests.

And we start the show in Australia where a man suspected of stabbing three people in Central Melbourne this day has died in hospital after he was shot

by police. One person died in the attack, two others were injured. And authorities say that the incident is now being treated as terrorism. The

Islamic state has claimed responsibility, although CNN cannot independently verify that claim.

CNN's Alexandra Field is following the situation. She joins us now. And Alex, why are police now treating this attack as an act of terror?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really wasn't evident to them that it could be an act of terror until they were a few hours into the

investigation. It seems really not until they had identified the suspect who was shot by police officers and later died in the hospital. But they

are now saying this is somebody who was known to state and federal counter terrorism officials and that his family were also known to counterterrorism

officials.

So that seemed to lead them in the direction of investigating this incident as being related to terror. But they're not telling us much about this man

who perpetrated this attack, Kristie, and they're saying is because of the ongoing investigation and also because of subsequent operations that could

now be following. They have shut down the scene where this attack took place over a matter of minutes on a busy Friday afternoon in a shopping

neighborhood in Melbourne.

You can see from video, a lot of it was captured by people standing on the streets, holding cell phones. There are hordes of bystanders in the

background when this attack unfolded. It started, as police say, when the assailant drives up in a car which quickly burst into flames. They say that

he then attacked three men with a knife. One of those men died from his injuries.

A marked police car was on the scene within about a minute, they say. They said the suspected punched one of the officers. There is cellphone video

that showed the confrontation that follows between the suspect and a number of officers, also a number of civilians trying to get in the way, trying to

subdue the suspect who appears to be wielding a knife.

Ultimately, it does all come to an end when one officer fires a shot at the suspect's chest. At this point, authorities are saying that they are not

looking for any additional suspects. They do not believe that there is an ongoing or continued threat to the neighborhood, but they are certainly

continuing with this investigation, looking farther into what kind of ties the suspect could have had. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Yes. This was a terrifying incident earlier in in this day in Melbourne. Alexandra Field reporting for us. Alex, thank you.

And on the other side of the pacific, 12 families are dealing with the incomprehensible fact that their love ones are never coming home. Those 12

people were the victims of a mass shooting that targeted a college night at a bar in southern California. Here is a horrifying reminder of what

witnesses heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: It is almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like inside that club. And tragically, some people didn't have the luxury of

imaging at all. Now, we are learning new details about the man who robbed their lives altogether.

Nick Watt is covering the story for us from Thousand Oaks. He joins us now. Nick, 12 lives lost. What more have you learned about the victims of this

horrific mass shoot?

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the names of those victims are gradually emerging. And we know that among the dead are a U.S. Marine Corps

veteran, a sheriff's deputy who had been on the force in the department for 29 years and was planning to retire in the next year or two and, of course,

this was a college music night so many young college students just in their 20s. And we are learning just how this music night turned into carnage in

just a few short minutes.

Chilling video capturing the horror inside the Borderline Bar & Grill, a cacophony of gunshots.

(GUNSHOTS)

Then, silence. Those who could quickly escaping.

[08:05:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, run. He's coming out this door.

WATT: Chaos and confusion unfolding at a college country night at the bar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got multiple people down. We need a lot of ambulance.

WATT: Police say 12 people killed at the hands of a lone gunman, former U.S. Marine Ian David long.

GARO KUREDJIAN, CAPTAIN, VENTURA COUNTRY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We have no idea what the motive was at this point.

WATT: A law enforcement source tells CNN the 28-year-old gunman is believed to have written this Facebook post around the time of the

shooting. "I hope people call me insane. Wouldn't that just be a big bowl of irony? Yes, I'm insane, but the only thing you people do after these

shootings is hopes and prayers or keep you in my thoughts every time and wonder why these keep happening."

Authorities say Long used a legally purchased .45 caliber Glock handgun with an illegal high capacity magazine.

(MUSIC PLYING)

WATT: Overnight, hundreds coming together in the Thousand Oaks community honoring the 12 lives lost. Among the victims, Ventura County Sergeant Ron

Helus, the first officer to rush into the bar with the gunman on a killing spree.

KUREDJIAN: Sergeant Helus saved people's lives. He went in, he diverted the suspect's attention, he engaged, and that saved others.

WATTS: Residents lining the streets Thursday as a hearse took the slain officer to a funeral home.

Elena Housely was also killed in the attack. She was a student at Pepperdine University described by her family as an incredible young woman

with so much life ahead of her. Twenty one-year-old Noel Sparks was an active volunteer at her church. A friend says she was genuinely caring and

loved serving people. Dan Manrique was a Marine Corps veteran who deployed to the Middle East in 2007. Recent college graduate Justin Meek was

planning to join the U.S. Coast guard. Friends say he died protecting others.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used his body as a shield and he gave his life so others could live.

WATT: Twenty two-year-old Cody Coffman also credited with helping to save lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fell to the floor and I hid behind him and I just, like, tucked myself in his -- in his back. Honestly, he's such a hero.

WATT: Cody's father, Jason Coffman, spoke with "New Day" yesterday morning as he waited in anguish to hear from his missing son, tracking his phone.

JASON COFFMAN, CODY COFFMAN'S FATHER: His phone is at the club. It's not moving. That's the problem.

WATT: After that interview, he learned that Cody was among the victims.

COFFMAN: Only him and I know how much I love -- how much I miss -- oh, God, this is so hard. Oh, son, I love you so much. Oh, heavenly father,

just please -

WATT: Now, authorities are still trying to determine what the motive was, if there even was a clear or coherent motive. We have heard from neighbors,

from friends and from law enforcement that perhaps the shooter had some kind of mental health issue. And of course, as always, after these kinds of

mass shootings, these very common mass shootings in this country, the there is one school of thought that says this is a mental health problem and

there is another school of thought that says this is a gun control issue. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Yeah, but the anguish of these families, like the father you profiled in your report is unbearable to watch. Nick Watt reporting live

for us in Thousand Oaks, California, thank you very much, indeed, for your reporting and take care.

Out there in the U.S. State of California, we're also monitoring the serious wildfires raging there. North of Los Angeles, you have the so-

called hill fire that has engulfed more than 4,000 hectares. Residents in part of Ventura County are being told to evacuate because of the Woolsey

fire.

And in northern California, thousands of residents raced from their homes as the camp fire exploded on Thursday. Around 40,000 people have been

forced to flee from the path of this uncontrolled fire.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in the Town of Paradise in northern California. And Nick, these are dangerous, fast-spreading fires. What's the latest out

there?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in Paradise, California, where 24 hours ago, Kristie, was completely engulfed by flames. And here we are this

morning. This is what the scene is like and this is what it's like driving up here. You see a lot of structures that have just been completely burned

to the ground. Their structure melted here just by the force of that fire. You mentioned just how fast moving it was. At its height, it was moving at

a football field every three seconds.

[08:10:00] In less than a day, it grew to half the size of San Francisco. And part of that reason is just the conditions. They were right for this

kind of -- this kind of incident. You have incredibly high winds. You have dry air, low humidity, and you couple that with just how dry it's been in

terms of rain here in this part of California over the course of the last several months.

And you saw what you saw yesterday. About 20,000 acres have burned so far and no containment just yet. But the good news in all of this is that the

wind direction has changed, pushing it north more and back into the valley. We did talk to a spokesman with CAL FIRE earlier this morning who said the

plan right now is to try to contain this at the edges and work there the way back. They're hoping that they can control this fire.

Right now what you're seeing behind me is sort of what's left of the town. Most of the evacuations have already taken place. What's left here thought

are firefighters that are just making sure that other structures don't burn down as well. This moved fast, caught a lot of people off guard. We saw

countless videos on social media of making that harrowing journey down roads that were lined with flames, some of them just lucky to get out. We

can tell you that so far there just have been a handful of injuries reported. Officially, there have been no deaths reported so far. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Just looking at all that ash and debris behind you, I mean, these are hellish scenes in this town of Paradise there in California. And

this is just one of many active wildfires in the state. How are fire crews the there coping as they have to fight to contend with multiple blazes

there?

VALENCIA: Yeah. It's a scary time. And this is not typical. This is sort of late in the fire season. Usually around Halloween is when you see the

rain come down and that signals the end of the fire season. It was just a short time ago. In fact, I'm from southern California initially and I was

talking to family members down there in Ventura County where you have another fire burning. And they, about two hours ago, were evacuating

themselves.

So far, CAL FIRE in our conversations with them earlier today, they tell us, you know, they feel as though they have the resources to handle it. No

one has been called in from other outside states, but it is definitely a lot that they had to deal with right now and in an untypical time of the

year. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Nick Valencia reporting live for us from Paradise, California. To you and the crew out there in the fire zone, do stay safe and thank you.

Now, in the aftermath of the U.S. Midterm elections, two bitterly contested races in Florida for governor and for the U.S. Senate appear to be headed

for a recount in the Senate race. Republican Rick Scott is clinging to a slim lead over Democrat Bill Nelson, but the ballots continued to be

counted. The margin separating them has narrowed and could trigger a hand recount. For his part, Scott said there could be rampant fraud taking

place. He's accusing the Democrats of trying to steal the election.

And the Florida governor's race could also be heading to a recount with Republican Ron DeSantis holding on to a narrow lead over his Democratic

rival. Andrew Gillum had conceded but now says he wants to make sure every vote is counted.

CNN's Rosa Flores joins us live from Lauderhill, Florida. And Rosa, Florida is bracing for a recount in two races. What's the latest?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, you are absolutely right because these margins of error keep on narrowing. Now, here is the latest.

Republican Governor Rick Scott alleging rampant, rampant fraud in two counties, in Broward County here where I'm at and also in Palm Beach

County. Now, he is accusing the Democrats of trying to, quote, "steal the race." Now, he is not providing any evidence. Instead, he is saying this.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SCOTT, REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Every Floridian should be concerned there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward

counties. I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people of Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, Scott has also filed two lawsuits against those two counties alleging irregularities, lack of transparency, and he's also asking for an

FDLE investigation. That stands for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Now, there's a bit of a problem with that because it could raise questions about a conflict of interest because, as the chief executive of this state,

he appoints the commissioner that is the head of the FDLE. Of course, the Democrats are fighting back. Democrat Bill Nelson is saying that all of

this is politically motivated, and in essence, that it's about politics. And, again, Kristie, it's we're seeing -- as we're seeing these margins

narrow, we're seeing more and more emotions flare.

LU STOUT: All right. Rosa Flores reporting live for us from Lauderhill, Florida, not just one but two races heading into recount territory. Rosa,

thank you.

[08:15:00] Now, multiple sources tell CNN that special counsel Robert Mueller has started drafting his final report in the U.S.-Russia

investigation and protesters want to make sure he can do his job.

They rallied in cities across the U.S. on Thursday. That's because this week Mr. Trump fired Jeff Sessions as attorney general and replaced him

with someone who has publicly criticized the investigation. Protesters want to make sure the special counsel's probe remains independent.

Sessions, as head of the Justice Department, had recused himself from the investigation much to the ire of the president. Matthew Whitaker, as acting

attorney general, will effectively be Robert Mueller's boss. And many are afraid that Whitaker could try to stop or slow the investigation.

President Trump is focusing his attention on the international stage. She and the first lady will head to Paris today to mark the 100th anniversary

of the end of World War I. And there, he will join the French president and dozens of world leaders, including the UK's prime minister for a solemn

weekend of remembrance. Mr. Trump is expected to use his time there to emphasize the critical role the U.S. played in restoring European peace and

security.

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, says he is ready to work with anyone in charge once all the votes from the midterm elections have been counted.

Just ahead, my conversation with Bill Gates and how he remains relentlessly optimistic in a world that seems so uncertain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is "News Stream." In the wake of the U.S. Midterms, Bill Gates says he is ready to

work with anyone in charge. That was one of several things I talked to him about when he was here in Asia hosting the Reinvented Toilet Expo. His

foundation has invested over $200 million in commercializing waste systems that don't require water or sewers.

And yes, he held up a jar of human feces. He used it to illustrate how important sanitation is to prevent the spread of disease. His reinvented

toilet project is just one example of how he's staying optimistic in a world that seems full of bad news. Here is my conversation with Bill Gates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Bill Gates, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us. And you are there in Beijing for the Reinvented Toilet Expo. This is an expo that

is showcasing new disruptive sanitation technologies. Could you help us understand how can better toilets improve the world?

BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER: Well, today, rich countries have a sewer system where you bring water in, you put the human waste in it, and then it

goes out all the way to a treatment processing plant.

[08:20:00] That requires the installation of a lot of pipes, very expensive, and that's not going to happen in these newer, poorer cities.

And so, what we're -- we've challenged engineers to do is actually have a toilet that processes the waste by burning it and chemical treatment and

gets rid of it right there inside the toilet itself.

LU STOUT: And by doing that, you can save healthcare costs ands also save lives?

GATES: That's right. Because the ritualed (ph) solution doesn't scale down, we actually have to take this radically new approach. And so we,

seven years ago, found -- challenged universities, there were 10 different idea that's we funded. Five of those are now being turned into products.

We have partners that are actually shipping those products. The very first ones are still fairly expensive. It's going to the take time before we get

the volume to really get down to the low end of the market. But this is, you know, how we bootstrap it. We've got a lot of enthusiasm here that this

can be made cheap enough that we can cover Africa, which would not happen without this break through.

LU STOUT: Incredible. And with you in Beijing, I also wanted to get your thoughts on the U.S.-China trade war. We know these two leaders, Xi Jinping

and Donald Trump, they're talking, but it remains to be seen if they're going to cut this the deal at the G20 later this month. What are your

thoughts on the current tension and its impact in global growth?

GATES: Well, I'm a believer in free trade. So, I'm hopeful that all these different trade disputes get resolved in a way that you, you know, continue

to have the best products in different countries made available to everyone.

LU STOUT: The midterms, they mean a lot of different things to many people in the U.S. They can mean immigration or the economy or healthcare. What

does this midterm election mean to you?

GATES: Well, I think when you have a mission like the Gates Foundation to help the poorest, you need to work with every government. We've had great

relations with Republican government. Bush raised the aid levels quite dramatically. And we'll do our best to articulate why we think any

administration should want a stable Africa, want to help outs those who are poorest, you know, avoid diseases spreading around the world. That's what

we've been up to the last two years and we'll take a look at whoever is in charge after this midterm and, you know, continue to work with them.

LU STOUT: You have long maintained this constructive and optimistic approach. But to many people out there, they feel that it's a dark world.

You know, they look at the fear and the hate and the poverty, the problems posed by terrorism and can climate change. And yet you at the Gates

Foundation, you constantly speak of solutions. And I wanted to ask you, how do you remain optimistic when sometimes, to a lot of people, it feels like

the world may be falling apart?

GATES: Well, the objective facts are that we've made incredible progress. You wouldn't want to go backwards, whether it's literacy or childhood

survival or how we treat people who are gay, you know, the key issues is we continue to make progress. In fact, even in inequity, the poor countries

have been growing faster than the richer countries. And so, globally, you know, we're down to less than 9 percent of people living in extreme

poverty.

You know, I often tell people they should read the book "Factfulness" to really step back and not just see the headlines, which naturally emphasize

where we've had difficulties, but to see the gradual progress that has brought childhood death from 11 million a year now down to 5 million a year

because we've gotten out new vaccines. So it is -- if you want to really have the model of, OK, what are we doing well, you have to step back and

see objectively that there has been progress.

LU STOUT: Yeah. We need to and we can make progress on issues like inequity, poverty, sanitation. What about the problems facing technology,

even though fake news, cyber bullying, stealth influenced campaigns, addiction? You know, this year, big tech firms have issued their apologies

and have acknowledged that these are problems. Do you think next year will be a year of action?

[08:24:47[ GATES: Well, I can't speak for all the tech firms. The benefits of these great communication technologies have been fantastic. And yet, it

was unanticipated in terms of various age groups that, you know, there would be some bullying or some overuse and -- that it would foster some

polarization or even some level of fake news.

And the people who are in those consumer markets are now, you know, looking at how they fire more people, how they do the a better job on those things.

Overall, I think the tech sector hears those concerns. Governments are going to have more requirements that they have to step up to. And that's

the normal dynamic that's taking place.

LU STOUT: What about gender equality in tech? It's 2018. It's a year into the Me Too movement and there is still harassment, lack of opportunity,

lack of equal pay. What is your thinking about bringing gender parity to the sector and all sectors?

GATES: Well, my wife, Melinda, works a lot on increasing the number of women in tech-related jobs. You see attrition at all ages where, you know,

taking the math and science courses, taking computer science, wanting to go into the career. And so by the time you get to say, you know, 5, 10 years

of experience, the pool just isn't nearly as balanced as it should be. And so, we need to work on the behaviors, the practice, the role models, how we

encourage women at every step of that pipeline in order to get somewhat more diversity in the field.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Bill Gates, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the conversation and appreciate your emphasis on optimism and

solutions. Thank you so much, sir, and take care.

GATES: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, Google has announced sweeping changes in how it handles sexual harassment cases. The shift comes in response to recent global

company protests. In an e-mail to staff, CEO, Sundar Pichai, says that Google will no longer force employees with sexual harassment claims into

arbitration. That is just one of many planned reforms.

While walk out (ph) organizers say they commend the process, they say the Google's response ignored several core demands. Employee protests this

month were sparked by outrage over a "New York Times" investigation that detailed how Google not only stayed silent about cases of sexual misconduct

but also doled out multi million dollar exit packages to accused executives.

You're watching "News Stream." And still ahead, exporting Internet control coming up here in the program. We'll look at how the country famous for

its; great firewall is selling a cyber security model to the world.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines.

ISIS is claiming responsibility for a knife attack in Melbourne earlier today. Three people were wounded. One of them died. Police shot the suspect

who later died in hospital. Police have not named the suspect, but says he was known to them.

We're learning more about the suspect in the mass shooting at a bar in Southern California. He was a 28-year-old marine corps veteran who served

in Afghanistan. Neighbor says his mother lived in fear over what he might do. Some believe he suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder. Twelve

people were killed in the attack. The shooter killed himself.

Dangerous wildfires are raging in California. In Ventura County, people are being told to evacuate because of the Woolsey Fire, which is threatening

30,000 homes. On your screens, you're looking at live pictures from Ventura County right now.

North of Los Angeles, you have the so-called Hill Fire. That has engulfed more than 4,000 hectares. And in Northern California, another blaze known

as the Camp Fire exploded Thursday. Around 40,000 people have been forced to flee.

It's known for the so-called Great Firewall and China is promoting its model of cyber sovereignty and control. And its annual World Internet

Conference. Fifteen hundred participants attended the three-day event in Eastern China, including Chinese business leaders from Tencent and Alibaba.

But unlike previous years when the CEOs of Apple and Google attended, there were fewer global tech chiefs this time around.

Joining me now to talk more about the forum and China's vision for the internet is CNN Digital's James Griffiths. James, welcome back. It's good

to see you. Another year, another World Internet Conference in China, and this is another opportunity for China to sell its vision for internet

control.

JAMES GRIFFITHS, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR PRODUCER: Since about 2015, Wuzhen has been the premier event for China's vision of what they call cyber

sovereignty, which is a completely kind of radical transformation of how the internet works in most countries where, in China's vision, it would

allow them to set borders, to control what comes in and out of the country in the same way that you would control kind of, you know, physical goods

and services.

And while that might sound reasonable on paper, that's vastly different to how the internet works in most places and that really involves, you know,

creation of a massive apparatus like the Great Firewall of China which is the big censorship apparatus which blocks a lot of things, including CNN

occasionally from going into China.

LU STOUT: The latest World Internet Conference comes on the heels of the latest freedom house report. The details at online censorship is spreading

all over the world. Is Beijing partly to blame for that?

GRIFFITHS: I don't think they see it as to blame. I think they would be happy to take credit for it. They've been organizing trainings, they've

been exporting technology. You know, it's maybe difficult to see from the west where it looks so different to China.

But, you know, in lots of countries especially in Africa, parts of the Middle East, you know, they're actively copying China. They see this as a

very secure internet where they don't have problems like fake news or news that the government doesn't want to see.

They are allowed to control, you know, what they would call terrorist groups or, you know, anti-government groups which we might call dissidents.

For lots of leaders around the world, especially kind of leaders of you an authoritarian bend, this is a really attractive model of internet.

You get the good things from it. You get the -- you know, huge benefits to business and domestic communication and you don't get the negative parts of

people sharing and saying things you don't want them to say.

LU STOUT: But it is a worrying trend as China continues to export its Great Firewall. James Griffiths, we have to leave it at that. Thank you so

much.

GRIFFITHS: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet is being barred from entering Hong Kong as a tourist, raising deep concerns about degrading

press freedom. A few weeks ago, the British national was denied a routine extension of his Hong Kong work permit.

Months before, he hosted a talk with the Foreign Corespondents' Club by a pro-independence activist. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam insists it

is pure speculation to assume his expulsion was because of that.

Also this week, an art space in Hong Kong called Tai Kwun has decided it will host a book talk by Chinese dissident writer Ma Jian. Its earlier

decision to cancel the talk raised concerns about self-censorship and freedom of expression here in Hong Kong.

You're watching News Stream. Still ahead, artificial intelligence brushes up with the art world.

[08:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. Now, we talk about A.I., artificial intelligence rather often here on the program. Teaching machines how to think has

brought us everything from Siri on our iPhones to self-driving cars on some of our streets. But what about teaching machines to create?

Now, a couple of weeks ago, Christie's became the first auction house to sell a work of art generated by A.I. Experts thought it would fetch up to

$10,000. It sold for more than $400,000. Let's find out how it is made in today's edition of Smart Creativity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GAUTHIER VERNIER, ARTIST: Artificial intelligence is about replicating human intelligence. The part we focus on is related to inventiveness and

creativity.

Obvious is a collective of three friends.

We saw algorithms were capable of creating new images, and we were astonished by the potential they had.

We're looking at these portraits the same way a painter would do it. Like walking in a gallery, taking some inspiration. Except that we feed this

inspiration to the algorithm, and the algorithm is the part that does the visual creation.

The work is called "Edmond de Belamy" and it is created with artificial intelligence. You have, in our example, 15,000 pictures. You fit them to

the algorithm and the algorithm learns how to create new examples of these images. It analyses the pictures pixels by pixels, so it can recognize

shapes and colors and create based on those features.

All the data has similarities, so common features. So, first algorithm creates new examples of those images and tries to fool a second algorithm

into thinking that those pictures created are, actually, real portraits, so human-made.

I think it has its place in the art world because it tries to replicate what any artist would do, like trying to create from what you know. It

forces you to try to understand your own creativity and how you would be able to replicate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It has a haunting beauty, I guess. Now, whether it's markings in caves, the stone tablets of the Romans or the breathtaking calligraphy of

the Arab world, the transformation of the spoken word into something more permanent as about (ph) history had been a (ph) fundamental part of the

human experience.

Some of our earliest works of course include ancient Egypt hieroglyphics. Thousands of years later, thanks to a little technical wizardry, maybe

we've come full circle. I'm talking about these, the Emoji, the pictures that don't quite tell a thousand words, but which have changed the way we

communicate in countless ways.

They are everywhere from toys to clothing, movies to music videos, expressing everything from resolutions to roars, as Katy Perry has done.

And this year, it marks 10 years since Apple first launched them.

Joining me now to share the Apple Emoji origin story is Angela Guzman, now a designer at Google. She was a design intern at Apple one year after the

iPhone was released. With her mentor, she designed around 500 of the original Apple Emojis, and she joins us now from San Jose, California via

Skype.

Angela, thank you so much for joining us. I was wondering if you could take us back to the year 2008.

[08:40:02] This was one year after the iPhone. You were an intern at Apple. You were asked if you knew what an Emoji was. How did you respond?

ANGELA GUZMAN, GOOGLE DESIGNER AND FORMER APPLE INTERN: I was really honest and quite embarrassed. At that time I did not know what an Emoji

meant. I simply asked, what is an Emoji, and someone chuckled in the background. That's how the project began.

LU STOUT: And you were tasked to help design the first Apple Emojis. What was your very first Emoji design?

GUZMAN: The first one that I started off with was the engagement ring, mostly because of the textures that it involved, so I could learn a little

bit more. But it was a little bit complicated at first and it took a bit to finish it. That was the first one that I began.

LU STOUT: You also have a story about the so-called happy poop Emoji. How did it come to be?

GUZMAN: So Raymond, my mentor at the time who also worked on them had started with that happy poop by looking outside an ice cream store because

(INAUDIBLE) Emoji had to be created.

And it was quite funny to see how he began with a happy poop and transitioned it over to the ice cream cone by simply copying and pasting it

on to the ice cream cone and just changing the color. So it's kind of a little background story that makes me laugh every time I think about it.

LU STOUT: And I'm trying to imagine the moment when Steve Jobs saw the happy poop, the Apple co-founder. He reviewed your portfolio of early

Emojis and we know he's quite famous for having this very, very strong opinion about design. How did he respond?

GUZMAN: So not to give it all away, he was quite happy about the set and he also just compared them heavily to the icons that lived on the Mac, for

example, being very luscious and sort of colorful to the eye. And so we wanted to keep that same standard. So he really liked the set and that

allowed us to continue in finishing it off at the end.

LU STOUT: As a designer of the original Apple Emoji, do you have a favorite?

GUZMAN: I do. I have about three, but I'll start with the party popper. I think that one is one that comes to mind every time because of its festive

nature and widely used characteristics.

The other one would be the set of hearts just because, again, they're widely used, but also the symbolism behind them. They're very loving and we

share emotions through that.

And then the last set I think would be the one that contain little details that people don't often see, like the director's clapboard because it used

to have real text. So those little details really made it special for me.

LU STOUT: Well, the colorful hearts are among my favorite. Angela Guzman, thank you for creating them and thank you so much for sharing your story

with us. Take care.

GUZMAN: Thanks.

LU STOUT: And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is next.

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

END