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Jared Spataro is Interviewed about Microsoft; Polls on November Elections; Celebrities Stun at Met Gala. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:11]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the Trump administration just announced agreements with top AI firms giving the government some new oversight over cutting-edge AI tech. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and XAI, now giving the U.S. government -- according to the Commerce Department -- early access to new artificial intelligence models before their public release to allow for national security checks and checks for national security risks under this new deal.

Last week, the Pentagon made a deal with eight big tech companies to use their artificial intelligence tools in its classified networks.

This is after the Trump administration had blacklisted Anthropic over this very issue. The president also weighing in on concerns that AI could cost jobs just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody was saying, oh, will AI take our jobs? Well, we have a lot of AI up. They said it's going to take jobs.

They said, well, you're probably right, maybe a little bit, but it's going to create a lot of jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The president's comments come as we see AI becoming a major and bigger and bigger part of everyday life, including in the workplace and the workforce. A new report just out today from Microsoft finds that the anxiety around AI at work is real, but at the same time, it's becoming more and more embedded. A growing number of workers are using AI in quote-unquote advanced, resourceful ways.

Let's learn about how and what we've learned from this new report and what it means for all of us. Joining us right now is Jared Spataro. He's Microsoft's chief marketing officer of AI at work. It's good to have you here.

So, talk to me about this new report just out this morning on this kind of transition of AI in the workforce and how much AI is becoming embedded in everyday work operations. You surveyed, what, 20,000 people who are using AI at work for this.

What's your big takeaway, Jared?

JARED SPATARO, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER OF AI AT WORK, MICROSOFT: That's right. Well, 20,000 people across 10 countries, but even more important than that, Kate, we actually looked into literally millions of signals that we get from our own cloud services as people use AI. The big takeaway is that this is an inflection point.

We're seeing people use AI consistently at work. In fact, 58 percent of the people that we studied said that they're doing things this year that they couldn't do last year because of AI. That number goes up to 80 percent with our most advanced users, which is pretty exciting.

BOLDUAN: Who's benefiting? What type of worker are we talking about? Are you really using AI and integrating it now? And who's not?

SPATARO: Well, think about your general knowledge work. So that's everything from finance to accounting, marketing, legal type of work, anything that a knowledge worker would do that typically would use kind of a digital tool or a computer. Those people are benefiting in major ways.

When we did a privacy-preserving analysis of more than 100,000 chats with co-pilot at work, what we found is nearly half of the work that people are now doing with AI was actually focused on what we call advanced scenarios. What we mean by that is it's things like decision- making, analysis, solving problems, evaluating different things that they could do. And that's really important because it means that it's moved on from just being a search tool.

That's how people started to use it a couple of years ago. It was kind of like an advanced search tool. So that type of advanced cognitive work being helped by AI means that it's really weaving itself into the workflow, the way people get things done every day.

BOLDUAN: And it shows just how quickly things are also changing. There was one line in the report I wanted to ask you about, I am interested in. It says, "The firms pulling ahead are focused on AI absorption rather than just AI adoption."

What does that mean?

SPATARO: Well, first, let's start by just saying that individual employees are not the bottleneck.

[09:35:01]

What we see is this. We just indicated they're using AI in really exciting and advanced ways.

But then when we take a step back and look at what's happening, we see that firms are struggling with how they integrate AI into how they get things done. So AI adoption would be something more like, are you using it? Are there some examples of how you could use it in your job? But absorption is something different. When we look at absorption, we look at whether or not work is being redesigned around AI. And that's the way that you get the benefits.

One of the most exciting findings from the report, from my perspective, is that if you really want to take a look at what AI can do in the workplace, you actually have to take a look at how people get their job done in the workplace. That means redesigning jobs, taking a lot of the toil and kind of the stress out of jobs, helping people to focus on things that not only do they enjoy more, but adds more value to the business. And then looking at how business gets work done across large processes or workflows.

So that's the job of leaders. And again, that's why I'm excited. The report really sheds some light on the work that leaders can do to kind of reprogram the way that their companies work today.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, and leaders need to get smart on it fast. That's my takeaway from all of this, is like you need to know it's here to stay. And you need to know.

I mentioned off top that Microsoft has been in the news quite a bit recently, one would be your leading AI tech company. Just today we learned from the Commerce Department, Jared, that the government has signed deals with Microsoft and other companies to test AI models before they go out publicly to look at national security risks and more. What does that mean for Microsoft?

Can you give us a little window into this since we're just learning of it?

SPATARO: Sure, I'm not the one to speak to policy, but again, if I zoom out and take a look at what's happening here, AI is so important. We're talking about it in the context of jobs, but so important for society at large. We think it is important for all the constituents in a society to really participate in both the development and the application of AI.

So I think here you're seeing a government recognizing that responsibility. At Microsoft, when we look broadly across society, we think everyone should participate. We engage deeply, for instance, with educational institutions, certainly with businesses, with governments, with religious institutions.

I think everyone has a stake in making sure that AI is used well to unlock the potential of people and whatever they happen to be doing at the time. That's what I think you're seeing here is it's starting to play out. And we think that's very healthy for everybody to be engaged in the debate, not just the debate, but the development of the technology.

BOLDUAN: Yes, debate and the real life implications of it all. Jared Spataro of Microsoft. Thank you very much for coming in. I appreciate your time.

Sara. SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: That was interesting.

All right, ahead, what caused this plane to slam into the side of that building? Details on this deadly crash ahead.

And a man opens fire at Secret Service agents just blocks from the White House. New details on the investigation into that shooting.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[09:42:25]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There is new polling out that points to a certain advantage that one party might have for the midterms about six months away. The key word there being "certain."

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is certainly here.

What are we talking about?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Dang it, he stole my line. He stole my line! Gosh darn it, Johnny B.

Just take a look here. I think this is so important. Absolutely certain to vote in November. Look at this. You include Democrats. Democratic leaners. We're talking about 75 percent of them say those voters are absolutely certain to turn out to vote in November.

Look at this. Significantly higher than the Republicans at 67 percent. That's an eight point advantage right here.

Why is that so important? Because zone out. Look at the generic ballot. Who are you going to vote for come November? If you look at Democrats versus Republicans on the generic ballot, among all voters it's Democrats up by five. But look at that, certain to vote, absolutely certain vote, that lead goes through the roof. There's a nine-point advantage. So, Democrats nearly double their lead on the generic ballot because their voters are far more certain to actually turn out and vote this November.

BERMAN: And this change is how you campaign too. You get these guys, these certain to vote to the polls, as opposed to persuading others. It just changes the dynamic when people say they're absolutely going to show up there.

So, what has history told us in terms of that party that has the advantage of certainty (ph)?

ENTEN: OK. So, this, to me, is what is so Nutter Butter, right? You see this, you see this Democratic advantage right here. I went back and looked at all the polling I could at about this point in the cycle. And what do we see? This is the first time since at least 2010 in which Democrats said they were more certain to vote in the midterm elections than Republicans. You can see that Democratic advantage here. In 2022 it was a Republican advantage. In 2018 it was tied, which, of course, was the first time that Donald Trump was not really on the ballot, but, you know, was in the minds of voters in a midterm election. It was tied back then. 2014, Republicans. 2010, Republicans. Of course, 2010, 2014, 2022 were all years in which Republicans went on to win the House of Representatives. And this year, extremely different, extremely unusual, Democrats are fired up to a historic degree. And that is why you see their lead nearly doubling on the generic ballot. And, of course, we've seen that in the special election so far, where Democrats, of course, have been outrunning Kamala Harris by double digits in all of them.

BERMAN: They took back the House when they were just tied. This time, they're ahead. So, what are the prediction markets saying about the Democratic chances today?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, you take a look. The chance that Democrats win the House, according to the Kalshi prediction market. On January 1st, it was 77 percent. April 28th, you know, about a week ago, before, of course, the redistricting ruling from the Supreme Court came down, 85 percent. It's 79 percent today. A little bit down from where we were a week ago. But Democrats still in the catbird seat when it comes to taking back the House.

[09:45:00]

BERMAN: This is probably the redistricting decision, Supreme Court, in some of these states that may be adding some new measures to their maps, shall we say.

All right, Harry, we just talked a lot about the midterms. But what if it's not enough? What if I wanted to find out more about the midterms?

ENTEN: If you wanted to find out more about the midterms, why don't you tune in tomorrow night to cnn.com/subscriberseries. Submit your questions now. Submit them now and then we, Johnny B. and I, two handsome fellas, me over here, Johnny B. over here. Look at that smile. Well --

BERMAN: I have a halo. You can't even circle it. Can't touch this.

ENTEN: You have a halo. Can't even circle it, it's just so amazing. We'll answer those questions tomorrow night at 7 p.m.. Cnn.com/subscriberseries. Submit your questions now.

BERMAN: Watch us live on your computer machines.

Harry Enten, thank you so much for this.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: We've got a lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:19] BERMAN: We've got new video this morning of a small airplane crashing in southeastern Brazil. Both the pilot and the copilot died there when that plane went down in a neighborhood. The passengers who were on board are said to be in serious condition. And it's not clear yet what caused this plane to crash.

This morning, an investigation is underway in Washington after a man allegedly opened fire at Secret Service agents and wounded a child in the process. This happened not far from the Washington Monument. The Secret Service says officers returned fire and wounded the suspect. He is now in custody and said to be in stable condition.

The World Health Organization now believes there was some human-to- human transmission at least possible on board a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak. The virus typically is transmitted through rodents and rodent droppings, not person to person. So far, at least three people have died, two others -- two other cases are confirmed. The ship is off the -- off the coast of Cape Verde, off West Africa, with nearly 150 people on board.

So, a "Star Wars" fan in North Dakota says these are the droids you're looking for. Joel Balco builds his own life-sized droids using 3-D printers. One stands at more than six feet tall. It took him about seven months and more than 2,000 hours of printing to finish all of that. We applaud his commitment, I think. I think it's a good use of time.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Work of art.

BERMAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Work of art. See, art comes in so many forms, like this.

It was fashion's biggest night, the Met Gala. The big show for big stars and big donors always comes with a theme. This year it was costume art. And dress code was fashion is art. And the stars, they showed up. Look at co -- the co -- one of the co-chairs of the night, Beyonce, skeletal couture. And it was insane in the best way. Bones outlined in crystals. Her fellow co-chair, Venus Williams, she also shined on the red carpet. And also, look at her sister, the great Serena Williams really striking a pose. Not to be outdone, pop royalty Madonna donned a pirate ship on her head.

BERMAN: Arr.

BOLDUAN: You really always do say it.

SIDNER: He loves to say it.

BERMAN: It's legally required whenever anyone says pirate, I have to make a pirate sound.

BOLDUAN: Not true.

Madonna also was then followed by an entourage to man the flowing fabric that followed her all the way up the stairs.

And two stars walked the carpet, if you will, almost in complete disguise.

SIDNER: These are my favorites.

BOLDUAN: Heidi Klum is on your left.

SIDNER: Love her.

BOLDUAN: Is a literal statue.

Bad Bunny, on your right, as old man Bad Bunny.

Here with us now, CNN's Rachel Tashjian to talk about it all.

What a night. I love the costumes. What did you think of this theme and just kind of your overall.

RACHEL TASHJIAN, CNN SENIOR STYLE REPORTER: I thought that the theme was really amazing. I mean, this is a moment for the Met Gala to really assert to the world that fashion is an art form. And I think they certainly did that, both in a literal sense, with something like Heidi Klum, but also with something like what Beyonce is wearing. I mean the amount of time that it takes to make a skeleton dress covered in rhinestones, I mean we can only imagine, you know?

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SIDNER: All right, so there is controversy with this one.

TASHJIAN: Of course.

SIDNER: And there was a protest. Like a real protest. And the people that they're talking about is Bezos. Lauren Sanchez was also, I think, helped chair this one.

TASHJIAN: She was an honorary co-chair, yes.

SIDNER: Honorary co-chair. And her dress is also from a controversy from an artist who painted this dress. Give us some sense of what the original controversy is and what the other controversy is, the current one.

TASHJIAN: Of course. Yes.

So, of course, the honorary co-chairs, as you mentioned, were Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos. And, you know, there was a lot of conversation about this, that there is this sense that billionaires are taking over popular culture and wanting to wear fun clothes. And I think that Lauren Sanchez Bezos was nodding to this with this dress, which is, of course, a nod to John Singer Sargent's Madame X portrait, which was very controversial in the late 19th century because it showed a woman with a strap falling off of her shoulder. And so, this was kind of an early moment of an aristocratic woman experiencing scandal. And so it's kind of up to us, I think, to decide, is she very savvy in nodding to this scandal, or is this adding to the sort of tone deaf feeling that many people were worried about this evening striking?

BERMAN: What do you think?

TASHJIAN: I think it was quite savvy, I have to say. You know, she's been very intelligent in the way that she's approached this event. Very careful about not overstepping. And I think she's very eager to move into the world of fashion and be accepted by these sort of gatekeepers, by Anna Wintour, by "Vogue," by the Met Gala.

[09:55:08]

And this was really her night to show that she has arrived in that firmament.

BOLDUAN: And, Rachel, speaking of "Vogue," this was the first Met with Chloe Malle as editorial head of "Vogue." And you -- I really enjoyed your conversation with her ahead of time.

TASHJIAN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: What do you -- what did she make of this whole -- this whole shebang?

TASHJIAN: Well, what's interesting is that Chloe Malle was the first journalist to profile Lauren Sanchez Bezos. So, this was before they were even married. It was in 2023. And she was the first person to put her finger on Lauren and say, you know, this is an interesting person who is flying around in her helicopter in designer outfits and doing really interesting stuff.

BOLDUAN: Oh, it was that profile. I remember that profile, yes.

TASHJIAN: Exactly. Yes. And she went to their clock that is in the center of the earth. And so, it's interesting to see, you know, Lauren has been cultivating this relationship with "Vogue." And "Vogue's" new editor, Chloe, has been a big part of sort of bringing her into that universe.

BOLDUAN: Fascinating night. Love the clothes. Love a moment to celebrate it all. Now back to the real work. It's good to see you. Thank you so much.

TASHJIAN: It's good to see you too. Thanks, guys.

SIDNER: Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right, thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. John will have an outfit on you won't believe tomorrow. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

BERMAN: Arr.

BOLDUAN: Old man. Old man John Berman.

BERMAN: Full-on pirate.

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