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Threat of Tank Vapor Explosion Over in California, but Incident Not Under Control; Artificial Intelligence Learning to Fly Airplanes; Pope Leo Warns of AI Fueling Warfare in Major Theological Document. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired May 25, 2026 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: California Governor Gavin Newsom just announced that President Trump has approved an emergency disaster declaration for the state as it responds to this dire hazmat situation at an Orange County toxic chemical plant. The interim Orange County Fire Authority chief says the threat of what is called a massive vapor explosion inside a tank has been eliminated. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate even so, and that remains in effect. Fire officials stressing that the situation remains volatile and that the incident is not under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERIM CHIEF T.J. MCGOVERN, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY: We still have potential for an explosion that is not as bad as a bloody, but it's still a threat. We need the public to keep to those evacuation zones until we deem it safe for them to come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Tony Strickland is a California state senator who represents the district that's being directly impacted by all of this. Tony, thank you so much for joining us. Can you just tell us the status of this tank of highly volatile chemicals? Is there an active leak at this point?
TONY STRICKLAND, (R) CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE: There is a crack in the system, but we are a much better position today than we were on Thursday, and I think our first responders for doing a remarkable job. A lot of them put their lives in harm's way to go test the site.
[15:35:00]
And what we understand is the cooling system has now gone around 60 degrees where it was over 100. And the temperature only goes to 100 so it could have been a lot higher than that. But the crack relieves a lot of the pressure and what they call the -- they call it levy explosion has been kind of taken off the table. They still have a lot to be concerned about and we still have 50,000 residents that are displaced.
But I will have to say I give Governor Newsom a lot of credit. He's been fantastic to work with in his office and then the president just called the national state of emergency. So we're getting help from the federal and the state and we're doing what we can and the community is coming together. We have eight centers were, you know, service organizations like Kiwanis are coming in. I help provide food. And on a bipartisan level, all elected leaders have been stepping up and doing what we can to make sure that we help our residents who have been displaced over this holiday weekend.
KEILAR: Yes, that's great to hear. And yes, these first responders, the work they're doing is just amazing. This is such a densely populated area. And we're looking at it here, houses, businesses, schools, chock-a-block. How are residents managing this? I hear that you have these evacuation centers, but to evacuate this many people, it's just something you don't normally see.
STRICKLAND: It hasn't been easy, Brianna, but the good news is again, I'll just give you one quick example. Some RV's went to the Huntington Beach State Beach to put their RV's there and we called the governor's office and within 15 minutes they had the permit approval. These high schools, these community centers, again, all local leaders and the community has really come together to do what they can to make it as easy on these 50,000 residents have been displaced.
And I do give the first responders enormous credit. They've done a remarkable job. Where we were on Thursday and where we are today are remarkably different situations. And where we are today, I'm cautiously optimistic that we can get through this without really lives being lost.
And the most essential role of government is public safety. We have to make sure that people are safe. And then once the community is safe, they can go back to their homes. And I know I've talked to those first responders very frequently throughout the day since Thursday, and their number one priority safety. But they're also -- they understand the discomfort that a lot of these residents have, and they want to get back in those homes just fast as those residents do.
And so we want to make sure that everything's safe before they go back home. But I'm very cautiously optimistic where we are today, especially where we were on Thursday. And again, I give credit to the first responders and the community for coming together.
KEILAR: So as we are not out of the woods yet looking at this. A reference point for people who may be wondering where this is. It's very close to Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm and Anaheim Stadium. They are just outside of this kind of exclusion zone or this evacuation zone. They have not been included in the evacuation zone. If Senator, there is a cloud of toxic gas that is released, is there a plan for evacuating those popular areas and what would the economic impact of that be?
STRICKLAND: Well, we've been dealing with the first responders and they've been monitoring the air quality. Right now we're in a good situation and I have faith in those law enforcement officers as well as those fire authority. And now that the President and the governor called state emergencies, we have the experts from around the country coming in to make sure we mitigate any kind of situation like that from taking place.
And so I have deep faith into our law enforcement and our public safety folks to prevent anything like that from happening. And again, I give credit to the president and the governor for stepping up and giving us the resources we need to make sure that a thing like that does not transpire.
KEILAR: State Senator Tony Strickland, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
STRICKLAND: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
KEILAR: Coming up AI in the cockpit. We hop aboard a flight that takes off and lands using artificial intelligence.
[15:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Artificial intelligence is flying into the aviation industry and it's raising the question, would you trust artificial intelligence to fly and land a plane? CNN's Pete Muntean has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm in the co- pilot seat of a Cessna.
MUNTEAN: One, two, three, good.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): And I'm about to find out what happens when the pilot flying is not human but artificial intelligence.
TIM BURNS, MERLIN LABS CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: This all experimental paradigm --
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Tim Burns is the chief technology officer at Merlin Labs, a Boston start-up developing a system that can be bolted into existing airplanes. Merlin says its system can fly the plane, talk to air traffic control and even help make decisions about weather and routing.
BURNS: We're trying to capture the judgment and abilities of a real aviator.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Merlin says it has completed hundreds of test flights to see how the system performs in real-world conditions, though it is likely years away from carrying passengers.
In the back of the plane, one of the company's engineers is monitoring what the AI is doing in real time.
MUNTEAN: I don't know if I know exactly what I'm in for here.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Alongside me is test pilot Matt Diamond, who on this flight won't be doing much piloting at all. MUNTEAN: So this is just a manual takeoff?
MATT DIAMOND, MERLIN LABS PILOT: This is going to be an automated takeoff.
MUNTEAN: Oh, this is automated.
DIAMOND: Yep.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Meaning the AI system is flying the airplane from the very start.
MUNTEAN: Wow, nicely done.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The next part of the demonstration, communicating with air traffic control. Merlin's system displays its language processing on an iPad as it listens to a mock controller, repeats the instruction, and then flies the airplane to match it.
CONTROLLER: Magic 01, turn left, heading 090, descend 2,000.
AI VOICE: Left 090 and down 2000 Magic 01.
DIAMOND: Could authorize.
[15:45:00]
MUNTEAN: We're at about 1,500 feet now over Newport, Rhode Island and we just turned on to the final approach here at Quonset State Airport. Now this is going to be an automated landing and the system will fly the airplane all the way down to the pavement.
DIAMOND: It's a challenging problem for the automation, but once you crack the code, it's so much easier on the pilot.
MUNTEAN: You seem pretty confident over there.
DIAMOND: Oh, yes.
MUNTEAN: You seem pretty relaxed. Should I be this relaxed?
DIAMOND: Yes.
MUNTEAN: OK, all right.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): As a pilot and a bit of a control freak, this is not exactly easy for me. But the system lines up with the runway and flies a gradual descent all the way to touchdown.
DIAMOND: Smooth, easy, right on center line.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Even still, putting AI in control of an airplane raises big questions about safety and trust. Merlin CEO Matthew George.
MATTHEW GEORGE, MERLIN LABS CEO: What we're building is certainly very sci-fi, but we're doing it in a responsible incremental way.
MUNTEAN: Will this put pilots out of jobs?
GEORGE: It won't. This is sitting alongside pilots, not necessarily replacing pilots, and enabling those pilots to do more of what they do best, which is operate aircraft safely.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): That could be appealing to airlines worldwide, which will need to hire more than 600,000 new pilots over the next 20 years, according to Boeing.
Merlin has already secured a $100 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to eventually fly cargo planes without pilots on board at all. But convincing passengers may be the hardest part.
MIKE TANNENBAUM, PASSENGER: As long as it's safe and more efficient and tested out in advance, I'm for it.
MEG MCKNIGHT, PASSENGER: I don't know if I trust AI in the air. I doubt I'd trust it.
STEVE COLEMAN, PASSENGER: I like the idea of humans having control. I don't like the idea of machines having control.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Quonset, Rhode Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Pope Leo is warning about artificial intelligence in his first major theological document of his tenure. It's called the Encyclical, and the text calls for the disarming of AI by preventing it from dominating humanity. And regarding its use in warfare, the Pope says AI should be subject to the most rigorous ethical constraints.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LEO: Decisions about technology must never be separated from conscience and responsibility. Let us not sleep as others do, admonished the Apostle Paul, but let us keep awake.
Such vigilance is necessary today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Chris Olah, co-founder of AI company Anthropic, echoing some of the pope's concerns at the Vatican today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS OLAH, CO FOUNDER, ANTHROPIC: Every Frontier AI lab, including Anthropic, operates inside a set of incentives and constraints that can sometimes conflict with doing the right thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Let's bring in papal commentator and author of Letters from Leo, Christopher Hale. Christopher, thank you so much for being with us. What an interesting thing to hear the Pope talking about, writing about, he's calling for AI to be disarmed. Who is he talking to here?
CHRISTOPHER HALE, PAPAL COMMENTATOR AND AUTHOR, "LETTERS FROM LEO": I think he's talking really to two people in this country. He's talking to Silicon Valley. We saw Christopher Olah there today. I think that's actually the most fascinating thing that really happened today. And he's talking to our federal government as well. And of course, last week, President Trump scrapped last minute an AI executive order that was going to put some restraints, some breaks, some guardrails. And I think Leo would say, go back and do that, in fact.
And so I think those are really the two people he's talking to. But there is a third person he's talking to as well. It's consumers. He wants us to use our phones less, to have face-to-face encounters more. So it's really a document, encyclical means around to everyone. He's really speaking to all of us, in fact.
KEILAR: So if he is talking to the Trump administration, he's talking to policymakers, there has been a little tension with the administration. Do you see this translating to real policy change?
HALE: I think the president's actually under a lot of pressure right now. We saw in February of 2025, J.D. Vance goes to Europe and gives that famous speech where he says, let's not talk about guardrails, let's talk about innovation. But David Sachs leaves the White House, who was the AI czar a few weeks ago. And we're starting to see the administration early respond to populist pressure across the country. We know AI data centers are going from coast to coast, and a lot of people have concerns.
I think that Pope Leo, what he really represents is really, he gives moral grammar vocabulary to a lot of these movements. They're oftentimes centered around policy, but don't really have a common vocabulary. I think they have a hero in Pope Leo.
KEILAR: There's a lot of public opinion behind and a lot of fear, right, that he's speaking to there. He also touches on the just war theory, which he says is now outdated, and that military force can only be used for self-defense in the strictest sense. How significant is that? This is, after all, the U.S. a nation at war?
HALE: I think it's something he's really concerned with.
[15:50:00]
We know he was personally impacted when the 168 school children were killed in Iran the first day of the war. The parents of those children wrote Pope Leo XIV a letter, and he took that the heart. There was a child killed in Lebanon. He visited Lebanon last November during the war there, and he carries a photo of that child in his pocket.
So he's really deeply impacted the deaths of war but I think what really concerns him about this is there's no longer a human conscience of war. The idea that human beings would just be killed by machines alone it's almost a great -- even more grotesque version of war to him. So I think it's very, very meaningful to him. This is a long document he spent a lot of the time talking about war.
KEILAR: Yes, and in this encyclical which really is setting the agenda for years with him at the helm of the church. He also offers an apology for the church's delay in denouncing slavery. Really interesting. Why do you think he felt it was important to do that now?
HALE: I think it's really twofold reason. I do think he realizes that it is the 250th anniversary. He is an American Pope. I think it'd actually be a great example for our government to follow, to apologize for the sense of its past, but I also think that he thinks that AI could represent a new form of enforce indigent labor of slavery in itself. I think he's used actually new forms of slavery at hand and he wants to make sure the church doesn't make the same mistakes in the past and really stands out in front of this.
KEILAR: His choice of name is sort of coming into I think focus a little bit more. It's just so interesting. Can you talk about his significance of his name as his first encyclical is upon us here in the context of his namesake, Leo XIII, leading the church through the Industrial Revolution.
HALE: Absolutely. 1891, the big issue was the Industrial Revolution, steamboats and steam engines and what we saw with Pope Leo XIII was he addressed that head on. And really a lot of people would argue that rear on the bar on his document in 1891 was the birthplace of labor unions. So it'll be interesting to see this 2026 version. What will come the birth from this document? What new systems of collective action and what systems of really standing up for human dignity will come from it? I think he hopes that there will be. new things coming from this document as well.
KEILAR: Christopher Hale, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
HALE: Thank you for having me.
KEILAR: And ahead, American success on day two of the French Open, the latest on the first round at Roland-Garros next.
[15:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Americans are holding their own in round one of the French Open. Fifth seeded Ben Shelton just won his opening match in straight sets. Well, all eyes will be on superstar Coco Gauff, who's looking to defend her title at Roland Garros. Gauff begins her quest tomorrow, along with world number ones Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka.
CNN's Don Riddell is following all the action in Paris. All right, Don, Shelton is not the only American to win today.
DON RIDDELL, CNN: That's right, Brianna. Tommy Paul came from a set down to win his match. Francis Tiafoe also advancing. So a strong performance from most of the top American men on Monday. I would say perhaps don't get your hopes up if you're hoping that one of them can go all the way to win it because it's been a long time since an American man won the French Open. That was Andrea Agosti all the way back in 1999.
The women though, completely different story. A few of them have got a real chance, not least Amanda Anisimova who won her first round match today. She's a former semi-finalist at the French Open. Remember last year she made it to both the finals of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. So good start for Anisimova as well.
KEILAR: And another American was on the wrong end of the biggest upset so far, Taylor Fritz. What happened here?
RIDDELL: Yes, really, really big upset. Top 10 player Taylor Fritz. Perhaps not the biggest of surprises though. He also went out of this tournament in the first round last year. He's been struggling with knee problems. We haven't seen much of him at all really in the last couple of months.
However, there is a silver lining to this for American tennis fans because the guy that beat him. is also American, Nishesh Basavareddy. He's the world number 148, 21 years old, former Stanford College tennis player. Huge win for him, but obviously very, very disappointing and a massive upset for Taylor Fritz.
KEILAR: But look at that smile. I mean, just to have someone sort of even surprise themself, it's something to behold as we do there. How about the women? Because Coco Gauff, of course, is defending her title. What are her chances here?
RIDDELL: Good, I think she made it to the final of the Italian Open recently and there might be an omen there because she made it to the final of the Italian Open last year as well. When of course she then followed that up by winning at Roland-Garros. She's been working on her serve. That was something that really kind of jinxed her and plagued her towards the second half of last season, but that seems to be under control now. So she's a contender for sure.
Tough opening match though against another American, Taylor Townsend, who's a compatriot, friend, sometimes doubles partner. So very familiar opponent and a tricky one too.
KEILAR: Yes, they know each other's game.
[16:00:00]
All right, this is a lot of matches that we are looking forward to seeing. Don, you have a great job as you get to commentate on all of them.
RIDDELL: Not so bad, is it?
KEILAR: Not so bad. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.
END
