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8 People Saved From Collapsed Apartment Building; State Farm Stops New Home Insurance Sales In CA Over Fire Risks; Parents Face Felony Charges After 7 Kids Found Living In Squalor; Microsoft President Calls For Faster A.I. Regulation; G-7 Nations Host 1st Artificial Intelligence Summit This Week; Heat-Celtics Tip Off Tonight In Epic Game 7 Showdown. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 29, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But it's important to underscore the fire chief said, to their knowledge, no one is trapped inside of that building. If anyone is missing a loved one, they have been encouraged to call 911.

Meanwhile, officials say they have done numerous inspections based on complaints raised by concerned residents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICH OSWALD, DIRECTOR, DAVENPORT DEVELOPMENT & NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES: But there have been some complaints of the structure. We issued notice and orders to have those repaired. The building owner hired their own engineering firm to direct them in the repairs that needed to be made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROADDUS: The main concern at this hour is the stability of the structure. Even as crews were there working, debris was falling.

So you can imagine they want to consult with their engineers and figure out what the next steps will be when it comes to that apartment building -- Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Incredible that no one was killed. We hope those residents are getting the help that they need.

Adrienne Broaddus, thanks for the reporting.

Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. More like elsewhere, if you're looking to buy a home in California now.

State Farm says it is stopping all new home insurance sales in the Golden State. The reason is the risk of wildfire, as well as construction costs.

Over the past five years, California has seen an average of 7,000 wildfires per year. That has scorched millions of acres and many homes as well.

CNN's Matt Egan has the details.

Matt, I imagine this is a numbers game here for State Farm, but really an alarming conclusion for homeowners looking to insure.

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMY REPORTER: Jim, this is an alarming conclusion. Think about this, State Farm is the country's biggest home insurer and it's saying it doesn't want new business in the country's most populous state. It's kind of unthinkable.

Now State Farm is citing three major factors here. One, the cost of rebuilding has skyrocketed.

Two, the need to rebuild has gone up because of all of these wildfires.

And three, reinsurance has been harder to get. Reinsurance is how insurers spread the risk. It's like insurance for insurers. But that's been harder and harder to get because of the first two issues.

Now of course, inflation is not a problem special to California. That is a national phenomenon, if not a global one.

But it's the wildfire issue that has really become a particular problem in California.

As you mentioned, that state is averaging 7,000 wildfires per year. These wildfires are consuming more than two million acres a year, damaging or even destroying countless homes and businesses along the way.

Scientists, they blame the climate crisis for the intensity of these fire seasons.

Now, in a statement, State Farm says, quote, "It's necessary to take these actions to improve the company's financial strength."

And State Farm, they note that this does not impact existing customers nor does it impact the company's auto business.

Still, though, State Farm is just the latest insurer to take a step back from California. Last year, AIG reportedly decided not to renew insurance on thousands of homes in California.

Chubb, which is the state's biggest insurer for high-end homes, that has also done the same thing.

And, you know, it feels like, for decades really, wildfires were kind of just looked at as the cost of doing business in California for insurance companies.

But the problem has gotten so bad that we're now seeing a growing number of insurers throw in the towel and basically say it's just not worth the risk at this point. And here's the problem, though. For consumers, that means they're

going to have fewer choices. And the remaining players will have that much more power to raise prices.

So, Jim, it does seem like this is going to be just another reason why life is going to get even more expensive in what is already one of the country's most expensive states.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's not just a wildfire thing. You've seen that with flood insurance in other states, particularly low-lying states. Climate change, economic impact.

Matt Egan, in New York, thanks so much.

Let's talk to someone who knows about the environmental impact of all of this.

CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, is here.

Chad, let's look at the fire risk in California specifically. How big is it, what do the numbers show us, and how much has it increased in recent years?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I will take this piece by piece. I heard in the piece that we just did that the average fires burn about two million acres per year. But it's not the average that's the problem. It's the standard deviation.

In 2020, the August Complex burned a million acres by itself, 4.3 million acres burned that year. But the year before, only 277,000 acres burned. The year before that, two million acres burned.

[13:35:04]

Actuarial sciences and insurance agencies don't like something that we could call unpredictable. They want to be predictable. They want everything to be predictable.

The Camp Fire burned 18,000 structures all by itself. And even last year, 2022, over here, it was still very dry. Only 362,000 acres burned. This is where we are now, very, very wet. California is a very damp place at this point in time.

But the year before that, 2.6 million acres burned. It's just lightning. It's dry weather. It's an intense heat wave that can just dry out all of the brush and make things burn.

Yes, we have more fires in the west than in the east. And, yes, that will be the case. But at some point in time, you have to understand their unpredictability of what they're seeing out there.

SCIUTTO: Listen, you and I were just talking a couple of weeks ago about flood risk in the wake of unusually large snowfall and it heats up and then you have water. I mean, this is folks getting it from so many different ends.

Chad Myers, at the Weather Center, thanks so much.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: "Deplorable, unsafe, unsanitary." That's how authorities are describing the conditions at a home in Pennsylvania where police found seven kids. Inside, investigators say, were dozens of rats in cages and a padlocked refrigerator. Police arrested two parents who now face felony charges.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Brynn Gingras, who's been tracking the newest developments.

Brynn, how did police figure out there were kids living in these conditions?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, this actually started with an investigation. This happened in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where police got a call to a mobile home community about one of the homes being trespassed.

So they responded to that call. They found three teenagers who didn't really -- weren't able to communicate exactly what they were doing, didn't look very good, had clothes on that were too big and they were very filthy looking.

And so they connected them with their parents, who happened to be the mobile home next door, the one you're looking at right there, and talked to the parents.

The police went inside. They found that padlocked refrigerator. They were told by the mother -- get this -- that the kids were just garbage disposables with legs. That's how she described her own children to police.

Police actually left the area but came back not too long after with the state's child services. That's when they discovered even more children. Four were found in a back bedroom.

They also just found, as you said it, Boris, deplorable conditions. There were snakes in the home, toads, a four-foot reptile, two dozen caged rats, dogs, turtles, rabbits and feces everywhere. It was just horrific.

Plus, the children, they were malnourished. They didn't have any education. They learned that these kids didn't even know their own birth dates.

So two parents, they have been arrested, charged with seven felony counts of endangerment of these children. They actually did get out of jail but those children are not with them. They are with the state.

The good news here, if there is any, Boris, is that these children are doing a little bit better. They're actually gaining weight. But certainly there is a long road to recovery for these poor kids.

SANCHEZ: It's so difficult to listen to some of those details. Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Coming up next, the president of Microsoft says that A.I. has more potential for good than any other invention preceding it. But he is also calling for quick government regulation of this technology. Here's why.

[13:38:31]

Plus, New York City plans to use a former correctional facility as an emergency center to shelter asylum seekers. We'll have details of that plan just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:09]

SANCHEZ: You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Here's a look at some of the other headlines we're following at this hour.

Divers overnight recovered a fourth body from a lake in northern Italy after a tourist boat capsized. Authorities say the search and rescue effort is over.

And right now, an operation is under way to recover the sunken boat. There were 22 tourists and two crew members onboard when it capsized Sunday during a violent storm.

Also, days after a passenger opened the emergency door of a South Korean jetliner mid-flight, the airline now says it will no longer sell tickets for certain exit row seats on its Airbus 321s, even if the flight is full.

Video of Friday's incident on Asiana Airlines showed wind whipping through the plane's cabin as terrified passengers gripped their arm rests. The suspect reportedly told police that he felt suffocated and wanted to quickly get off the plane.

And New York City officials are planning to house up to 500 migrants at an old Harlem prison. A city hall spokesperson tells CNN, over the next few days, the city and state will work to open an emergency respite center for adult asylum seekers at the correctional facility.

It's located on the northern end of the central part of Manhattan. More than 70,000 migrants have arrived through the city's intake center since last spring and hundreds more arrive daily.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: Well, the president of Microsoft says that, yes, the government needs to work faster to regulate artificial assurance. But they say A.I. has the potential to improve human life and health more than any other invention preceding it.

CNN's Jon Sarlin is following it for us today.

So, Jon, first of all, on the positive, what good things does he expect A.I. to bring, but also, I suppose where does he say there need to be limitations?

[13:45:04]

JON SARLIN, CNN BUSINESS DIGITAL PRODUCER & CNN BUSINESS HOST, "NIGHTCAP": Thanks, Jim. Yes, the president of Microsoft speaking about the potentials and perils of A.I., comparing it to humanity's most transformative technology.

Saying that, well, in a sense, it's almost like the invention of the printing press. It takes you all the way back to the 1400s.

Saying that A.I. will be used to revolutionize medicine and drug discoveries, diagnosing diseases, allocating resources during natural disasters.

But he was also asked about the many issues surrounding A.I., and he says it's essential that there's some kind of human control built within the A.I. systems, liking it to an emergency brake within a vehicle.

He was asked about one of the most vexing issues when it comes to A.I., which is disinformation. We've seen A.I. images start to spread throughout the Internet.

One of the most difficult problems when it comes to A.I. right now is that it's a lot easier for A.I. to create images and audio and video than it is to actually detect them.

For that, we kind of need old-school human eyes and ears and the technology is only getting better.

Brad Smith said the solution is to build hashes, essentially, digital fingerprints within these A.I. systems to make it easier to identify them.

He was also asked about the six-month pause on A.I. development that has been proposed by people like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak and other A.I. researchers.

Interestingly, he came out against the pause for reasons similar to a chief information officer. The reason, he said, I don't think China is going to jump on that bandwagon. Let's use that six months to go faster.

SCIUTTO: The printing press comparison is interesting because I was just studying with one of my sons who is studying the invention of the printing press. I said to him, that's sort of like the Internet now. But when you think about it, A.I. even bigger in many respects.

So countries are now talking about regulating this. You have Japan. The G-7 nations will hold their first meeting on A.I. regulation. What are they going to discuss -- do you have a sense they could begin to even get their heads around this?

SARLIN: Right. Well, there's only so much that one country can regulate A.I. and that's why there are calls for international cooperation.

Earlier this month, at the G-7, A.I. was a hot topic and, from that, there was discussion that those countries would have to meet to figure out a framework for international competition on how to deal with A.I.

Now, this week, they're meeting for the first time. They say they'll discuss intellectual property protection, disinformation, and how tech should be governed.

It should be noted these are the G-7 nations. Right? You know, this does not include countries like China and Russia.

Sam Altman, the head of Open A.I., said, because A.I. is an existential risk, we need international watch dogs, similar to atom watchdogs, to oversee A.I. regulation.

But we're just beginning to see among G-7 nations, with shared democratic values, what A.I. regulation among is it them could look like.

SCIUTTO: Listen, you've got separate Internets, to some degree, between us and Russia and China. It would be alarming to have separate A.I. regulations.

Jon Sarlin, thanks for covering it, as always.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: History on the hard course. After the Miami Heat started to cool off, the Boston Celtics are one game away from doing something no team has ever done before in NBA history. We'll tell you why tonight's game is must-see TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:53:10]

SANCHEZ: Tonight, the Miami Heat are trying to fend off an historic comeback from the Boston Celtics. It is game seven, win or go home in the NBA's Eastern Conference final, thanks, in part, to a controversial end to game six.

I want you to look at this. The Celtics are up two with just seconds to spare. Here it is. Boston fouls Miami. There's 2.8 seconds left on the clock. It's clear as day. But the referees put three seconds back on the clock giving Boston an extra chance to win.

Jimmy Butler, Jimmy "Friggin'" Butler nails three free throws. Heat take the lead and then this happens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: It's up to smart for the seventh game. It may have been tipped in but the buzzer sounded.

(SHOUTING)

ANNOUNCER: He got rid of it in time!

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: They let them off the hook. Derrick white hits a miraculous putback with 0.1 second left. Boston was down 3-0 in the series. The Heat haven't been able to close it out in three games.

CNN'S Patrick Snell joins us now live.

Patrick, I'm not saying this because I've been a Heat fan since I was a child. I'm saying this as an impartial journalist, an objective observer of reality, this is a travesty.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN "WORLD SPORT" ANCHOR: Truly impartial.

(LAUGHTER)

SNELL: Look, they're still in it but there's no longer any margin for error. Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over until it's over." But, Boris, I know you will be watching it all very closely, indeed, later on.

They do say over here in the U.S. that the best two words in sport are "game seven."

History on the line as the storied Boston Celtics trying to do something no team has ever done before. The Celtics just the first team ever to lose the first three games and then rally to win the next three.

But no one has really fully come from three-nothing to win. Again, no one. And you can be sure that crowd at the garden are going to be right behind that team later.

[13:55:09]

Boston of 22-5 at home in game sevens. One thing is now for sure after the heroics of Derrick White at the buzzer on Saturday, we have a massive game later on tonight in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DERRICK WHITE, HIT WINNING SHOT IN GAME SIX: It felt good. Everybody was asking me, did you get it off? I was like, yes, I think so.

I was just happy. Like you said, season was on the line. We don't want to go home. And so I was just happy we got the win. I say through's a lot we can improve on and maybe better for game seven.

JIMMY BUTLER, HIT 3 FTS TO GIVE MIAMI LEAD WITH 3 SECS LEFT IN GAME SIX: I believe, as we all do, that you're going to get the same test until you pass it. I swear. We can do it. I know that we will do it.

We got to go on the road and win in a very, very, very tough environment, but we're capable of it. So let's get busy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: Let's get busy, indeed.

So in the sports world, anything can happen. Sorry Falcons fans but Tom Brady and the New England Patriots overcame 28 points-to-three deficit against Atlanta in the Superbowl.

And an amazing Cinderella story from my homeland in England, Premier League, when Leicester won back in 2016 against all the odds when nobody, and I mean nobody, Boris, gave them a chance.

Look, in a nutshell, 150 teams have tried to come back from being 3-0 down in a Best of Seven series. And 150 teams have so far failed.

But now the 17-time NBA champs, Boston, just one game away from accomplishing what would be a crucial feat. The crucial game seven matchup. It will be on TNT, available on the TNT app. Tip-off 8:30 P.M. Eastern, Boris.

I'm sure you are quietly confident, right, your team will get the job done? We'll see.

SANCHEZ: SNELL: Oh, absolutely. Heat in seven. If I call out sick tomorrow, it has nothing to do with being covered with tears in the fetal position.

Patrick Snell, thank you so much for that.

Jim?

SCIUTTO: That Celtics shot, Boris, looked to me like totally legal.

SANCHEZ: No, I don't know. No, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Complaining about the clock. It starts early.

What's in? What's out? More on the race to get lawmakers behind this debt deal, all just ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)