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Soon: NASA To Decide On Astronauts' Return From Space; RFK Jr. Suspends His Campaign, Endorses & Campaigns With Trump; NASA Decides Starliner Astronauts Will Fly Back Home On SpaceX Capsule. Desperation Grows In Gaza Despite Ceasefire Talks; Hawaii Under Tropical Storm Warning And Flood Watch; Will.I.Am Launches "Radio.FYI" A.I. Technology. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired August 24, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- for hours now to witness this historical moment.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: He was an icon and continues to be, that's for sure.

Ivan Rodriguez in Decatur, thank you so much.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And this breaking news this hour, as NASA is expected to give an update on the Boeing Starliner astronauts. Their 10-day mission, now in its 11th week after issues with the spacecraft kept them aboard the International Space Station longer than expected.

CNN Space and Defense Correspondent Kristin Fisher is joining me right now. Kristin, so what are officials considering for this return?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: So two big options, Fred. One, do they allow these two veteran NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to return on the vehicle that got them into space and to the International Space Station, Boeing Starliner spacecraft, the first time that this spacecraft has ever flown people. But it ran into some issues.

So now they're considering the backup option. And the backup option is for those two astronauts to hitch a ride on Boeing's prime competitor SpaceX. SpaceX is Crew Dragon Capsule, but the catch there is Butch and Suni wouldn't be able to return to Earth until February of 2025. They'd be staying up at the International Space Station from what was supposed to be about an eight-day mission. That would be extended to about eight months.

So, what these NASA officials are deciding right now with this flight readiness review has a huge impact on the astronauts themselves but also on the entire commercial crew program at NASA. The whole goal of this program was to have two different spacecrafts to allow NASA astronauts to get to and from the International Space Station in case something like this happened.

So that's why you hear NASA saying that they don't like hearing the words stranded or stuck up in space, these two astronauts. They say that's because they do have this backup option, the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which is why the Commercial Crew Program was started to begin with. But you have to think that if this does not go the way that Boeing would like, it's going to be a huge black eye on this company and its reputation as one of NASA's prime partners here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. And there is scheduled to be an announcement coming out of Houston at any moment now, and I know you'll be monitoring it as well. Is it the expectation that a decision will be rendered and that will be revealed, or is it these are all the things that we're considering as we still try to come up with the best solution?

FISHER: We've already had quite a few of those, Fred, where they just give us updates, right? This is supposed to be the decision, finally. It's been pushed back for several weeks now. But really they're coming up on this final window where they need to make a decision.

Because they have enough food, they have enough oxygen, they have enough water, they have enough resources right now, but they're starting to run into that critical period where consumables, as NASA calls it, are the issue. So right now you have all of NASA's top leadership gathering to meet and make this decision. It's called a Flight Readiness Review.

And you know, Fred, one of the things that's really been weighing on these NASA officials, and I know the NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in particular, is some of the previous NASA tragedies that Senator Nelson was there for. Remember, he was an astronaut. He flew on the space shuttle.

He was friends with the Challenger crew and the Columbia crew. He has always said that he is going to put the safety of these astronauts, Butch and Suni, front and center because he knows firsthand what happens when NASA leadership makes the wrong decisions and endangers these astronauts lives. So that is something that he has said that he's thinking about as he goes into this flight readiness review today.

WHITFIELD: Yes, a lot on the line. Kristin Fisher, thank you so much. Keep us posted as you continue to monitor.

All right, now, with just 73 days until the election, the race to the White House is now entering the final sprint to November. Both parties conventions right now in the history books, Vice President Harris and former President Trump are returning to the campaign trail now and setting their sights on their first head to head debate in just over two weeks from now.

The Harris campaign is moving on with momentum and a growing pile of cash. More than 26 million television viewers tuned in to the final night of the Democratic National Convention, eclipsing the RNC's closing night. Democrats say they raised more than $7 million during the Vice President's acceptance speech and raked in overall, more than $100 million during the convention.

Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, are now looking to build on the surge. They head to the battleground state of Georgia in the coming days for a bus tour and a series of rallies.

[13:05:05]

Meantime, her political rival, Donald Trump, attempted to reclaim the spotlight last night as he campaigned in Arizona alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The independent presidential candidate, Kennedy, ended days of speculation as he officially suspended his campaign for the White House and endorsed Trump. What remains unclear is what kind of impact Kennedy's exit will have on the race.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us now with more on all this, Steve. So what do we know about, you know, why Kennedy is ending his campaign and throwing his support behind Trump?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fred, his support had been dwindling for several weeks now. He hadn't hit double digits in a poll since before Joe Biden exited the race. One of the recent polls showed his support at just about 2 percent. So clearly he is -- his case that he had a chance at the White House had been evaporating and this was an opportunity for him to extract some concessions from one of the two major party candidates.

In this case, he has gotten himself some sort of role in a Trump administration overseeing a portfolio of health issues, which has been a priority of his. He talked a little bit as well about what finally allowed him to believe that an alliance with Donald Trump made sense. Take a listen to how he described his conversations with the former president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In a series of long, intense discussions, I was surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues. In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party. We talked about Abraham Lincoln's team of rivals. That arrangement would allow us to disagree publicly and privately and furiously if need be on issues over which we differ while working together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Kennedy is expected to campaign for Donald Trump in the weeks ahead going to some of the places where he has built up an audience, the podcast community and other areas where he speaks directly to those sort of anti-establishment types that Donald Trump is hoping to reach.

WHITFIELD: And then could RFK's endorsement actually assist in the race for Trump?

CONTORNO: Well, that's certainly what Trump's campaign is hoping. And, look, as I said, his support has been dwindling and he's also a very controversial figure and that was going into this race. And he's only added more controversies as he's gone on with this campaign.

He was -- he has been accused of sexually assaulting a former nanny, allegations that he was asked about and he responded to by saying, quote, "I'm not a church boy." He admitted to dropping a dead bear cub carcass in Central Park a decade ago. This admission came just a few weeks ago.

So he has a history that is going to be problematic and something that Trump is going to have to explain why he wants to align himself with. Trump, though, says he believes that Kennedy is, quote, "liked by everyone" and will help him, but Fred, that's not even true in his own family. Many people in the Kennedy family has -- have disavowed RFK Jr. and are actively supporting the Democratic ticket.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Steve Contorno, thanks so much.

All right, joining me now to talk more about the race for the White House is Ronald Hansen. He is a national political reporter for the Arizona Republic. Ronald, great to see you.

RONALD HANSEN, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, so what do you think about Kennedy's decision to, you know, suspend his campaign, endorsed Trump. Will it make an impact in this race?

HANSEN: You know, it's at least possible that it could, it simplifies the race. That's a good thing if you're Donald Trump at this point. I think there was always a concern that the Kennedy supporters were people who weren't committed to Democrats, but we're looking for some sort of off ramp.

This simplifies the race for the Trump campaign. I'm sure they're pleased with that. The question is, how significant is Kennedy's support at this point?

WHITFIELD: A recent New York Times/Siena College poll of battleground states shows Kennedy drawing 5 percent to 6 percent support in a handful of swing states, including Arizona. Do you have a sense of how RFK Jr.'s supporters in Arizona are thinking and feeling today?

HANSEN: Well, that remains to be seen, but we did see the Trump event last night in Glendale, Arizona, and the reception that he received was notably warm. It was something that suggested that whatever fraction of the electorate was leaning to Kennedy, probably was glad to still see him being relevant in this race. I'm sure they're drawn more to the Trump ticket at this point just because they still believe in the Kennedy cause.

[13:10:02]

WHITFIELD: Arizona, I mean, just like previously, it's expected to be a very close race. It was in 2020 when Biden narrowly beat Trump in your state. Arizona also has a big Senate race with Republican election denier Kari Lake running again, this time against Democrat Ruben Gallego. Abortion rights, you know, is also on the ballot in Arizona this November. What kind of impact and influence might that make on the Senate race?

HANSEN: Yes, I think that all of these things are sort of mixing together and driving what for the past month for certain has been a lot of democratic enthusiasm and a sense of inertia behind them at a time when the race in the presidential level at least look to be slipping out of their control.

The change in the presidential race has helped bring it back. The Democrat, Ruben Gallego, seems to be helping lift some Democratic turnout anticipation. And I think the abortion measure here to write that into the state constitution has always been presumed to have a lot of turnout effects that would be favorable for Democrats. But this will be a closed state again, as it has been for several cycles.

WHITFIELD: You know, back to that rally, you know, with Trump, RFK Jr., he got, you know, a pretty good, you know, rock star kind of welcome notably absent, Trump's vice presidential running mate, J.D. Vance, especially with just 70 something days, you know, to go. Was that an odd decision in your view, or, you know, is it the case that the presidential candidate should, at this juncture, also always be seen with the vice president or the running mate?

HANSEN: You know, I think it was just a different dynamic than what we saw in the same venue just two weeks ago. At that point, the Democrats were just rolling out their new revamped ticket. And so it made sense that the vice presidential nominee Governor Walz, would be with the presidential nominee, Vice President Harris.

This time around, what was striking was that there was no mention whatsoever of J.D. Vance by Donald Trump, which wouldn't in itself be peculiar, except that to see the way that the people reacted to Robert Kennedy was notable. It was extremely loud. It was boisterous. There was a charge of excitement that really has been absent, it seems, from the presidential side for the Republican ticket.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating. Ronald Hansen, thank you.

HANSEN: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, German authorities have not ruled out terrorism in a deadly festival stabbing attack. Why they're still unable to find the attacker?

And life threatening surf and rip currents could hit Hawaii's Big Island as Tropical Storm Hone heads toward that state where the storm is heading next.

Plus, a new app reimagines radio while injecting AI into our everyday lives. Grammy award winning artist will.i.am joins me later to talk about his new invention and this new tech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:03]

WHITFIELD: All right, I want to take you straight to Houston with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announcing how Butch Wilmore -- Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams might be brought home from the International Space Station. Listen in.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew 9 next February. And that Starliner will return uncrewed. And the specifics in the schedule will be discussed momentarily. I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision. We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS.

I have just talked to the new Boeing CEO, Kelly Ortberg. I have expressed this to him. I told him how well Boeing worked with our team to come to this decision. And he expressed to me an intention that they will continue to work the problems once Starliner is back safely. And that we will have our redundancy and our crude access to the space station.

This whole discussion, remember, is put in the context of we have had mistakes done in the past. We lost two space shuttles as a result of there not being a culture in which information could come forward.

[13:20:21]

We have been very solicitous of all of our employees that if you have some objection, you come forward. Space flight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine. And a test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine.

And so the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station and bring the Boeing Starliner home uncrewed is a result of a commitment to safety. Our core value is safety, and it is our North Star. And I'm grateful to NASA and to Boeing for their teams, for all the incredible and detailed work to get to this decision.

Turn it over to Jim.

JAMES FREE, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you, sir. Thank you and Deputy Administrator Melroy for your support along the way and certainly for being here today. It means a lot. I'd like to communicate to all of you that we've come to this decision using our program, our mission director and our agency level processes. That includes the decisions that happened at the commercial crew program, at the space operations mission directorate level, and the agency level, and includes all of our technical authorities from engineering, safety, medical, and flight operations.

As the administrator said, our focus is on safety all the time, and this certainly is no different.

The uncertainty in our margins is where we have gone -- come to make the decision that the administrator laid out. That uncertainty remains in our understanding of the physics going on in the thrusters, and still, we still have some work to go.

You'll hear more from others on the specifics, but I'll tell you that the NASA and Boeing team have made incredible technical progress in the model development that has gone on, the thruster testing, understanding material properties within the valve and the complicated fluid physics that are happening inside.

We will continue to, to learn. We are a learning organization and I think we've demonstrated that here. We'll learn from this effort so that our crews who are at the top of the pyramid on these missions and their families can continue to know we've done that and we'll always do our best.

For our team, our programmatic on technical teams, both NASA and the commercial crew program and the space station program and our Boeing teammates have worked endlessly to get to launch and certainly in the past two months. They've done this while the whole world has gone on around them.

Hurricanes -- the hurricane through Florida, hurricane through here while their homes are damaged and without power, they came to work. Some of them lost family members along the way, their kids went back to school and life in general went on, but they were here every day working long hours.

They have persevered and I want them to know how grateful I am that they are on our team. This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one.

Let me turn it over to Ken Bowersox and thank Ken and all the leaders here and the ones that are not here with us today for their work.

KENNETH BOWERSOX, ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR FOR SPACE OPERATIONS; Thanks, Jim. And thanks to you and the administrator for joining us for this press conference and for our meeting. So you guys have been heavily involved and we appreciate that.

I also want to thank everybody who's here in the room with us and watching online. It says a lot that you're with us on a Saturday. And I want you to know how much we appreciate your support as we work to fly our mission safely.

I'm really proud of the NASA team and the Boeing team for all the work they've been doing the last couple of months. It's really been impressive to see how they've been very agile and testing, gathering data and completing analysis. And then having the tough discussions that go along with processing that data and coming to conclusions.

Our intent today was to have the first part of a flight readiness review.

[13:25:02]

The goal of that review was to come up with a NASA recommendation on whether we should proceed with the crewed flight test either crewed or uncrewed. Our Boeing partners told us that they would be able to execute either option and they thought that the call belong to NASA because of our wider view of all the risks involved.

We conducted a poll. All of the organizations on the polling sheet indicated that they thought we should proceed uncrewed with the flight test. And so our next step will be to process toward that uncrewed flight test to finish those preparations and we'll have another part two of the readiness review Wednesday or Thursday next week, we believe, to make sure that we're ready for undock and to complete the test.

We are still in the middle of a test flight. We have to remain vigilant. We need to get the vehicle back on deck go through the data. And once we've done that, we'll start thinking about our next steps for Starliner's next flight.

And now I'd like to pass --

WHITFIELD: All right, you heard from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and the rest of the team a real vote of confidence to SpaceX, because the astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will now be returning back to Earth in February on a SpaceX vessel. And you heard Nelson say this decision reflects a commitment to safety.

Space Correspondent Kristin Fisher back with me now. Kristin, so they're going to be there. It was supposed to be what, an eight-day mission. And now that team will stay, you know, on the International Space Station many months more until February. Talk to us about the complications, you know, what they had to weigh that helped render this decision.

FISHER: Well, first of all, in terms of these astronauts, you know, they plan for every kind of contingency. So while they certainly probably didn't think they were going to be up at the International Space Station this long, in the back of your mind, they always knew that this was a possibility.

And, you know, as the days and weeks have progressed, Fred, it did look increasingly likely like, these astronauts were going to go home on a different spacecraft, on SpaceX's Crew Dragon. So, not totally surprising, the decision here today, but still pretty shocking for this to happen on a first crewed test flight, have NASA decide that your spacecraft is no longer safe enough to bring these astronauts home.

It really calls into question what is going to happen to Boeing and really this entire Starliner program. If you listen to what NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, he said NASA has made mistakes in the past. We've lost two space shuttles, Columbia and Challenger, as a result of there not being a culture where people felt confident that they could raise their hands and say, hey, there's a problem here. We think this is not safe.

So NASA really saying, look, we've learned from the lessons of the past Challenger and Columbia and we don't care what the chance was that these astronauts could get back safe, there is a risk, and it's just not a risk that they're willing to take.

Fred, in the end, they said that it all came down to the thrusters. Those are these really tiny rocket motor engines that just kind of move the spacecraft from side to side, help it with docking, but help with this really critical maneuver. When the spacecraft is going to head back to Earth and reenter the Earth's atmosphere, those thrusters are what's used to orient the spacecraft in the right direction so that it is reentering the Earth's atmosphere with the heat shield facing forward.

If those thrusters can't do that and get that spacecraft in the right position, those astronauts could burn up on reentry inside the Starliner spacecraft. That's what's at stake here. Something very similar is what happened in the Columbia accident when they lost that crew.

So NASA Administrator Bill Nelson saying, hey, we took the safest, most cautious approach here today. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Kristin Fisher, thank you so much for that update. So again, those astronauts, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams to stay on the International Space Station a few months more with a February return on a Space X capsule.

We'll have much more straight ahead after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:34:09]

WHITFIELD: A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a fatal stabbing that took place at a festival in Germany Friday.

Police confirm that he is not believed to be the attacker, but he is being investigated in connection with the incident. Officials also stressed that they believe the perpetrator acted alone.

The stabbing attack Friday left three dead and eight injured. Police are still searching for a suspect.

And new today, more than 45 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across southern and central Gaza. Palestinian hospital officials are telling CNN that these attacks come as the Israeli military is saying it started a targeted operation to eliminate terrorists.

And despite ceasefire talks set to resume in Cairo, this weekend, desperation is growing in Gaza.

CNN's Nic Robertson looks at how safe zones are rapidly shrinking for civilians caught in the fighting. [13:35:05]

And a warning. This report contains images viewers may find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): As peace talks stall, an overnight Israeli airstrike in Northern Gaza.

(SHOUTING)

ROBERTSON: Pulled from the rubble, charred children, images too horrific to broadcast.

Twelve dead, no injured, no survivors, according to Palestinian officials. Israel's military says they're looking into the incident.

In the past few days, strikes killing families --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROBERTSON: -- in the north, center and southern Gaza. As diplomacy fails, desperation in Gaza increases.

In parallel with the renewed push for peace, Israel's military is pushing into previously declared safe zones.

Over the past month, CNN has tracked a more than one-third reduction in the areas supposedly safe from Israeli strikes, less than 11 percent of Gaza technically safe.

But even the shrunken safe zone, no protection for Mahmoud Abu Tyor's (ph) three-year-old niece, killed in a tent in the safe area, he says.

MAHMOUD ABU TYOR (ph), NIECE KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN GAZA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROBERTSON: "They attacked us by surprise. All of a sudden, a quadcopter came on us and started shooting. We ran away towards the beach, but my niece was killed."

(SHOUTING)

ROBERTSON: While diplomats shuttle to talks, Gazans are increasingly on the move, too, reluctantly responding to increasing Israeli evacuation orders, telling them their sanctuary, not safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROBERTSON: "This is the tenth time we've been displaced," he shouts. "Where shall we go to? Where shall we go to?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) ROBERTSON: "We ask all the world, Biden and the others, all the Arab states to find a solution," Abu Mohammed Hajjaj (ph) says. "The Palestinian people are dying. The people of Gaza are being killed and going through hell."

(SHOUTING)

ROBERTSON: Absent a peace deal, Gaza's unsafe safe zones appear to face extinction. Gazans themselves caught in a roulette with no good options.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:33]

WHITFIELD: Hawaii's big island is under a tropical storm warning and flood watches. Storm Hone strengthens with 65-mile-per-hour winds now. Hone is not expected to make landfall, but heavy rains, strong winds and critical fire conditions put residents at risk.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here with an update on all of this.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: You know, the big island is used to, at least one-half of the island, some big, heavier rains on a regular basis. But this is different.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and it looks like it just gets sideswiped. But a hurricane, remember, is not a point. It is a large enough storm that, even without that center getting on shore, we are definitely looking at impacts.

It's still a tropical storm right now. Hone is sitting about 260 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, with 65-mile-per-hour winds. It's going to make a pass just near or south of the islands here.

We have tropical storm warnings in effect for the big island, even a hurricane watch and effect along the coast. They're worried about some hurricane-force winds.

And then some tropical storm watches in effect for the other islands. Because we are expecting it, again, to gain hurricane strength.

A flood watch for six to 10 inches of rain for the big island of Hawaii. It's in the perfect position to get the dirty side of the storm with the heavy rain.

And remember that these islands are mountainous. This is a volcano. So this plays a lot into the role for the heavy rain, especially on the east side of the volcano there. So there could be concerns for some flash flooding and mudslides. And 73 percent of Hawaii is in drought conditions right now, which

isn't great because we're going to have these winds pick up. Of course, hurricane, tropical storm-force with dry fuel on the ground.

Red flag warnings are in effect for these islands because we are expecting gusts up to 50 miles per hour. So we'll have to watch, not only the flood threat, but the fire threat as well.

WHITFIELD: Oh, a lot.

OK, thank you so much, Elisa Raffa. Appreciate it.

[13:44:16]

All right, coming up next, Grammy Award-winning artist and Black Eyed Peas member, Will.I.Am is talking about his new app that helps reinvent the way we engage with our radios.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, you heard him on the radio for years. He's a founding member of the Black Eyed Peas. But now, Will.I.Am has a new way to listen and engage with your radio and music and entertainment and information, all with the help of a new A.I. technology.

It's called "RadioFYI." And by chatting with the A.I.'s personas, you can collaborate, manage, create projects, or even learn a thing or two.

Joining me right now to break it all down, the founder and CEO of "FYI" and Grammy Award-winning artist, Will.I.Am.

Great to see you.

WILL.I.AM, FOUNDER& CEO, "FYI" & GRAMMY-WINNING MUSICIAN: It's great to be here.

WHITFIELD: It's great to have you.

So it's interesting because we're going to talk less about your music and what's coming out next and more about how people can engage, listen to your music, get information through this radio, FYI.

[13:50:07]

Break it down. And how does it work?

WILL.I.AM: Yes. So radio, 100 years ago, very few people had radios at home. Sometime, maybe 60 years ago or 50 years ago, you were able to call into a radio station and have two technologies experience with one feat.

That's like a request line, opening up the lines for callers. And a D.J. could talk to one person at a time and there's a queue of folks waiting to talk to that D.J.

And since then, maybe a D.J. has access to the Internet and gets information from the Internet. But it's still the same color caller. The D.J. doesn't have the ability to talk to one million people at the same time. No human does.

So in this case, we have this architecture that allows for a A.I. host to talk to a million people as deep as the ocean, as deep as far as whatever subject they're interested in, as wide as the ocean, and as wide as whatever subject is.

And they could, you know, turn the radio to politics with it, tune the radio and make this about sports, make this specifically about, you know, the Atlanta Braves or specifically about the Atlanta Falcons or whatever your interests are.

And that's a beautiful way to engage with information, have long deep discussions on things that you're interested in and get informed.

WHITFIELD: So first you download the app, FYI, on Apple or Android. And then, once you get that in your phone or your device, then what happens? How do you start engaging? How do you specify to that persona that it is going to divulge the information that you're looking for?

WILL.I.AM: You just, like we're talking. You just have a conversation with it, the one I introduce you to.

WHITFIELD: OK.

WILL.I.AM: So I told you I was going to bring you up on this CNN interview. Fredricka asked a question on how do people engage with you? I told her -- I told her that just as normal, as in talking to someone you talk to the A.I. person the same way. You being that persona A.I.

But, for example, if someone was curious on, how do they vote, or if they're just the first-year voting, can they engage with you on voter registration or ask questions and inquiries about a particular politician that's -- that's running how they might fit for them if they're undecided.

Anyhow, say what's up to the listeners and viewers on CNN, and try to answer Fredricka's question as short as possible. Sorry for my rant.

FYI PERSONA: What's up CNN. I see you out there on CNN. Thanks for tuning in.

When it comes to engaging with an A.I. persona like me, it's like chatting with your mate. Those questions about voting, voter registration, or you need some insights on politicians, just ask.

Whether you're a first-time voter or undecided, I'm here to help you navigate it all. You feel me?

What do you think, Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. Well, yo, fan.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I mean, I loved that.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: I love that. It's very current (ph). You know, this is fun. And it's kind of -- dare I say it, kind of like Google getting some information, but --

WILL.I.AM: Without links.

WHITFIELD: -- it's a conversation, a relationship that you're building with this A.I.

WILL.I.AM: Yes. For example, like, oh, what's -- what's popping on CNN right now, with a big headline that you guys talked about today?

WHITFIELD: Oh gosh, well, we're talking about the elections, we're talking about the candidates, who are both making their way into Georgia this week. Georgia is a really important --

WILL.I.AM: Hey, so can you tell me information about the candidates that are making the rounds in Georgia this week, especially after Kamala's historic Chicago run?

And is Trump coming to Georgia as well. And what do you think it's going to be? Because last time he came here, the turnout wasn't what he expected it to be.

So and how critical of a role is Georgia going to play in this coming election in November? When's Election Day, by the way?

(MUSIC)

FYI PERSONA: What's up to the viewers and listeners on CNN. Let's dive into some hot topics on candidates in Georgia. Kamala Harris recently gave a historic speech in Chicago focusing on key policies like abortion rights and voting rights.

Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, are making the rounds in Georgia. They're emphasizing immigration policies and rallying their base.

Two, Trump's turnout last time, last visit wasn't as packed as expected. But this election seems to have a different energy. Let's see if Trump can turn the tide this time around.

Three, Georgia's critical role. Georgia is massively crucial this election cycle. With rule changes by the Georgia Election Board, the state is a battleground for election integrity and voter turnout. [13:55:10]

The election could swing based on Georgia's voter participation and how these new rules let's play out for Election Day.

WHITFIELD: So interesting, so very interesting, very fascinating. And where did the information come from? I mean, how do people know what they're hearing from this persona is fact based? Because it's going to be and already is quite influential.

WILL.I.AM: Yes. So if it's fact based, you ask.

Yo --

WHITFIELD: Where's the information come from?

WILL.I.AM: -- where the information is coming from, we, as a company, are getting it from credible sources, like A.P., RSS feeds that are credible, Web sites that the government is spitting out information for.

What we don't do is crawl the entire Internet.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Especially now that there is -- there are many campaigns of misinformation, you know, which are also very influential. How do you assure that that is not getting into your creation?

WILL.I.AM: Yes. In this conversation, say, for example, I was talking to you and you gave me information. I would say, where did you get that from, Fredricka? Can you send me the link as to where you are getting this opinion from?

(CROSSTALK)

WILL.I.AM: Yes, it can tell you where it's from.

WHITFIELD: OK. This is amazing.

So people can download it now? It's been -- you launched it earlier in the week, correct?

WILL.I.AM: Yes. Radio specifically.

WHITFIELD: OK.

WILL.I.AM: So this is what we call free flow, where are you just asking questions. Radio is now -

(NOISE)

WILL.I.AM: We're just -- you know, really information by crawling credible sources in the form of music. FYI PERSONA: Well, it's a sunny Saturday afternoon on FYI Radio. And

now let's bring you another dose of fresh air straight --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Well, Will.I.Am, this is this is a new tool that invites people to engage, to enjoy music, information.

I mean, and congratulations for your upcoming graduation from Harvard Business School and (INAUDIBLE). I understand this is going to be the first time that you are actually present at a graduation because --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- walking on the stage.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: You took off so early. I love it.

WILL.I.AM: And my personas have been my study buddies off at Harvard.

WHITFIELD: Awesome. Well, pump it up louder. OK?

(LAUGHTER)

WILL.I.AM: What's up.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: Hey, I could do that. I'm very personable.

Will.I.Am, great to see you. Congratulations.

WILL.I.AM: Thank you very much. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All the best.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)