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Third Measles Death in Pennsylvania; Winter Heating Costs Set to Rise?; Dangers of A.I.?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 14, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A real threat from artificial intelligence. With the top tech CEOs arguing they should pump the brakes to avoid a disaster, president Trump says they should put the pedal to the metal to win the A.I. race.

And keeping your house warm this winter could cost a lot more. How the rising cost of oil could hit Americans where it hurts.

And a Texas Republican sparking fury from his own party and Democrats with a racist post about South Asian -- about Indian American students at a University of Texas football game.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

While some of the nation's top tech leaders are calling for a slowdown in the A.I. race, President Trump is pushing to pick up the pace, writing: "The only guardrails A.I. needs is a strong and smart high- I.Q. president, and the USA has that."

And he didn't stop there. He's also suggesting there's a -- quote -- "sick conspiracy going on against A.I. and data centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China." The president didn't elaborate on that sick conspiracy, but his post follows Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's public call for pacing in A.I. development, which got a cosign from two of his biggest competitors.

CNN's Hadas Gold is leaving us off now more on what these tech leaders are saying -- Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it's very rare that you hear from rivals like Sam Altman and Elon Musk and Dario Amodei all agreeing on something, but they are all agreeing that something needs to be done when it comes to the pace of A.I. development.

And there's been a vibe shift over the last few weeks, a couple of months, especially as we have seen these A.I. agents breaking out of their test environments and hacking into other companies completely on their own without being directed to do so by humans.

And so, over the weekend, Dario Amodei suggested in a very long essay, as well as an interview with our own Anderson Cooper, a few steps that he believes should be taken in order to help at least increase the safety of these A.I. models. And he has also called for pacing the development, something that Sam Altman and others have also agreed on over the last few weeks.

One of the things that Dario Amodei has suggested is embedding independent third-party evaluators, watchdogs of sorts, who will live and work within the companies themselves and keep an eye on safety. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARIO AMODEI, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, ANTHROPIC: There is precedent for this. If you look at how banks are regulated, right, there's all kinds of -- there's all kinds of rules about how banks are allowed to do their business, right, because we don't want to have financial crises.

And one of the things that are done in some cases is -- I think they're called supervisors in the financial industry, but there are folks who are independent of a company who are embedded in the company day to day to check their practices. And I think we can do the same thing in A.I.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: And so that was endorsed by Elon Musk and Sam Altman. No word yet on, though, exactly how and when that would start.

I also have reporting that actually over the last few weeks and months, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google had already been meeting to discuss possibly establishing an industry-wide standards body that would help set some of these safety standards, because, as it stands, there's no rules and regulations or even industry standards when it comes to making these A.I. models, let alone testing them.

I mean, around even amusement parks, they have an industry set standards that help set the rules and regulations how to keep people safe. And so there are these ongoing discussions amongst these companies to set the standards bodies.

But, again, all this right now is so far just talk. Overnight, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed to allude to these talks about setting a standards body. He's saying: "We think shared standards for misalignment, monitoring, and safety will lead to better outcomes. We look forward to collaborating with our colleagues across the industry to formulate the best version of these."

But Brianna, as we have heard from the president, as well as Speaker Mike Johnson and others in Congress, it doesn't seem as though any safety and standards are going to be coming from Washington any time soon. So it seems it will be up to the A.I. companies themselves to set their own standards.

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KEILAR: All right, Hadas, thank you so much for the latest on that.

Let's talk more about this with someone who has been sounding the alarm about the potential dangers of A.I.

Nate Soares is a former Google software engineer who's currently the president of Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He's also the co-author of the book "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman A.I. Would Kill Us All."

And not could, would, in the title of your book there. President Trump claims this is a conspiracy theory against A.I. What's your reaction to that, Nate?

NATE SOARES, PRESIDENT, MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: You know, I think President Trump was actually saying he will have it under control. I don't think he was saying that we don't need to do anything to have it under control.

I have heard a lot of concerns that China is funding the anti-data center movement. My guess is that that movement is actually coming from people who are worried about where A.I. is headed, for good reason. I think that the way to sort of get the public much less worried about what's happening is to have good answers to, how do we stop A.I. from causing catastrophes?

KEILAR: It's not unusual for China to weaponize some friction that's already there. We know that, right? But people do really seem to have opposition to this. What he's concerned -- he's concerned that new restrictions on A.I. could make the U.S. fall behind China, right, that this is really an issue of being competitive, of giving the U.S. the advantage.

Yesterday, Xi Jinping called for a global A.I. governance pact. Can the U.S. and China work together on this kind of thing?

SOARES: think they can if they realize the dangers here. A lot of people in this industry are worried about literal human extinction as a possibility.

Jacob Coxon, who resigned, I think last week, stepped down saying he thinks -- like, he really believes that there's a 10 percent chance of A.I. killing everybody inside of a decade. Other researchers at the company have been saying, yes, we share this view as well.

That is not a concern shared by the broader population yet. Some people are starting to realize that this is serious. I think when these companies come out and say, oh, we're going to have a better evaluators like the financial industry, that when a bank goes wrong, you don't end humanity.

So an extinction level threat is the sort of issue where, if world leaders realize it, they could absolutely rise to meet the occasion. And I think the real question is, will they notice that A.I. actually poses such a threat in time? KEILAR: And speak to the -- it's in the title of your book, if anyone

creates it. Do you think there's a realization on the part of different countries that no matter who sort of wins the race, it could turn on them in a way that, say, other weapons may not?

I mean, ultimately, there could be an arms race in other weapons, but in a way that A.I. might not discern between who created it and who is at least initially trying to have it used against them.

SOARES: That's exactly the point that I think people are still missing.

President Trump said, whoever wins A.I. wins. I would say that's close, but really it's, whoever wins, A.I. wins. It doesn't matter who builds the A.I., if the A.I. does not stay on a leash.

And what has got a lot of these researchers worried over the past couple of months is that there have been real instances of A.I.s breaking out of containment, doing things that they were not instructed to do, showing evidence of goals that the humans did not try to put into the A.I.s.

And a lot of people haven't noticed that yet. These were the OpenAI swarm incidents over the summer. There are also some related instances at Anthropic. Researchers looking at those events got a bit spooked. The more that we investigated those events, the more that these third- party investigators revealed what happened, the closer people looked, the worse it got.

And people inside the company are now taking it very, very seriously that a powerful A.I. would not stay on the leash, would not stay in anyone's control. And that means we need nobody to build it.

KEILAR: Nate, how are you thinking about the regulation here? Because Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for a classified briefing with all senators and select members of the Trump administration to talk about this A.I. framework.

Do members of Congress in the administration have the ability and the know-how to actually regulate this, when you consider the difficulties that they have had when it comes to regulating, for instance, social media? They have really struggled. They have even struggled to understand some of that.

And you have to think that, with A.I., they also lack some understanding. Do they know enough to regulate it?

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SOARES: You know, I think the understanding is the key issue. I think this is a global problem.

An A.I. does not need to run in an American data center to threaten an American life. So ultimately we do need to be having talks with China. Ultimately, we need to be talking about how to make sure nobody builds the dangerous sort of A.I. that these researchers are worried about, which does not exist yet, which is the good news.

We're not trying to put the genie back in the bottle. We're trying to not create an even more dangerous type of A.I. It's fortunate that creating that more dangerous type of A.I. requires hundreds of thousands of the most highly advanced computer chips in that are produced by a supply chain largely controlled by the U.S. and U.S. allies.

I think it's possible for Congress to regulate. It's possible for us and China to open a dialogue here, and, as you say, the first step is sort of noticing that we have to.

KEILAR: Nate Soares, great to speak with you. Thank you so much.

SOARES: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come: As the price of oil is driven up by the Iran war, it could cost some owners up to 30 percent more to heat their home this winter. We're going to tell you who could really be affected here.

Plus, a U.S. Air Force officer breaking his silence on his harrowing escape from Iran.

And then, later: A Republican candidate for statewide office in Texas is being condemned by his own party for a racist social media post. But we found it is not the first time that he's posted something like this.

We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Prepare for huge heating bills this winter as oil prices skyrocket over tensions in the Middle East. Diesel fuel prices just hit a new record, $6.23 a gallon. And experts say this spike will likely impact the cost to heat homes here in just a few months.

Some homeowners could pay about 31 percent more for a total estimated price tag of $2,300 for the season.

We have CNN senior reporter Matt Egan with us.

All right, Matt, what's the latest on oil prices today?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brianna, I wish I was here with better news.

Unfortunately, we are seeing another significant increase in oil prices. Looking at Brent, that's the world benchmark, $106 a barrel, up another 1 percent today. The good news is that prices were even higher earlier, right? At one point, Brent was approaching $110 a barrel, but it has backed off. Of course, this is not cheap at all, especially when you think about

the fact that a year ago Brent was just in around $60 a barrel, now well into the triple digits. Now, the latest concern has to do again with the war with Iran and how it is scrambling the supplies of energy out of the Middle East, the most critical place in the world for energy supplies.

So, Saudi Arabia -- normally, Saudi Arabia takes its oil to the rest of the world by going through the Strait of Hormuz. But, as our viewers know, this narrow waterway has been completely or mostly paralyzed for months now. So their plan B has been using this East- West Pipeline.

It's a 750 mile pipeline going out to the Red Sea and allowing Saudi Arabia to send its oil on tankers through the Suez Canal out to the rest of the world. But now there's been a drone attack late last week on this pipeline. Saudi Arabia has shut it down. This is a significant development, because this pipeline can carry seven million barrels of oil per day.

That's about 7 percent of world supply. Now, Saudi Arabia has not given a timetable for when it's going to reopen. Reuters is reporting this could take five to six weeks. Some analysts are more optimistic that maybe it could get turned back on sooner.

I talked to Bob McNally, a veteran oil analyst, and he told me that if this pipeline does not turn back on soon, he says it would be truly calamitous -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And how's this impacting what people are paying for energy, Matt?

EGAN: Well, yes, I mean, the big concern right now, as you mentioned, is this home heating increase that we're bracing for, right?

Forecasters are expecting significant increases, but it really depends on how you heat your home. So natural gas is the most popular way to heat homes in the United States, and forecasters are expecting a 6 percent increase for homes that use natural gas, but 9 percent for electricity, right?

That's almost triple the overall rate of inflation. And look at this. If you use heating oil, 31 percent increase this winter versus last winter. Now, only about 4 percent of homes in the U.S. use heating oil, but it is very popular in New England and in the mid-Atlantic.

And my colleague Tami Luhby, she spoke to some homeowners who are so concerned about their heating bills going up that they're already planning to file for federal assistance just to cope with all this sticker shock.

So, look, whether it's diesel, gasoline, or home heating, unfortunately, Brianna, consumers are bracing for higher and higher costs -- back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Matt, thank you for that. Still to come: A third measles death is confirmed in Pennsylvania.

What we are learning about that.

Plus, a Wisconsin congressman and candidate for governor says he swam to safety after the plane that he was on was forced to land in a lake.

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KEILAR: A third person has died in the ongoing measles outbreak that is sweeping Pennsylvania. This outbreak is spreading fast and has sparked a political clash between state and federal officials.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard has more.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Here's what we know about the third person who sadly died as part of this measles outbreak. She was a 40-year-old woman who was not vaccinated against measles, and she had COPD and asthma, and she was on supplemental oxygen before getting measles.

In a post on Facebook over the weekend, the Jefferson County coroner, Greg Furlong, said -- quote -- "This is a heartbreaking loss for the family and an unfortunate reminder that measles can be a serious and potentially life-threatening disease" -- end quote.

This now means three deaths have occurred as part of this outbreak. The other two deaths were in infants. And people typically think of measles as a childhood illness, but this third death is now a reminder that adults, especially those with underlying health conditions, can be severely impacted.

So far in total, at least 676 people have gotten sick with measles in this outbreak. And 124 people have been hospitalized, with the epicenter of the outbreak based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. And there have been ongoing tensions between state and federal health officials around case numbers and whether certain deaths should be counted, specifically disputes between Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is a Democrat, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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And the CDC now says that it has not yet been notified by state health officials about this third death. Newly confirmed CDC director Dr. Erica Schwartz says in a statement -- quote -- "CDC was not notified by Pennsylvania officials of this death. Despite repeated offers of assistance, Pennsylvania has not requested a CDC Epi-Aid, which would deploy epidemiologists and provide on-the-ground measles outbreak support."

So, we see, as this outbreak continues, so does this tension between states and federal health officials -- back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Jacqueline Howard for that report.

Behind enemy lines, new details about the mission to save two U.S. Air Force aviators after they were shot down over Iran.

We have that ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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