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Donald Trump And Other Defendants Push For Move To Federal Court; Poland Holds Military Parade Amid Tensions With Belarus; Three Suspected Russian Spies Arrested In U.K.; U.S. President Planning To Visit Disaster Zone In Maui; North Korea Speaks Out About Travis King For The First Time; Afghan Women & Girls Losing Hope after 2 Years of Taliban Rule; Singapore Researchers Develop 'Mind-Reading' Technology. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired August 16, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

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[00:00:59]

LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Laila Harrak.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, team Trump's next legal maneuver. Donald Trump's former chief of staff makes a play to get his racketeering charges dismissed and indications are the former U.S. president might be plotting a similar move.

More than 100 people are now confirmed dead following Hawaii's wildfires as U.S. President Joe Biden defends himself against critics of his disaster response.

And three people arrested in the U.K. allegedly for spying.

The clock is ticking here in the U.S. state of Georgia where Donald Trump has less than 10 days to turn himself into authorities. The former president has been charged with 13 counts in a case alleging he and 18 others schemed to subvert Georgia's 2020 presidential election results.

While Trump is expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail according to the sheriff. In the meantime, he's announced a "major news conference next Monday to present a report from his team on his own allegations of fraud in the case".

While Trump's former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is wasting no time attempting to have the Georgia case move to federal court.

According to new court filings, Meadows argues he's entitled to federal immunity since the Georgia charges stem from his time serving the sitting president.

CNN's Paula Reid walks us through the latest developments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Mark Meadows, the

former Trump White House Chief of Staff and now criminal defendant has just asked to move this state case to a federal jurisdiction.

Now, Meadows and his attorneys believe that if they can get this case move to federal court, that they will be able to successfully get it dismissed.

Now, even if Meadows was able to get his case move to the federal level, it doesn't mean that the entire 19 defendant conspiracy case will move to federal court, this will be something that will happen defendant by defendant.

And we know that other defendants including Rudy Giuliani, who said in an interview Tuesday that he too will try to get his case remove to federal court and former President Trump are going to try this as well.

Now, even if these cases are not dismissed at the federal level, if they are tried at that level, there is one advantage for the former president and his allies, and that would be the jury pool.

Here in Fulton County, the jury pool is heavily Democratic, but if you move to a federal jury pool, could be better for those defendants.

So, of course, ultimately, the case rests on the facts. And right now, these facts in this case remain a state matter. And all of these defendants have until next Friday at noon to surrender to the court.

Now, usually, this is something you do with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, typically involves a mug shot, fingerprints. It's unclear if something different will be negotiated for former President Trump. And then a judge will set a date for his initial appearance.

Paula Reid, CNN, Fulton County, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Norm Eisen joins me now from Washington. He's a CNN Legal Analyst and former House Judiciary Special Counsel in President Trump's first impeachment trial.

Sir, it is so good to have you with us. Let's start with the latest developments. Could the Fulton County case be removed to a federal court? And what would that mean for Donald Trump?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Laila, thanks for having me. Of course, in the U.S. we have our federal courts and our state courts. And there is a provision of law that allows for a state case like Fani Willis's case against Donald Trump and Mark Meadows and the other defendants to be taken from the state case to go to the federal court. And we do that under the law Section 1442. When you have a Federal officer who's performing an official duty.

[00:05:08] The problem for Mr. Meadows, who's asking the federal court to remove the case, it doesn't happen until the Federal Court decides to do so. The problem for Mr. Meadows, the former White House Chief of Staff is that the com -- the indictment alleges that he was essentially engaged in a political election interference. That's political, not official.

It says allegedly and there's powerful evidence that he was part of an attempted coup following the election of 2020 and of course, that's contrary to the Constitution and our laws if true, so it can't form a basis for removal.

It seems that he will have a pretty tough struggle to persuade the federal court that it this case belongs there, but we'll see what happens.

HARRAK: Let's focus now on former President Trump. Can Mr. Trump claim immunity from prosecution because he was, after all, president and does Mr. Trump have immunity from prosecution because he was president?

EISEN: In our legal system, we don't give absolute immunity. Other systems do parliamentary immunity.

But in the United States, Mr. Trump will have to show like Mr. Meadows that he was acting within at least what we call the outer perimeter, the furthest reaches of his official duties.

And again, the evidence suggests that there was nothing official about what the former president was doing. If you look in the constitutional job description of an American president, nowhere in there will you find attempting to hang on to power after you've lost an election as a political candidate. That's political, not official, and it's beyond the outer penumbra.

So, like for Mr. Meadows, perhaps even tougher than his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is the row that Mr. Trump will need to hoe if he wants to achieve immunity or to remove the case. Very difficult uphill battle indeed.

HARRAK: Now considering the staggering legal jeopardy involving the current Republican front runner of the 2024 presidential election, what does this mean for the country? And can the nation weather this political crisis?

EISEN: Yes, the former president is facing four major criminal actions. But our rule of law system is strong. It's carried us through for almost 2-1/2 centuries. I think that this is a sign of the health of the American political and legal system of our founding principle in the United States that no one is above the law.

Other countries are very familiar with prosecutions of former leaders for alleged corrupt activity. In this case, the allegations are of political corruption.

The United States will weather this crisis and we will emerge stronger than ever. It's a testament to the power of not just American democracies, but of all democracies around the world with their rule of law systems that no one is above the law.

If the law has allegedly been broken, everyone, even a former president must be held accountable. So, we will make it through this crisis, I think, with flying colors.

HARRAK: All right, time will tell. Norm Eisen, thank you so much.

EISEN: Thank you Laila.

HARRAK: A barrage of Russian missile strikes in Ukraine's Lviv region in the West has injured at least 19 people in the past 24 hours.

Well, the missiles damaged more than 100 apartments and destroyed a kindergarten. Ukrainian official says Russia built the missiles this year using foreign ships. Moscow claims its overnight strikes targeted Ukraine's military industry and continues to deny targeting civilian infrastructure despite evidence to the contrary.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops taking part in the counter offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine also earmarked more than $30 million to build up fortifications in the Northeast, and said it's reinforced positions near Kharkiv.

Meanwhile, Russia's defense minister accused the U.S. of depleting the military arsenals of America's partners in order to supply Ukraine with more weapons.

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SERGEI SHOIGU, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): In the special military operation, the Russian army has debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards. As it became obvious, the deployment of Western weapons and NATO's allegedly advanced methods of operations planning, techniques of personnel control and training failed to ensure superiority on the battlefield.

The preliminary results of combat operations show that Ukraine's military resources are almost exhausted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Well, elsewhere in Europe, Poland held its largest military parade in decades on Tuesday, flexing its military muscle with hundreds of troops marching through Warsaw.

While on the surface, it was meant to celebrate the country's army day but it also comes amid rising tensions with Russian ally Belarus, where Wagner mercenaries are training Belarusian troops just across the border. More now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A massive show of force in central Warsaw. Poland gearing up for its annual military day parade just as tensions in the country's border with Belarus NATO's eastern flank are rising.

Russia and Belarus are increasing the pressure on our borders, the Prime Minister says, they are increasing the number of provocations and we have to be aware that that number will continue to rise.

Poland claims Belarusian helicopters recently violated its airspace even though Minsk denies this. But Warsaw is also concerned about the presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner private military company fresh from the battlefield in Ukraine now inside Belarus training the Belarusian military in some cases just a few miles from Poland's border.

In a meeting with Vladimir Putin Belarusian strongman Aleksandr Lukashenko claiming the fighters want to invade Poland.

The Wagner Group guys are starting to stress, he says, allow us to go west. I said why do you need it to go west? We're silently watching what is going on. We'll go for a sightseeing tour to Warsaw and Chechnya. That may be typical bluster from Lukashenko but Wagner Mercenaries are some of the toughest and most successful troops on Russia's side.

Fighting hard during the battle for Bakhmut while taking immense losses, the U.S. says. Poland is reacting saying it will send around 10,000 troops with tanks and other heavy armor to the eastern border to support the border guards already on duty there.

We have to be ready for any scenario, the defense minister says, we do not exclude any and that is why we decided to move the army closer to the border with Belarus to strengthen the border and scare away the aggressor.

Poland's eastern border has been a flashpoint for at least two years. In 2021, Belarus lured thousands of migrants mostly from Iraq to the area falsely promising entry into the European Union and kicking off a major crisis.

Now, Russia says it will beef up forces on its own western border blaming Poland. Poland has become the main instrument of the United States anti-Russian policy, the defense minister says, these threats to Russia's military security require a timely, adequate response.

Poland prides itself on being a strong ally of the U.S. on NATO's eastern flank, one that won't back down in the face of threats from Belarus or from Russia.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRAK: The London Metropolitan Police has issued a statement offering some details on its arrest of three suspected spies, the statement follows a Tuesday BBC report claiming three people were arrested earlier this year in the U.K. on charges of spying for Russia. The BBC says all three are still being held in custody.

The Mets confirmed the names and ages of the people listed in the BBC report, but said only that they were charged with possessing false identity documents with improper intention. The Mets did not say if the charges were related to Russia.

Bob Baer is a former CIA operative and he joins me now from Colorado. A very good day, Bob. There is so much we don't know. But is it surprising at all that spies allegedly working for Russia are operating in the U.K.?

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: No, not at all. The British are very worried now that these illegal networks, as they're called are all over Britain. These sleeper networks if you want to call them were put in place years ago. In fact, all through the odds (PH), Putin has been building them up.

[00:15:06]

And Britain has only been concerned since the assassination attempt on Skripal, the military intelligence officer and the murder of Litvinenko.

And right now, you know, defectors to the west are told they can't be safe in Britain. So, I would imagine the British all over this and any leads they have, they're following up.

HARRAK: What makes the U.K. so uniquely vulnerable for these types of cases?

BAER: Well, it's not just the U.K., Austria is much worse. The Austrian intelligence services are thoroughly penetrated by the Russians.

And as we know, there was a murder of a Chechen in Germany a couple of years ago. So, nowhere in Europe is safe. But frankly, the British are more efficient running -- you know, running in these illegal networks.

HARRAK: What kind of intelligence gathering would they have been up to with these three individuals?

BAER: Well, what they're doing is they get it from two places the intelligence, they discovered these cells, and one is defectors come across. A lot of them are coming out of Moscow.

On these defectors, these KGB defectors know who these illegals are, and they point them out, or the British MI5 is going out and they are getting into databases, big data. It's almost impossible for an illegal network to operate in the west or the United States without leaving some sort of signature, you know, telephones, old connections, and really since the war on terror, we've been getting much better at this, collecting what they called data silos, and they could work backwards and see who was in touch with Moscow.

HARRAK: How difficult is it though, for intelligence services to track the these particular kinds of spies? You know, they're living in plain sight, we're talking about three Bulgarian nationals fully integrated in British society working for Russian security services, allegedly, and living in of all places, Great Yarmouth and Harrow, leading very mundane lives.

BAER: Well, it's very difficult because they live their cover. Whatever they're supposed to be doing in life, they do that every day, day in and day out. And any connections they have with Russian operatives is probably outside of the country they travel. So, it's extremely difficult to find these people without the data or a defector.

HARRAK: Now, I was wondering, in terms of how easy is it to establish a sleeper cell in the U.K. or the U.S. for that matter, compared to -- you know, can the same be done in Russia or China?

BAER: Well, it's impossible in Russia. I mean, there -- I guarantee you, there's no British or American sleeper cells in Russia which is impossible to do. The Russian intelligence service, the FSB is all over foreigners, they listen to their phones, they know who they are. They go back and look at their histories. It's impossible.

It's much easier in the United States. And if I were going to run illegals in this country, I would do it across the border. People that just come across with no I.D.s at all. I don't know that the Russians are doing that but that's the way I would do it.

HARRAK: Bob Baer, a former CIA operative. Thank you, sir.

BAER: Thank you.

HARRAK: The death toll is ticking up again in Maui as crew scoured demolish neighborhoods. We'll have the latest on recovery efforts.

And for the first time since a U.S. soldier went AWOL and sprinted into North Korea, state media has confirmed he's in the country. Hear what else they're saying about Travis King.

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HARRAK: At least 27 people have been killed in Libya and more than 100 injured in heavy clashes between two powerful groups in the capital Tripoli.

The fighting broke out Monday after a top commander was detained by the rival faction. The reason for his detention remains unclear, but he was released Tuesday after an agreement with the government.

The U.S. embassy in Libya expressed concern over the clashes and called on both sides to de-escalate the situation. Now, to a grim discovery in Sudan. A government forum in West Darfur

with representatives from all ethnic groups in the region, says there's evidence of 30 mass graves across the state with more than a thousand people buried in them. The group claims some of the bodies were dumped by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and allied militia.

A top Sudanese official says the country needs a caretaker government to help stabilize the situation there. He also proposed a ceasefire between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces after four months of fighting.

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MALIK AGAR, SUDAN'S SOVEREIGN COUNCIL DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (through translator): The situation necessitates us to form a government to run the wheel of the state to carry out a couple of basic tasks to provide services and rebuild what was destroyed by the war, to work with the political forces to structure and establish the state and to prepare the environment for a constituent and constitutional conference that will lead us to elections in the peaceful exchange of power.

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HARRAK: Well, the International Organization for Migration says more than a million people have fled the fighting and crossed into neighboring countries since April, and more than three million are internally displaced within Sudan.

The death toll from the devastating Maui wildfires has now risen to 101. The Hawaii Governor reporting the increase about two hours ago. He says emergency crews and their dogs have covered about a quarter of the disaster zone and hope to get through most of it by the weekend, or as the search expands into many wiped out neighborhoods.

The governor also says genetics experts have identified several of the dead and will confirm who passed away over the next few weeks. While many of the Lahaina victims had been out in the open in cars, and even in the water.

Meanwhile, the U.S. president is planning to visit Maui soon and survey the damage but doesn't want to be a distraction.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to go, make sure we got everything they need. Want to be sure we don't disrupt the ongoing recovery efforts. Every asset they need will be there for them. And we will be there in Maui. As long as it takes, as long as it takes I mean that sincerely.

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HARRAK: While meanwhile, we're hearing the main road connecting the island, the Lahaina Bypass will reopen for the foreseeable future for the first time since the tragedy. CNN's Bill Weir shows us the situation in another part of Maui where hotspots are still flaring up.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: This is the cooler neighborhood in Maui, we are several miles from the destruction in Lahaina and this is still an active fire zone, only about 60 percent of this upcountry fire has been contained. And we can actually see at least two hotspots around here which explains the yellow helicopter that is a Maui Fire Department. He's taken bucket loads of water from a nearby swimming pool of a home that was completely burned down, they're refilling it with a fire hydrant but the fire department is stretched so thin here that it's really sort of do it yourself DIY fire protection, which explains this setup.

This homeowner was gone. His wife was here but she fired up their improvised sort of fire prevention system and they're spraying it as far as they can down into the ravine here. With the fear that some of these hotspots might whip up, there's a couple of storms brewing in the Pacific, nothing near to hurricane or the storm Dora that could have created all of the firestorm winds. But still, anything that would kick this up is one more horrible thing to worry about here.

[00:25:14]

Meanwhile, in Lahaina, officials say about only a third of that area has been searched with cadaver dogs, about a dozen souls have been identified through DNA for identified and notified families.

And then they've got dozens of other families who are now giving DNA samples because they have loved ones who are missing.

So, it's agony, knowing maybe the worst has happened but hoping you'll get a better result. Here again comes another drop. And in addition to fire department sprinklers, we actually met a couple of guys volunteers who were putting out hotspots with bottled water, sort of bushwhacking through this dry brush. One of them actually burned a foot when he slid into still smoldering ash.

So, that's the scene here in Upcountry, people understand here that there's a lot of action and sympathy happening in Lahaina. But this is an ongoing story. We're going to stay on it for you all day here.

I'm Bill Weir, CNN in Maui.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: As Typhoon Lan hits western Japan, evacuation warnings have been issued to hundreds of thousands of people across 11 prefectures. Officials say more than 950 flights have also been canceled nationwide. State media reports at least 26 people have been injured so far and thousands of customers are without power.

While the powerful storm made landfall early Tuesday with winds equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane. Japan's Meteorological Agency says rainfall in two towns over a few hours exceeded the average for the entire month of August.

North Korea says the U.S. Army Private who darted into its territory was seeking refuge after being mistreated by the American military, this is the first time the North has confirmed Travis King is in the country.

According to state media, King admitted he entered illegally. The Pentagon says the priority is bringing him home.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is covering this live for you from Seoul. Paula, how significant is it that North Korea acknowledges U.S. Army Private Travis King is in the country?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laila, this is very significant, as you say, it's the first time that they have even acknowledged that he is in the country and that they do have him in custody.

Now, North Korea through its state run media KCNA has said that they've started an investigation and the investigation so far has shown, as they say that Travis King has confessed to running across that border are also saying that, "He harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army".

Also saying that Travis King had told the North Korean officials that he wanted to seek refuge either in North Korea or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned with the -- with the American army.

Now, of course, this is what North Korea is saying, we have to treat it as such. We have not heard from Travis King himself and U.S. officials have actually said that they can't verify King's alleged comments at this point.

But it is significant because it's been almost a month, almost a calendar month since Travis King ran across the military demarcation line at the DMZ. He was on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area and broke away from the group and then crossed that MDL into North Korea.

We understand he tried to go through the front door of the building on the North Korean site, it was locked. According to officials he went around the outside, was bundled into a car by North Korean officials and that is the last that U.N. Command or U.S. officials saw of him.

So, this is going to be a relief certainly to his family who have not heard anything of Travis King up until this point. We have heard from Travis King's mother through a spokesperson saying that she appeals to Pyongyang to treat him humanely, saying that he -- she would appreciate a phone call from him as well.

Now, of course, it's fairly unlikely that that would happen. It's certainly not been North Korea's way of dealing with those Americans in their custody in the past, there have been some high profile cases.

Of course, Otto Warmbier, the student who was arrested in recent years and who came back to the United States in a -- in a vegetative state shortly after, he did die.

So, there is concern about the well-being of Travis King, but this is a step forward that North Korea's at least acknowledged that he's there, Laila.

HARRAK: Paula Hancocks reporting from Seoul, thank you very much.

[00:30:01]

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, Taliban rule in Afghanistan has ushered in a harsh new life for the country's women and girls. We'll hear from them directly about their waning hopes for the future.

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HARRAK: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak.

The Taliban are celebrating the anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan. Tuesday marked two years since Taliban fighters seized Kabul as U.S. troops withdrew after two decades of war.

Anna Coren shows us how Afghan women and girls are coping.

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ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the corner of her room, on a piece of string hanging by paper clips, are the treasured memories of 20-year-old Zahra.

ZAHRA, UNIVERSITY STUDENT: They are my favorite people that I have in my life.

COREN (voice-over): Photos, drawings, mementos. A secret world of a life once lived that this Afghan University student now grieves for.

ZAHRA: When I stand in front of the mirror, when I look at myself, I just see a different Zahra from two years ago.

COREN (voice-over): On the 15th of August, 2021, Zahra's life as she knew it was shattered. The Taliban swept to power after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan following its 20-year war, handing back control to the same group of Islamic extremists who ruled in the 1990s.

While the Taliban promised to be more moderate and honor women's rights within Islamic law, the past two years have brought only a hardline stance towards women.

The closure of secondary school for girls; the forced implementation of the burqa; the restriction on travel without a male chaperone; the banning of women from universities and working at NGOs, including the United Nations. And just last month, the Taliban closed all beauty salons, that employed roughly 60,000 women, many of them the sole breadwinners of their homes.

MAHBOUBA SERAJ, AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Women's freedom does not exist. And there is no such thing as women's freedom anymore.

COREN (voice-over): Women's rights activist Mahbouba Seraj, who stayed in Kabul when more than a million Afghans fled, says the Taliban government is erasing women from society.

SERAJ: Even the rights that we have in Islam, even the rights that we have in Sharia, we are losing all of that. So, if it is not annihilation, what is it then?

COREN (voice-over): For Zahra, an aspiring designer, it's very clear what the Taliban demands of her.

[00:35:05]

ZAHRA: Just to stay at home, get married. You have to give birth to children. That's it. And this is your life. This is what women are made for.

COREN (voice-over): While the international community repudiates the Taliban's treatment of women and girls, the Taliban is refusing to listen, saying it will not be pressured.

BILAL KARIMI, TALIBAN DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Afghanistan was freed from occupation. Afghans were able to regain their country: freedom, government, and will. The only way to solve the problem is understanding and dialogue. Pressure and force are not logical.

COREN (voice-over): But human rights activists fear international condemnation is waning and that the Taliban, desperate, for international recognition, is gradually being normalized.

HEATHER BARR, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, WOMEN'S RIGHTS DIVISION, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: They're posing in photographs with smiling diplomats. They're getting on private jets to fly off to important high-level meetings, where people roll out red carpets for them. They're being permitted to take control of embassies in a growing number of countries. So, I think that, you know -- I think that, from their perspective, it's going pretty well.

COREN (voice-over): A terrifying assessment for the women of this country. Protests have all but disappeared, apart from a small group who face the threat of arrest, as they try to get the world's attention.

For most, they suffer in silence, convinced the world no longer cares.

ZAHRA: If it continues like this, the future, not only for me, but also for other girls, it is horrible. And it is disaster.

COREN (voice-over): Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Well, CNN spoke to the Taliban, and they proudly listed their achievements, such as restoring security and cracking down on the drug trade.

When we asked them about girls' education, they were evasive, refusing to say when girls will be allowed back to school or university. All they said was they need to wait for the environment to be favorable.

This was the same line the Taliban gave in the 1990s when they ruled for five years. And under their rule, girls were never allowed to return to school.

Still to come, researchers say they have developed technology to recreate what you see by looking at scans of your brain. More on A.I. mind reading, ahead.

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HARRAK: Researchers in Singapore are using artificial intelligence to look at brain scans and recreate the images that are seen, essentially like reading a person's mind.

CNN's Lynda Kinkade reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Artificial intelligence can write an essay, create a work of art, and now, say researchers in Singapore, essentially read your mind.

These researchers have developed a technology that aims to recreate what you see by looking at scans of your brain.

[00:40:07]

Here's how it works. Study participants receive an MRI brain scan while looking at a series of images.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, the participant is presented with a series of images. Each lasts for nine seconds, with nine seconds breaking between. And then now, we can see, this is the functional magnetic resonance imaging data.

KINKADE (voice-over): Researchers say the A.I. program learns which images correspond to which brain scans. It translates your brain activity into a language that it can understand, using a program that could (ph) stable diffusion.

JIAXIN QING, PHD STUDENT, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: So, next time you come in, you will do the scan, right? And in the scan, you will see the visual stimuli like this. And it will record your brain activities at the same time.

And your brain activities will go into our A.I. translator. And this translator will translate your brain activities into a special language that stable diffusion can understand. And then it will generate the images you are seeing at that point.

So, that's basically how we can read your mind at a distance and we can see and generate images on this side.

KINKADE (voice-over): Not quite a perfect match, but you can see it is a baseball scene.

The technology is modeled to the brain scans of individual participants. And researchers say it has a long way to go before it can read the minds of the general public.

But if mind reading does one day become a reality, they want to make sure private thoughts are protected.

JUAN HELEN ZHOU, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: People might be worried, right, whether the information provided here might be assessed or shared without prior consent.

So, the thing to address this is we should have very strict guidelines, ethical and law, in terms of how to protect the privacy.

KINKADE (voice-over): Still, the scientists are optimistic that mind reading A.I. can be used for good: to help people control artificial limbs, or if they're unable to speak, communicate using only their thoughts.

CHEN ZIJIAO, PHD STUDENT, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: Maybe we can help them to, like, control their robots and communicate with others, like just using their thoughts instead of speech.

KINKADE (voice-over): Studies all over the world are looking into the implications of stable diffusion. Scientists in Japan, the United States, and the Netherlands are learning how A.I. can make sense of our brains. The research is a new frontier, as artificial intelligence starts to turn science fiction into reality.

Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: I'm Laila Harrak. WORLD SPORT starts after the break.

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