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Winner Projected In Kentucky Republican Governor's Primary; U.S. President Cuts Short Eight-Day Trip To Pacific Region; Russia Claims To Have Hit U.S.-Made Patriot Air Defense System; Parents Object To NYC Plan To House Migrants In School Gyms; Ecuador's Impeachment Hearing Against President; U.S. Senate Panel Questions Experts On A.I. Dangers. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 17, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:29]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Closer but not quite there as the U.S. debt default deadline looms. Congressional leaders say they've made some progress, but a deal remains out of reach for now.

Plus, a winner of mergers. CNN projects Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron will secure the Republican nomination for governor. We'll look ahead to his face off with the incumbent Democratic governor.

And Ukrainian officials say they intercepted six Russian hypersonic missiles by air defenses over Kyiv but Russia and says that's not the case. More in a live report.

ANNOUNCEDR: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, America's dangerous standoff over the debt ceiling has caused the U.S. president to scrap part of his plan swing through the Pacific region. Joe Biden is leaving later today for the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. He was supposed to visit Papua New Guinea and Australia afterwards for a separate set of meetings. But now he will be heading back to Washington right after the G7 for debt talks with congressional leaders as the U.S. creeps ever closer to default.

The latest round of negotiations on Tuesday between Republicans and the White House resulted in no major breakthroughs. The top House Republicans said the two sides are still far apart, but that a deal is possible by week's end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I did think this one was a little more productive. We're a long way apart. But what changed in this meeting was the President has now selected two people from his administration to directly negotiate with us.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): But the bottom line is that we all came to agreement that we were going to continue discussions. And hopefully we can come to an agreement. We don't have much time. But default is just the worst, worst alternative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And a default could happen as soon as June 1st. CNN's Jeremy Diamond picks up the story.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden on Tuesday emerged from his negotiations with congressional leaders saying that the discussions were productive, and that they're making progress towards a deal that could avoid the U.S. potentially heading towards defaults. Of course, there has been some progress in these negotiations that have been held mostly at the staff level in the days leading up to the meeting.

Talk about a potential spending caps and other areas of potential agreement between Democrats and Republicans. But make no mistake, there are still huge gaps between the two sides and some major sticking points, including, for example, on the notion of work requirements for some of these safety net programs, disagreement between the two sides on that. And amid some of this progress, but also the major sticking points that remain.

President Biden canceling the second portion of his foreign trip. He is still scheduled to go to Japan on Wednesday, but he is canceling the second portion of that trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Here's the president on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Cutting my trip short. I'm postponing the Australia portion of the trip and -- my trip and my stop in Papa New Guinea in order to be back for the final negotiations with congressional leaders.

There was an overwhelming consensus I think in today's meeting the congressional leaders that to falling on the debt is simply not an option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now the President has appointed two senior level staffers to now lead these negotiations with the Speaker of the House. They are the President's counselor Steve Ricchetti and his director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young. Those two senior advisors will join the White House's Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell, who has been leading those staff level negotiations. But it does signal that there's a ratcheting up of this, that we're getting to a more serious phase of these negotiations. The President himself, he said that he will be in touch with Speaker McCarthy over the phone while he's in Japan, and that he will then meet again with those congressional leaders when he returns to the United States next week.

Jeremy diamond, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: Joining me now from Seattle, Washington is Jeff Tucker. Senior Economist at Zillow. Appreciate you being with us.

JEFF TUCKER, SENIO ECONOMIST, ZILLOW: Thanks for having me on.

[02:05:00]

CHURCH: So, President Biden met with congressional leaders Tuesday in an effort to prevent this country defaulting on its national debt come June 1st. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the two sides are far apart, but he expects a deal by week's end spending cuts in exchange for his party agreeing to lift the debt limit. But with only two weeks left to make a deal and get it through Congress, there is a risk the debt ceiling won't be raised in time.

If that happens, what would default mean for the housing industry, house prices and everyone's mortgage payments?

TUCKER: Yes, you know, U.S. Treasuries are the bedrock of the financial system. And so, if their value and the repayment of treasury debts came into question, we're concerned that could send cascading fear and uncertainty throughout the credit system. And what that would mean for homeowners and homebuyers is much higher borrowing costs, as lenders are worried about their counterparties. They require higher interest rates to make loans.

So, we're estimating that this could raise mortgage rates by about two points, from about 6-1/2 percent toward 8-1/2 percent on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. That would be a huge blow to affordability for homebuyers who have already been struggling with major affordability challenges in the last year or so. And I think that would really impede the volume of home sales at the moment by discouraging so many homebuyers.

CHURCH: Yes. That is a terrifying prospect, isn't it? So, what could homebuyers do right now to try to protect themselves against any negative impact of a debt default? Or is it too late to do that with less than two weeks ago before that the June 1st default deadline?

TUCKER: At the moment, it does not seem too late. We're not yet seeing that kind of mortgage rate uncertainty or rising mortgage rates come into play yet. I think that bond markets are still hoping that policymakers can reach a deal and resolve this without actually going into default. So, at the moment, for these last couple of weeks of May, mortgage rates are still hovering in about that same 6-1/2 percent neighborhood. And this is really the heart of the spring home shopping season in the United States. So, this, you know, this is the time of year when -- on Zillow, we see some of the most new listings on any given week. A lot of home buyers are busy out there. So, if you see the perfect house right now, this could be -- this could very well be a good time to go out and lock in that rate, and close on a mortgage with a lender.

CHURCH: Yes. Good advice. And so, overall, what is the worst case scenario for how devastating the U.S. debt default could be for homebuyers and indeed renters because there would be that trickledown effect, wouldn't it?

TUCKER: Yes. The worst-case scenario that we're -- that we are considering is especially what would happen if a default sort of ground on for a couple of months. And we actually saw, you know, some of the -- some of the spending that the U.S. lays out every month being forced down to exactly equal the intake of taxes that would really throw a wrench in GDP and could actually lead to a lot of rising unemployment, layoffs or furloughs.

So, that would certainly impact consumer confidence. And again, when we took a closer look at the impact on the housing market, we're estimating that the volume of home sales could shrink by almost a quarter in some of the hardest hit months later this summer if we really enter that kind of worst case, default scenario.

CHURCH: Yes. All right. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point. Jeff Tucker, thank you so much for talking with us. Appreciate it.

TUCKER: Thanks so much for having me on.

CHURCH: In North Carolina, the Republican-led assembly moved to ban most abortions after 12 weeks, overriding a veto from Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. The vote in the State Senate on Tuesday was 30 to 20 along party lines. Just hours later, the State House also voted 72 to 48 to do the same. Governor Cooper slammed the vote in a tweet saying Republicans are unified in their assault on women's reproductive freedom. He had vetoed the abortion ban on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY GUBENATORIAL NOMINEE: Tonight, we prove that here in Kentucky, the American Dream is alive and well because here in Kentucky, you aren't judge by the color of your skin, but by the content of your character.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN projects Daniel Cameron will win the Republican governors primary in Kentucky. The state attorney general thanks to Donald Trump for his endorsement, saying the Trump culture of winning is alive and well in Kentucky.

[02:10:02]

Cameron will face popular Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear in November's general election. The race is seen as an important bellwether for next year, especially where Democrats are defending Senate seats and red states including Montana, Ohio and West Virginia.

I'd like to bring in CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic, Ron Brownstein. He joins me now from Los Angeles. Always great to have you with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, let's start with the Kentucky governor's race. Trump endorsed Daniel Cameron, just won the GOP primary for Kentucky Governor and will go up against incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear in the November 7th general election. What do you think the outcome will be to -- of that race?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, as people around the world and they will understand this reference, American politics is becoming more parliamentary. States are lining up more consistently from top to bottom. The way they vote for the White House more consistently predicts how they vote for everything else on the ballot. There are only four of the 25 states that Trump won in 2020 that have Democratic governors but Kentucky is one of them.

Andy Beshear, the son of a former governor is very much a survivor. He's a skilled politician. He has one of the highest approval ratings of any governor in the country. Daniel Cameron, the black attorney general is a rising star for Republicans. He has an identity independent of Trump. So, he's not likely to be as completely defined by Trump as some of the endorse candidates in '22.

This is a very close race, but I think many people think that Bashir amazingly, is somewhat favored in deep red Kentucky because he has established enough of an identity separate from his own party.

CHURCH: Interesting. So, Donald Trump's pick, not Ron DeSantis' choice won the Kentucky primary for the GOP. Just as the Florida Governor is preparing to officially launch his presidential campaign by the end of this month, the polls are not looking great for DeSantis. He's lost a lot of ground and there will be a very crowded field by the time everyone announces their leadership intentions.

But DeSantis seems to be the only rival who might have even a small chance of toppling Trump. How do you expect this will all play out?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, DeSantis is unquestionably a much-diminished figure today from what he was on the morning after the election when as we noted, most of Trump's announced candidates in the swing states lost, DeSantis won a sweeping victory including winning Hispanic areas as well as suburban white areas. And he looked really formidable. He has struggled in the transition from his very cosseted life in a conservative media bubble in Florida where he has had very little interaction with the mainstream press as he's tried to go onto the national stage.

A difficulty symbolized by his answer in which he originally dismissed really the American interest in Ukraine before doubling back. So, I think he is clearly less formidable today than he was. Donald Trump has a hold on a big chunk of the party, but DeSantis may be at a low ebb. I mean, it may be a kind of a time to buy the stock not in the sense that he necessarily will challenge Trump -- beat Trump.

But there is still an audience in the Republican party among donors and strategist and even a share of the voters for an alternative to Trump. His belligerent, hectoring behavior at the town hall last week, I think reminded many voters not only outside, but inside the Republican Party, what they don't like about him. And as you say, in the period where DeSantis has struggled, none of the other potential 24 candidates have gained a really built much of a foundation.

So, I think there is a second act for DeSantis, but it looks much more difficult for him than it did six months ago.

CHURCH: All right. We'll be watching very closely. Ron Brownstein, always a pleasure to chat with you. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Air-raid siren sounded for another night across several regions. And in Kyiv, just one night after the Ukrainian capital was targeted by a barrage of Russian missiles. Ukraine says all 18 Russian missiles launched out of the country early Tuesday were intercepted, including six hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, and that is a claim the Russian defense minister is denying. And Russia is claiming to have destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system in a missile strike in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian military has declined to comment but a U.S. official tells CNN the Patriot system was lightly damaged, not destroyed, and the U.S. is still assessing the potential damage.

Well, CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments for us. She joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Clare.

[02:15:02]

So, it is always a challenge of course to get the facts during the fog of war but what more are you learning about whether Russia damaged this Patriot battery and also Russia's flat denial that Ukraine shot down six Kinzhal missiles?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary. I think this really is, this episode in the war is a textbook reminder of how this is also an information route war, right? Information is being controlled, manipulated by both sides. So, the way this unfolded, obviously, first Ukraine coming out and saying it's shut down these six Kinzhal missiles, then we have Russia coming out and claiming they actually used one of those Kinzhal to destroy.

They say a U.S.-made Patriot battery, then obviously, the defense minister, the Russian defense minister came out and elaborated on that saying that we didn't even fire six Kinzhal missiles. Ukraine, he said, always gets the missiles wrong speaking to state media. So, obviously, both of those reports, both of those claims can't be true. A U.S. official later telling CNN that they believe that a patriot battery was damaged, though not destroyed.

This was not officially confirmed by the White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby who said that they are not officially commenting on that. But if it was damaged, they would of course help to repair it either inside Ukraine or out. So, a lot of sort of conflicting information. And I think the level of conflict and disinformation demonstrate that this was potentially a game changing moment in this war, shifting the calculus really, for both sides, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Clare, the Green Deal, that expires very soon in the coming hours in fact. What is the latest on that?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, it expires tomorrow Thursday, Rosemary. This is a down to the wire really moment. The Russia has been holding this up, because they say that a separate memorandum that was agreed alongside the Green Deal last July which would have helped to smooth the power of Russian food and fertilizer onto global markets is not being met. That has a list of sort of demands that Russia has put out with it, including lifting some sanctions.

You know, restarting a pipeline for Russian ammonia. Those kinds of things, which of course fraught with difficulty, and frankly, not really, within the jurisdiction of the U.N. which is brokering these talks. So, they have to negotiate with other parties as well. But it's so much at stake here. This Green Deal is not just about getting grain out of Ukraine to the global markets, particularly the more vulnerable countries in Africa, but stabilizing world food prices as well.

So, we watch to see what unfolds over the next 24 hours.

CHURCH: Yes. We'll certainly do that. Clare Sebastian joining us live from London. Many thanks.

And still to come. A powerful cyclone has hit Myanmar leaving the country's most vulnerable ethnic minority in urgent need of food, water and shelter as the death toll climbs.

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[02:21:34]

CHURCH: Hundreds of people are feared dead and rescue groups warn of a large-scale loss of life following one of the strongest storms to ever hit Myanmar. The country's shadow government says at least 400 people are dead and an unspecified number missing after Cyclone Mocha roared onto Myanmar's coast on Sunday. Unleashing floods and landslides. Among the hardest hit areas is Rakhine State where Human Rights Watch says 600,000 members of the Rohingya minority live under government persecution.

And CNN's Vedika Sud joins me now live from New Delhi with more on this. So, Vedika, what are you learning about the aftermath of this tropical Cyclone Mocha?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Well, what's certain, Rosemary is that the Rohingya community living in the coastal areas of western Myanmar where they have been confined by the authorities have been hit the hardest. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people living there, and they have very poor infrastructure that's been given to them in those settlements.

What we're also being told is that a lot of people have drowned in the floods unleashed by this very powerful cyclone. I want to start with satellite images that have been released by Maxar. Those are images taken after the cyclone hit Sittwe which is the capital of Rakhine and is being compared to those images taken in February this year. You can see the widespread damage, the widespread destruction.

You can see how homes have been damaged, how roofs have just blown off, trees have fallen, and even a bridge submerge. That's the scale we're talking about. And we don't even know where the death toll really stands. You have a figure of 400 which CNN cannot verify at this point. But that could go up, given the devastation that we're seeing on the ground. Now we do know that a lot of Rohingya people have been burying their loved ones.

Here's a father who just buried his daughter. He lost nine of 14 of family members who were with him until Sunday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Nine out of my 14 family members were killed. Only five survived. They were killed because they couldn't resist when strong winds swayed them away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): All of my belongings, rice and even dishes are gone. Now I have no money to rebuild my house. We are starving. I haven't eaten for two days. How many days does a person have to go hungry?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUD: And that's what a lot of refugees are now seeing that they haven't eaten in days and aid is yet to reach them. The true damage, Rosemary, is yet to be ascertained in one of Asia's least developed countries. Back to you.

CHURCH: Yes. Just horrifying devastation there. Vedika Sud joining us live from New Delhi with an update. Appreciate it.

Well, torrential rain has caused extensive flooding in some of Italy's Northeastern regions. Homes were submerged by muddy water from a flooded river. Authorities say some residents rushed to the roofs of their buildings as the water began to rise. 10 people were evacuated from their house after a mudslide hit a nearby area. The rain follows months of drought in the region.

[02:25:00]

Just ahead. New York City has a plan to house migrants in local school gyms and many parents are not happy about it. We'll explain.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Migrant crossings at the U.S. southern border appear to be holding steady without the massive surge some officials had feared.

U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas counted fewer than 5000 crossings on Tuesday, a slight uptick from a couple of days ago. But that's only about half the number of migrants encountered last Wednesday shortly before Title 42 expired. Cuellar also says the number of migrants in border patrol custody has dropped by almost 10,000 over the past week. While the numbers may be down at the border, there is no lead up in sight for New York City, which Mayor Eric Adams says will eventually run out of space to house migrants.

Now, many parents are protesting the city's proposed plan to house migrants in 20 school gyms. CNN's Athena Jones has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:30:08]

MARY CASE, PARENT OF CHILDREN IN BROOKLYN SCHOOL: I think they tried to sort of just slip this through without giving people a chance to really respond.

SAMANTHA CLARK, CO-PRESIDENT, PTA OF BROOKLYN SCHOOL: I would like other places to be considered our school is tiny we can barely fit in an asset is.

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Parents of children who attend this elementary school in Brooklyn, New York, concerned about Mayor Eric Adams plan to potentially house migrants in 20 school gyms across the city. Adam says the migrants would not interact with students at the schools. One parent who decided to monitor the school over a night, over concern that's when migrants would arrive, said he feared the atmosphere migrants could create at his children's school.

ARAMIS ROSA, PARENT OF CHILDREN IN BROOKLYN SCHOOL: We're not against them, they're all welcome. Just not to our school, next to our children where they will be exposed to this. We don't know what exactly they're going to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm taking them home.

JONES (voiceover): In another part of Brooklyn, Coney Island community members also complained the city failed to notify them of a plan to use a detached school gym there for migrants. The facility has the capacity to house 100 people and when CNN visited without our camera, it was filled wall to wall with cots and appeared to be housing single adult migrants.

ROBIN WILLIAMS, PARENT OF CHILD IN BROOKLYN SCHOOL: Anything is possible we not knowing nothing about these people or where they came from. We want to protect us. My message for the Mayor and the Governor, you should be ashamed of yourself, for not recognize the protection and the comfortability for our babies and his public schools.

JONES (voiceover): With hundreds of asylum seekers arriving in New York City every day, more than 4200 in the last week alone. Officials say the city is out of space. More than 65,000 asylum seekers have arrived since last spring, including the highly publicized buses full of migrants from Republican border states. New York City has opened more than 130 Emergency sites and announced the opening of its ninth large scale Humanitarian Relief Center, which will double as the city's first asylum seeker arrival center. For months Mayor Adams has urged the Federal government to provide more support to the city as it deals with what is usually a federal responsibility, Immigration.

ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: On several different conversations I've had with the President and meeting with his team, communicating with his team sending out how urgent this is for the last few months. But we're not getting the support that we deserve here in New York City.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We're working very closely with cities and communities along the border and in the interior of the United States. We need the system fixed.

JONES (voiceover): And while border encounters may be falling, the humanitarian crisis shows no sign of abating, in New York and other cities far from the border. Athena Jones, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Dozens of migrants have arrived in Denver, Colorado in recent days. Many came from Venezuela and say they're trying to buy bus tickets to go to other U.S. cities like Chicago or New York. Denver's mayor told CNN he is cautiously optimistic the number of migrants would remain low. But he's calling for more federal resources just in case. And still to come, Ecuador's National Assembly is holding an impeachment hearing against President Lasso. We will have details from the first day of the debate. Back with that and more in just a moment.

[02:35:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The fate of Ecuador's President hangs in the balance as the National Assembly gets ready to resume an impeachment hearing in the coming hours. The embattled president is accused of embezzlement related to the export of crude oil products. CNN Stefano Pozzebon has more on day one of the proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST (voiceover): Guillermo Lasso is a man fighting for his political survival, the first president to face impeachment in Ecuador's recent history. On Tuesday, he defended his record of government in front of lawmakers with passion.

GUILLERMO LASSO, PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR (through translator): Isolate those who have pushed with such grit this baseless proceeding. POZZEBON (voiceover): The opposition accuses Lasso of embezzlement linked to the negotiations of shipping contracts for the export of crude oil products. He denies the charges and says that they are politically motivated.

LASSO (through translator): The same reproach you have towards me is the biggest proof of my innocence.

POZZEBON (voiceover): Lasso's removal could bring an end to a tumultuous two years in power. He took office in May 2021, when Ecuador was still struggling with a COVID-19 pandemic. And his presidency had also to deal with a bloody series of massacres inside the penitentiary system that dented his popularity. In a poll in March, more than 60 percent of Ecuadorian said it was time for him to go. But on the streets of Quito, few are confident of what the future will bring with or without Lasso.

Romolo Recatchie (PH) and Washington Zamora (PH), two fruit sellers in a straight market in the south of the city, say they have known each other for 40 years. But this week, they stand on two opposite sides. While Recatchie thinks Lasso should still complete his mandate, Zamora believes the country's situation requires a new leader. They both agree however, that crime and not politics is what keeps them up at night.

I have to close down at five or 6:00 p.m. because if you leave later, you get robed complaints, Recatchie. Who says only a few years ago, he could keep his shop open until nighttime. The recent spike in criminal activity was all too evident over the weekend. When a failed assassination attempt against the local mayor killed one and injured five, facing his own political his appearance, Lasso condemned the attack and vowed to keep fighting, against organized crime on Monday, the following day his political foes. Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:40:14]

CHURCH: In the next hour, a Paris court is expected to rule on former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is appeal to overturn his 2021 conviction. Two years ago, a lower court found Sarkozy guilty of bribery and influence peddling. He has denied any wrongdoing. Sarkozy served one term as the French leader from 2007 until 2012 but has faced several legal battles since then. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church, for our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. And for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

[02:45:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers in North America. I'm Rosemary Church. The growth of artificial intelligence seems limitless, but it might be possible to minimize its dangers with regulations. That was the key takeaway from Tuesday's U.S. Senate hearing on A.I. with Tech industry leaders. Lawmakers peppered experts with questions about the fast-moving technology, and how best to regulate it to prevent disaster. CNN's Nick Watt reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM ALTMAN, CEO & CO-FOUNDER, OPENAI: My worst fears are that we caused significant. We the field, the technology, the industry caused significant harm to the world.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Today's Senate hearing is a crucial step in humanity's effort to prevent that harm. And to rein in the handful of players controlling this tech.

ALTMAN: So, I think there needs to be incredible scrutiny on us, and our competitors.

WATT (voiceover): His company created ChatGPT, you know, it can write a term paper, or a song captured imaginations and headlines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could for artificial intelligence soon put us all out of work?

WATT (voiceover): A.I. has potentially world-changing benefits, equitable education, helping eradicate disease, transportation. A.I. can be life enhancing or maybe an existential threat to humanity. We know some of the risks like rampant misinformation.

GARY MARCUS, PROF. EMERITUS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: These new systems are going to be destabilizing. They can and will create persuasive lies at a scale humanity has never seen before. Democracy itself is threatened.

WATT (voiceover): As our jobs.

ALTMAN: GPT for will I think entirely automated way some jobs, and it will create new ones that we believe will be much better.

WATT (voiceover): There are risks like automated weapons, we can imagine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could A.I. create a situation where a drone can select the target itself?

ALTMAN: I think we shouldn't allow that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or can it be done?

ALTMAN: Sure.

WATT (voiceover): And there are risks we can for now barely even comprehend.

ALTMAN: As these systems do become more capable and I'm not sure how far away that is, but maybe not super far. I think it's important that we also spend time talking about how we're going to confront those challenges. WATT (voiceover): So, what do we do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk in plain English and tell me what if any roles we ought to implement?

MARCUS: Number one, a safety review, like we use with the FDA, prior to widespread deployment.

WATT (voiceover): Suggestions today to license developers and or the most powerful A.I. systems.

ALTMAN: I think a model that can persuade manipulate influence a person's behavior or a person's beliefs, that would be a good threshold. I think a model that could help create novel biological agents would be a great threshold.

WATT (voiceover): There was support in this room for a brand-new government agency to oversee A.I. but.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): For every success story in government regulation, you can think of five failures.

WATT (voiceover): And this technology is moving very, very fast. Google, Microsoft and others are pouring in billions of dollars. Government can be glacial.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): When you look at the record of Congress and dealing with innovation, technology and rapid change. We're not designed for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible for Congress to keep up with the speed of technology.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (on camera): There is of course, an election in the U.S. just about 18 months away and an avalanche of misinformation no doubt on its way. So, there's not much time to deal with at least some of the issues at play here. Another big question, should the U.S. just create its own agency and then hope that the rest of the world will follow, or should people be concentrating on creating a global initiative, a global body to oversee A.I.?

Now, listen, three minutes on Capitol Hill or three minutes on television is not nearly enough to deal with this massive topic. That committee of the Senate will be meeting many more times, many brains around the world working on this problem. An expert telling me that we, you, me, all of us, we need to also educate ourselves about A.I. So, we know what's coming down the pike and how it might impact us. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

CHURCH: U.S. Justice Department is cracking down on stolen technology used to help authoritarian governments who abused human rights. Prosecutors from the disruptive technology Strike Force announced five criminal cases on Tuesday. In one case, a Chinese national is accused in a scheme to produce weapons of mass destruction for Iran. Others involve providing aircraft parts and sensitive technology to Russia.

[02:50:08]

Your iPhone will soon be able to talk for you using your own voice. All it needs is about 15 minutes of training. Apple announced the feature and a group of new accessibility updates coming later this year. The tool is meant to help those who have voice impairments or disabilities. Apple says the tool can do a lot of good, but it comes at a time, of course, when artificial intelligence is under intense scrutiny. One of U.S. President Joe Biden's top advisors came face to face with a trespasser in his own home in the middle of the night. Sullivan was unharmed but the Secret Service is taking the matter seriously. CNN's Evan Perez has details on the security breach.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how an intruder entered the home of U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan last month. Without being detected by Secret Service detail guarding his home. Sullivan has 24/7 Secret Service protection, and he was unharmed in the incident which occurred in late April. The Secret Service said in his statement that it is taking the failure seriously. "Modifications to the protective posture have also been made to ensure additional security layers are in place as we conduct this comprehensive review." Sources tell us that Sullivan encountered the person inside his home in the early morning hours. And he told investigators that he thought the person was intoxicated. There was no threat made and the source said that the person left solvents home without the Secret Service detailed noticing. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington

CHURCH: The San Francisco district attorney's office will not press charges against the security guard who shot and killed Banko Brown who was accused of shoplifting at a Walgreens store. Authorities released surveillance video Monday showing the altercation between the security guard and Brown leading up to the shooting. a Warning though, the images are disturbing. The attorney for Brown's family says the security guard's actions went quote, way beyond what was reasonable and necessary. The district attorney explained why no charges will be filed.

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BROOKE JENKINS, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We had to decide whether or not, we had the sufficient evidence to prove this case to 12 Jurors beyond a reasonable doubt. It was our conclusion that we did not have such evidence and that is why we have arrived at this decision at this time.

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CHURCH: Brown's family plans to file a lawsuit against the security officer, the security company and Walgreens. A chef in Nigeria is hoping to set a world record after she cooked nonstop for four days, beating the current record of more than 87 hours. She created dozens of Nigerian dishes, and her cooking marathon captivated the country. CNN Stephanie Busari has more.

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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR (voiceover): Nigerian chef Hilda Effiong Bassey has become a national sensation after cooking nonstop for 100 hours, possibly setting a new world record. The chef started cooking on Thursday and created more than 55 recipes and over 100 meals designed to showcase the best of Nigerian cuisine. Hilda remained in high spirits despite the lack of sleep, and her friends went to great lengths to support her.

ERIOLUWA ADEOLUWA, SUPPORTER: We're outside for you Hilda Bassey. When a Nigerian is doing something, we all come out, we show support.

BUSARI (voiceover): One man even travelled for hundreds of kilometers, through the night to get to the venue in Lagos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drove twelve hours just to be here, you know.

BUSARI (voiceover): The chef's cook a ton trended nationwide as celebrities and politicians, including the governor of Lagos, visited her. Musicians also created a party in a concert atmosphere.

BUSARI: The crowd is going absolutely crazy. Hilda Bassey has just passed 96 hours in her four-day cooking marathon. She passed a world record hours ago, but she decided to keep on going, to go the extra mile.

HILDA EFFIONG BASSEY, NIGERIAN CHEF: I was very tired but at the same time, I feel very blessed and really excited as well. The first day was the most difficult and I was -- I was -- I was ready to give up six hours sleep but I feel like a (INAUDIBLE) to have hope, as some rest somehow, I've got to get sleep.

BUSARI (voiceover): The record to beat was set in 2019 by Indian chef Lata Tondon, who posted a message of support to Hilda, during her attempt. The Guinness World Record committee still has to confirm that all their criteria have been met. But for Nigerians, there's a new record breaker in town. And her name is Hilda Bassey. Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.

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CHURCH: The 76th Cannes Film Festival kicked off on Tuesday with the premiere of Johnny Depp's new movie. His first since his highly publicized defamation trial with his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp plays the French King Louis XV in the period drama, Jeanne du Barry. He walked the red carpet at the premiere, stopping along the way to speak with fans and posed for photos. This year, Cannes will pay tribute to Michael Douglas awarding the actor with an honorary Palme d'Or. The prestigious festival comes amid protests in France and an entertainment writers' strike with many movies and T.V. shows shutting down production. And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break. Do stick around.

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