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White House Officials To Meet With AI Execs On AI's Huge Need For Energy; Congress To Get Increased Federal Security On January 6, 2025; Ohio Officials Refute Pet-Eating Rumor Spread By Trump And Vance. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 12, 2024 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:34:07]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: By 2026, AI is predicted to require enough energy that it would be equivalent to powering the entire country of Japan. Just sit on that for a second. That is according to the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. And that is why we are learning the White House plans to meet today with the CEO behind ChatGPT, Sam Altman, of OpenAI.
CNN's Matt Egan is here with much more on this. What are you -- what more are you hearing about the issue and what the White House role is in this?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Kate, this is a massive challenge and it's not one they're going to solve overnight, but this meeting is a start, right? They're putting some of the most powerful figures in artificial intelligence --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
EGAN: -- together in a room with the power industry, and some of the top officials in the federal government.
CNN has learned that today's meeting, which hasn't been previously reported, will include Mr. ChatGPT himself, Sam Altman, right, the CEO of OpenAI. He's the face of the AI --
[07:35:05]
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
EGAN: -- industry. And we should note he's also been an investor in energy startups that are specifically designed to power the AI boom.
BOLDUAN: Yeah. He --
EGAN: Other AI --
BOLDUAN: -- knows the issue and he has a lot to gain --
EGAN: He's got a lot at stake here --
BOLDUAN: -- on this issue, yeah.
EGAN: -- no doubt.
Now, this is not just OpenAI at this meeting though. Also, we're hearing that Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, another massive --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
EGAN: -- AI firm, he'll be there. Ruth Porat, one of the top executives from Google. Microsoft is going to have representatives there as well.
And this is important because it's really the first time that the White House is sitting down with officials from AI squarely focused on this riddle, right, making sure that there's enough energy to power the AI boom and that it doesn't unnecessarily --
BOLDUAN: And power everything else.
EGAN: Exactly.
BOLDUAN: Like --
EGAN: And not strain America's infrastructure at the same time.
BOLDUAN: Sorry, we cannot power your home. We need to power these AI data centers.
EGAN: Yeah, that's not going to go over too well, right?
But it's -- what's really important here is obviously, AI just has this massive potential, right --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
EGAN: -- to potentially solve some of the major issues in society -- curing diseases. Maybe addressing the climate crisis. But it does have this insatiable appetite for energy.
Consider that a single request on ChatGPT uses 10 times as much energy as a Google search. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
BOLDUAN: Really?
EGAN: Ten times as much. And I guess it kind of makes sense, right, because we're talking about really powerful tools, right. They can generate hilarious stories. They can do song lyrics. They can --
BOLDUAN: It's doing -- it's doing way -- it's doing way more than what Google is doing.
EGAN: They are, and they're doing it at lightning fast speed. But remember, it's growing so rapidly. So as AI continues to advance its energy needs are going to as well. Goldman Sachs expects that data centers are going to consume 160 percent more power by 2030 in large part because of the AI boom.
We should note some top officials from the Biden administration are expected to be there. Commerce Sec. Gina Raimondo, the energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm, national security adviser.
And one other point here, this is a big day for AI. Later today, 8:00 p.m. Eastern on ABC, Oprah is sitting down with Sam Altman and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates to talk about AI.
BOLDUAN: There's a lot going on here that I'm trying to -- right? I'm looking at John like
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: (INAUDIBLE) Oprah.
BOLDUAN: Oprah now does AI. Oprah's now taking on AI. OK, got that one.
It's great to see you, Matt. Thank you.
EGAN: Thank you, Kate.
BOLDUAN: But also, I mean, John, how fast does government work when it comes to staying in front of technology?
BERMAN: Oh, wicked fast.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
BERMAN: Wicked, wicked fast.
All right. Overnight, the MTV Video Music Awards -- it was a show. Women dominated the winner's list. There was an alien kiss, a flaming crossbow, and a call to vote.
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TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: And the fact that this is a fan- voted award, and you voted for this, I appreciate it so much. And if you are over 18, please register to vote for something else that's very important to me now, the 2024 presidential election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: You may recognize the person who was just speaking there. That was one Taylor Swift.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is here with the highlights of this big night -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, I have heard of Taylor Swift before, John, and no surprise here. It's really the year, the era, the month, the week of Taylor Swift and her insane week continues. She dominated last night, John. She came into the VMAs with the most
nominations of the night -- that was 12 -- and she walked away with seven. She now ties Beyonce for the most VMA awards of all time. But Taylor is now the most highly decorated solo artist of all time in MTV VMA history.
Now aside from her call to action there she kicked off the night winning the first award of the night and giving a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Of course, this awards show happened on the anniversary of 9/11, so it was really nice to hear Taylor give some touching words there.
But, of course, she also had some fun. She gave a shoutout to her boyfriend, Chiefs' player Travis Kelce. And this is a big deal John because this is the first time that she has acknowledged him on stage at an awards show.
Let's take a look at that moment.
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SWIFT: When I would finish a take and I'd -- and I'd say cut, and we'd be done with that take, I would always just hear, like, someone, like, cheering and, like, whoo, like from across -- from across the studio where we were shooting it. And that one person was my boyfriend, Travis. Everything this man touches turn to happiness, and fun, and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WAGMEISTER: So fans are very excited about that moment.
But also, again, she did remind her fans over the age of 18 to register to vote. And, of course, John, this comes on the heels of her major endorsement for Kamala Harris after the debate this week.
[07:40:03]
BERMAN: Well, we'll see. That callout to Travis Kelce -- somewhere Chad Lowe is crying this morning. A deep cut right there.
Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much for being with us.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: John with the pop now.
BERMAN: Sara.
SIDNER: You know who was not excited about all of this, J.D. Vance. And he reacted after Taylor Swift's endorsement of the Harris-Walz team.
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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We admire Taylor Swift's music. But I don't think most Americans, whether they like her music or fans or hers or not are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Look, conventional wisdom is that celebrities do not have an impact on who people vote for in the presidential election or elsewhere. But more than 337,000 people did click on the voter registration link that's on Taylor Swift's website after the endorsement. So the question is will Swift be a potential gamechanger in this election?
Joining me now, Rachel Palmero and Matt Gorman here with me.
Matt, I'm going to start with you. The question is out there. Is she going to have an impact, especially that we're in this unprecedentedly close race?
MATT GORMAN, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, TIM SCOTT'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's super tight. We'll see. I mean, if she registers a ton of people to vote, sure, but you never know who they could vote for.
SIDNER: Right.
GORMAN: She's a private citizen.
Look, I thought her post was really rooted in humility, which I appreciated. She said, you know, look, I did my research, you do yours. Vote for whomever you kind of come up with.
You know, look, I've been at 20 Bruce Springsteen shows. I'm used to going and appreciating music of somebody who I might not agree with politically. That's OK.
SIDNER: Yeah. Bruce Springsteen is definitely --
GORMAN: Definitely not a Republican.
SIDNER: -- (INAUDIBLE).
All right. So let's talk about what's happened with the Harris-Walz campaign. They took to Twitter and, Rachel, they put out a new -- what they said, a new ad campaign just dropped. And it was literally the entire debate that they put on Twitter basically saying look at this. We beat him. This is our ad campaign.
Is this effective?
RACHEL PALERMO, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AND ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I think this is effective, Sara. I think that this shows that the campaign thinks what the American people think, which is that the vice president did an incredible job on that debate state, and that's no easy task. Donald Trump had done seven general election debates before and he's an incredibly difficult person to debate.
But Vice President Harris laid out her message. She showed her record. She showed her story of who she is -- growing up in a middle class household. And she also talked about her vision moving forward and not back and fighting for opportunity and fighting to defend fundamental freedoms.
And so the campaign is smart to really push this debate out because people need to see it and they really should see the contrast between Vice President Harris and Donald Trump, which she made quite clear on that debate stage.
SIDNER: Look, Matt, at this point we are less than two months away, so this is a very truncated --
GORMAN: Um-hum.
SIDNER: -- campaign because of what happened with Joe Biden dropping out and Harris going in.
What are the chances, do you think, that Trump does take her up on a second debate?
GORMAN: And people are already voting, too, right now --
SIDNER: Right.
GORMAN: -- in some of the -- in some of the states, so it's an even shorter window per se.
Look, yesterday, I thought maybe there was a decent chance. We saw some interviews on CNN that both the Trump campaign and the Harris- Walz campaign said maybe there will be a debate.
SIDNER: Yeah.
GORMAN: As we got later in the day maybe not so much. I think we'll see what happens with the Walz-Vance debate on October 1. I think that will tell us a lot about future debates.
SIDNER: Yeah, and that will be highly watched as well --
GORMAN: Absolutely.
SIDNER: -- because fewer people know these two candidates and what they're all about, at least countrywide. Certainly they are known in their own states.
Polling keeps revealing that this is such a razor-thin situation -- a razor-thin race. They are both out to the campaign trail. Harris has had the momentum. She had it after the DNC and there is an argument that she has it after this debate.
So why is the race so close? Rachel, to you first.
PALERMO: I think the race is close because the vice president has only been running in this election for less than two months. I know it seems like a lot longer, but it's been a short period of time. And the American people are still getting to know her. They're getting to know her story. And she's done an incredible job getting her message out and really showing people who she is and what she stands for.
And she's made it very clear she believes she's the underdog in the race. It's why she's taking nothing for granted.
She's doing two stops in North Carolina today, an incredibly important state on the electoral map. She's going back to Pennsylvania tomorrow. And she's going far and wide leaving no stone unturned to talk about what is at stake this November.
SIDNER: It's such an unusual thing that someone who is from the incumbent administration says that they are the underdog --
GORMAN: Um-hum.
SIDNER: -- but there is so much that is unusual about this.
You heard Rachel saying she's been sending her message out. They have been out on the trail going hard there. But does she need to do more?
GORMAN: I think one of the things they talked about in the last debate that we've kind of missed a little bit, she didn't go into her policies. That New York Times/Siena poll said that voters want to hear more about what she would do. We didn't get a lot of that. If we have another debate it will be very interesting to see if she goes into that.
[07:45:00]
I would expect a small bump -- maybe not a huge one, but this is going to be tight no matter what.
SIDNER: Rachel Palermo, Matt Gorman, thank you so much for your expertise on these things. We'll be talking more as we tick down to the November election.
All right, John. Oh, John? Hey, John. John is coming in to do sports and he's talking about who? The L.A. Dodgers, ladies and gentlemen.
BERMAN: I am talking about the -- that was my walk-in right there.
Shohei Ohtani, from the Los Angeles Dodgers, inching closer to history. He hit his 47th home run of the season. Yeah, that was clear. Big homer right there.
Then after that, he stole -- here, see the homer again -- the homer again. Lots of homers he's hitting there. I hope you see him steal -- there you go -- right there, stealing a key base, his 48th of the season.
Now, Kate ran the math. That means he is now three home runs and two stolen bases away from the first-ever 50-50 season in baseball history. I remember when Jose Canseco was the first to 40-40. Remember how well that worked out for him.
Now, the Dodgers -- they beat the Cubs 10-8. In the WNBA, A'ja Wilson -- she added a new record to her already storied career. The two-time MVP got this bucket right there giving her 941 points, the most ever in a WNBA season.
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A'JA WILSON, CENTER, LAS VEGAS ACES: I don't get any of that without every single teammate along the way. And I'm so grateful to be able to play with just -- and I said it on the broadcast before -- just selfless women. They give it their all every single day and they are their pure selves, and that's what I love the most. And I'm trying not to get emotional.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, cause you want to cry.
WILSON: But, like, my teammates are the ones -- they're the heartbeat. They get me going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: She is so good, and she is now just 44 points away from the first-ever 1,000-point season. Forty-four points, Kate. That is about 70 in the metric system.
BOLDUAN: OK, we're going to have this out. I would like you to know that my Stat. 53 professor, my freshman year of college thought that I was good enough at math that I should major in math, OK?
SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE).
BOLDUAN: It's just a muscle. I've been working other muscles --
BERMAN: I'm actually impressed. I just know enough not to try.
SIDNER: I'll be the ref -- and fight. Oh, wait, no.
BOLDUAN: We all know who would win, OK? We all know who would win, OK.
Coming up for us much more ahead. The one and only Jon Bon Jovi helping to save a woman's life in Nashville. The chance encounter on a bridge and what he did next.
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[07:52:05]
SIDNER: A rock star-turned-lifesaver in Nashville. The man in this spot shadow is Jon Bon Jovi. He is helping a woman who appears to be thinking about jumping from that bridge into the Cumberland River on Tuesday night. You see her -- him pull her over the ledge after he and another woman chatted with her for just a bit. You see them standing there.
Nashville Metro Police released these images. The woman was taken to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. The police chief said, "It takes all of us to help keep each other safe." A beautiful message for you there.
All right, John Berman.
BERMAN: Good on him --
SIDNER: That was beautiful, really.
BERMAN: -- just being a good, good guy.
SIDNER: Good human.
BERMAN: All right, we've got new reporting this morning on efforts to strengthen security at the Capitol on January 6, 2025, trying to avoid a repeat of the 2021 insurrection. Federal authorities say members of Congress will not get Super Bowl-level security with the day designated as a national special security event by the Secret Service.
CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill with the latest on this. Lauren, what are you learning?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, this designation is really important when it comes to the security preparations and apparatus that will surround the Capitol on January 6, 2025. This, of course, is the date in which lawmakers will certify the results of the election, whatever they are in November.
And, of course, just a few years ago, this was the date in which there was that deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol in which more than 100 Capitol Police officers were injured.
Now, what this special status means is that there will be additional officers, there will be an extended perimeter around the Capitol, and there will be advanced technology apparatuses that will be part of this day.
In a statement, the Secret Service said, "The U.S. Secret Service in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety and security of this event and its participants."
Now we should note that the security preparations are one thing. It will also be really interesting in the months ahead, and you already are hearing Democrats talking about his on Capitol Hill, on how every lawmaker talks about the results of the election and deals with the results of the election, whatever those results are after November -- John.
BERMAN: All right. Yes, everyone should accept the results of the election. That would be an interesting shift.
Lauren Fox, thank you very much -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: So there is no truth to it. That is what Ohio officials are now saying after Donald Trump's repeated claims that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating people's pets in Springfield, Ohio. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs -- the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[07:55:08]
BOLDUAN: So as the city manager of Springfield, Ohio puts it, this: "There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, abused, or injured by migrants."
And now, the state's Republican governor is weighing in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKE DEWINE, (R) OHIO: This is something that came up on the internet, and the interest can be quite crazy sometimes. And look, the mayor - Mayor Rue, of Springfield, says no, there's no truth in that. They have no evidence of that at all. So I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows his city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, Aftab Pureval. Mayor, thank you very much for coming in.
I mean, you have watched along with us this really exploding this week. You're the mayor of a city that's seen big population growth in Ohio in recent years, in large part due to immigration.
What do you make of this? Have you heard anything of the claims that Donald Trump is making?
MAYOR AFTAB PUREVAL, (D) CINCINNATI, OHIO (via Skype): No -- like most Americans, likely. The first time I heard about this claim was actually on the debate stage and I was thinking what the heck is he talking about? You know, it was kind of a shocking statement and claim.
But it's not -- so for most Americans listening to that they would be confused and rightly so because this is just another conspiracy theory from the darkest corners of the internet that Donald Trump has brought to the mainstream with no credibility, no evidence -- only an attempt, it seems like, to demonize immigrants and Black and brown people.
So, you know, I was shocked by it, confused. There's obviously no truth to it. The pets in Ohio are safe, I promise.
But it's just business as usual for Donald Trump to continue to frankly distract, instill fear, and demonize people he disagrees with.
BOLDUAN: But what is the impact of all of this? You know, truth, misinformation, taking that out of it, it can have -- these kind of things can have an impact. If this is a distraction, what do you think the impact of it is?
PUREVAL: Well, of course, there's a -- there's a distraction impact. But Southwest Ohio is no stranger to conspiracy theories promulgated by Donald Trump and having real violent consequences.
You know, just last year because of, in part, Donald Trump's violent rhetoric against federal law enforcement, someone attacked our Cincinnati FBI office. Now we've got Donald Trump demonizing, unfortunately, immigrants in our communities.
And across the country there has been a rise in AAPI Hate against Asian Americans. There's been more division, there's been more violence. And unfortunately, that is just part of the playbook from President Trump's -- former President Trump's campaign.
BOLDUAN: And I also --
PUREVAL: And I would add --
BOLDUAN: And I also --
PUREVAL: Go ahead.
BOLDUAN: Sorry, Mayor. I was also going to add something to that because another thing coming out of your state right now is there's a father begging the Trump campaign to stop using his son's tragic death to push their campaign --
PUREVAL: Yeah.
BOLDUAN: -- agenda. His name is Nathan Clark, and his son was killed last year when he was thrown from a bus after a minivan driver who was a Haitian immigrant veered into oncoming traffic.
This week J.D. Vance started posting about his son, saying that he was murdered. And the father says he was not murdered. He says he was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti. But this has gotten so -- gone so far that the father actually went to the City Council to make a plea.
And let me play this for everyone. This was just this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATHAN CLARK, FATHER OF BOY KILLED IN CRASH WITH MIGRANT: And speaking of morally bankrupt, politicians Bernie Moreno, Chip Roy, J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump -- they have spoken my son's name and used his death for political gain. This needs to stop now.
I wish that my son Aiden Clark was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11-year-old son the incessant group of hate- spewing people would leave us alone.
The last thing that we need is to have the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: What's going on here?
PUREVAL: Well, what a -- what an incredible citizen -- a father grieving and at his wit's end. And leaders are supposed to ease the suffering, are supposed to lift up people who are struggling, and are supposed to honor Aiden's memory. And instead of leading, instead of being a support, they're using this tragic death to further divide an anger and scare people.
