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Trump: No Regrets on Iran; Houthis Open New Front in the War with Iran; Americans Mark 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Terrorist Attacks; Trump and Vance Close Out Convention; Putin Arrives In India Ahead Of BRICS Summit; Officials Investigate Cause Of Amazon Plane Crash in Miami; A.I. "Actress" Has First On-Camera "Interview" With CNN. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired September 11, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello, wherever you are in the world. You are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. It is so good to have you with me.

Coming up on today's show, the Houthis reportedly opening a new front in the war with Iran. Could the U.S. military be forced to intervene as a shipping route is under threat? Russia's president set for talks with India's prime minister in New Delhi in just a few hours as Moscow once again ramps up attacks on Kyiv. And today marks 25 years since the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001. We reflect on that day that changed the world forever.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte."

HUNTE: Welcome. We begin this hour with U.S. President Donald Trump who says he has no regrets about the way that he has handled the war with Iran. The conflict is now in its seventh month and extremely unpopular in polls of American voters ahead of November's midterms. Here's what the president told Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, you don't know that.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Any regrets?

TRUMP: No. I think -- I think -- I don't believe in the word "regret." You can always question yourself a little bit. And a few people have asked me that. If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly as I did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Regrets or not, oil prices are surging because of the renewed fighting in recent days. On Thursday, Brent Crude climbed to $108 a barrel. That is for the first time since May. It is currently slightly below that level, while West Texas Crude reached $103 a barrel before moving a little lower. Some global energy firms no longer assume that the war will end this year or that the oil production in the Middle East will even recover in 2026.

The U.S. is expanding its military support for Saudi Arabia as the kingdom fights Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. More than 100 U.S. military advisors are on the ground in Saudi Arabia. They're providing intelligence and support for Saudi strikes against the Houthis. The increased U.S. support calms as fighting has intensified in recent days. The Houthis on Thursday captured a strategic port on Yemen's Red Sea coast. Control of that port could allow the militant group to threaten a key shipping waterway.

CNN's Nic Robertson recently visited the area and met with officials leading Yemen's fight against the Houthis. He has more details for us now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There were increasingly alarming reports that the city was coming under heavy Houthi attack, that a lot of Houthi forces were being mobilized towards it. There was a period in the night where the communications went off, was cut. Sources I was speaking to, who were trying to connect with field commanders and officials inside of Mocha, couldn't reach them. It appeared that the government still had some vestiges of control in Mocha but, within a few hours, it became very clear that the Houthis had taken control.

By late afternoon, I spoke with the information minister of Yemen from the internationally recognized government, and he said Mocha has changed hands, the Houthis have it. It's very sad, he said, because of the suffering that that's going to bring to the people there.

And I heard from another source as well, who was involved in trying to sort of help in the defense of Mocha, and he said, look, we were speaking to CENTCOM in the U.S. about the situation on the ground.

Speaking directly, this source said to Admiral Cooper, trying to get U.S. attention, he said several days before Mocha fell, about what was happening, and he said, you know, he was being told from U.S. officials that the Saudis are watching, the U.S. is watching, and there'll be Saudi air support, and he said that didn't come. What did come, he said, were what he described as wave after wave of Houthis. He said thousands upon thousands.

You know, we have no way of verifying that sort of number, but I think that wave upon wave is what the defenders of Mocha felt was happening, that they were overwhelmed by the Houthis. And I have to say, the road south along the strait, that's not well defended.

[02:05:02]

It gives them maneuverability as well as leverage. That support on the Red Sea that they now control, that will be somewhere that they can launch boats out of, you know, whether it's their sort of un-crewed boats, explosive boats. So, they got a lot of skill against tankers that are passing by.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait really narrows down there. Mocha is close to where it narrows. It's going to give the Houthis a big advantage in trying to sort of interdict shipping there as well as, you know, the expectation at this stage that they may take Perim Island. The road route from Mocha to Perim Island is flat, it's desert. There are no major towns on it. There are a couple of checkpoints.

I drove up there 10, 11 days ago. The only thing that actually physically stopped us in the road was a camel that had wandered onto the road and didn't want to wander off again. There will be nothing in terms of sort of massive firepower or men and materiel that can get on the road to stop the Houthis from moving from Mocha further south all the way so that they control the whole of the Red Sea coastline within Yemen, all the way up to and including Perim Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Joining me now is Mina al-Oraibi. She is editor-in-chief of "The National" and English language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi. It's good to see you. We have seen a major escalation over the last few days. Iran has attacked shipping. The U.S. has struck tankers. How dangerous is this situation becoming for the wider region now?

MINA AL-ORAIBI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE NATIONAL: Well, the developments with Yemen are quite worrying. First, of course, at the beginning of this week, the Saudi authorities announced that 73 civilians have been wounded in Saudi Arabia with attacks from the Houthis. This has been a sustained attack throughout this week. They hit Jazan and a number of other -- a number of other Saudi cities.

When it comes to Mocha, which we just heard from Nic describing the situation on the ground there, in August, there were repeated missile attacks on Al-Mukha, on the internationally-recognized government troops there, and that has allowed for now in September the Houthis to get to not only the strategic part of Al-Mukha, but even further.

And so, this has clearly been planned for several weeks. Iran has been boasting about the Houthi advances. Ghalibaf, who is the speaker of parliament, posted, we also have a Twitter account that is said to be for the supreme leader of Iran, who is yet to be seen since he became supreme leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, also boasting and saying that this is a big victory.

And so, you see that Iran has opened this new front at a time that, of course, other proxies like Hezbollah and Lebanon are under great strain. So, this is the multi-pronged Iranian way of war that is really kicking into action at a time that we don't see diplomacy or talks moving forward.

HUNTE: President Trump says he has no regrets about going to war with Iran and says he would do exactly the same thing again. What's the reaction to those comments across the region? What have you heard? AL-ORAIBI: You know, President Trump makes so many statements that previously we'd hear immediate reaction. Now, people understand that a lot of this is also for a domestic audience. So, there are direct talks between officials here and President Trump and other American officials. They, in their talks, understand that the U.S. is serious about wanting to come to a solution, but also the dynamics internally are at play with the midterms being so close.

People had spoken discreetly here. Officials I had spoken to had said that they expect that not much would happen until after the midterms for the political considerations in the U.S. but, of course, everyone is also looking at elections in Israel and what happens with the government there as, of course, Israel and the U.S. are coordinating quite closely on this war. So, election season is very much being followed here, but there are no immediate reactions to individual statements, much more the overall tone.

The hope is that talks will continue and there is a possibility of calming down the situation. Pakistan says they're still involved. Certainly, Qatar is very involved. The Qatari official spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry, Majed al-Ansari, was here in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. He was speaking about the importance of not only ending the war but finding a way to bring back deterrence. We seem very far away from deterrence in the region, where attacks are not only being sustained, but also many red lines are being crossed.

[02:10:05]

So, there are very quiet efforts behind the scenes despite the many statements we hear about a continuation of war or ramping up of war.

HUNTE: And from the Iranian perspective, is there any sign right now that Iran is interested in finding a way out of this conflict?

AL-ORAIBI: They certainly have incredible economic pain. There were also queues of thousands of cars trying to get access to petrol. Iran is suffering. Now, of course, there isn't much that comes out in the domestic press about this that we are able to see, but there certainly are reporting on the ground and hearing from Iranians themselves directly. There's a lot of pain.

So, it would be in Iran's benefit to come to some sort of resolution. Also, militarily, the ongoing strikes from the U.S. regarding the Iranian Navy that's almost depleted, in addition to continued strikes. So, it would be in Iran's interest.

However, of course, what is the calculation of those in power in Iran at the moment? It seems to be that they feel that they can still be pushing on the military track to get as many concessions as they can. However, in the long term, certainly, it would be in the interest of Iran to come to an agreement because militarily, if the U.S. wanted to go into full escalation, sustained strikes, if Israel was to also get involved in the war and have sustained strike, it would bring incredible further damage to Iran.

HUNTE: OK. Mina al-Oraibi in Abu Dhabi, thank you very much for your time.

Staying in the Middle East now, Israel says it destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure in Southern Lebanon. The Israeli military released a video on Thursday that it says shows a strike on the Ali al-Taher Ridge. Lebanese state media says Israel carried out a powerful blast at the ridge, which was heard and felt across the surrounding areas. Israel's military says the underground network stretched for more than two kilometers and housed command centers and dozens of weapons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister say the operation completed a consolidation of a security zone in the area.

Now to live pictures from New York as the city prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. All four living former U.S. presidents will attend the memorial at Ground Zero in the hours ahead. President Donald Trump, however, will not be there. He will instead mark the occasion at the Pentagon.

A special remembrance took shape in the skies over New York this week. Drones recreated the outline of the Twin Towers, 2,977 lights, one for each life lost during the September 11th attacks. Organizers say the aerial artwork was made by artists, families, survivors, and first responders.

Twenty-five years ago, the cause of American history changed in a single morning. In an attack orchestrated by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, 19 hijackers took control of four passenger jets, turning them into weapons for deadly attacks in New York, Pennsylvania, and the nation's capital, too.

The 9-11 memorial says thousands of first responders, including some who spent months working at the site, have since died from 9-11- related cancers and other illnesses. New York's mayor just released records showing that city officials knew the air around Ground Zero was unsafe to breathe despite repeatedly assuring the public otherwise.

Along with the horrors of the day came incredible moments of heroism. One of those heroes is Chief Joseph Pfeifer. He was the first fire chief to arrive at the World Trade Center that morning. He had been nearby, checking on a gas leak, when the first plane hit the North Tower. A documentary film crew was following his firehouse that morning and captured the first plane going into the tower. He recounted to CNN's Anderson Cooper the intensity of that day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSEPH PFEIFER, RETIRED NEW YORK CITY FIRE CHIEF: I thought it was a routine, normal day. We're at an emergency, an order of gas. And then hearing the plane coming overhead at very low altitudes, so low I could read American on the fuselage.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Really, you could see it?

PFEIFER: I could actually see it. And it was traveling at a very fast speed. I could hear the engines roaring. And then I saw the plane aim and crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. And in that moment, I knew it was no accident. I said it on the radio. My exact words were, the plane was aiming for the building.

COOPER: Everyone says you were the ideal person to be there first on the scene.

[02:15:02]

What do you do in a situation like that?

PFEIFER: I had to be in this building a couple hundred times. So, I knew it really well. And I knew the job was to evacuate the building, and then regroup on the upper floors to get the people who were trapped by flames and by smoke. And that was the game plan. But things were happening very, very fast that morning. And as I gave the orders to my firefighters to go up, I also gave another order to evacuate the South Tower a little bit before 9 o'clock. But at 9:03, that second plane hit. So, now, we have two 110-storey buildings with people in them and on fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: The secretary general of the United Nations is among those marking 25 years since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. On Thursday, a spokesman read a statement from Antonio Guterres paying tribute to the victims and expressing support for the shared battle against terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FARHAN HAQ, U.N. DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON: As you mark this somber occasion on the 11th of September, we remember the nearly 3,000 victims from the United States and more than 90 countries and stand with their families and loved ones. This year also marks 20 years since member states adopted the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, a reminder that the fight against terrorism is a shared, unfinished task. As we pay tribute to the victims, let us renew our shared commitment to build a future free from terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Joining us now from Vienna, Austria is Steven Erlanger, the New York Times chief diplomatic correspondent. It's good to see you, sir. Where were you on 9-11 and what do you remember about that awful day?

STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I was actually in Berlin. I had just taken over as "The New York Times" bureau chief like four or five days before. I watched the second tower hit on the German version of CNN. And then within 12 hours, we understood that it had been plotted partly from Hamburg.

Mohamed Atta and his crew were living there. They have been to Afghanistan and back. They're living in Germany. So, I immediately had to, you know, go to Hamburg. I talked to Mohamed Atta's teachers. I read his dissertation, which was about Aleppo. I talked to people who knew him.

I was in the flat that he and his co-conspirators lived in, and it took up my year. I mean, we did obviously quite a lot of work on why we missed al-Qaeda, why intelligence failed, what were the results, what has it done to us. It changed Germany, it changed America, it changed NATO, it changed the world, I think.

HUNTE: Well, speaking about that, 25 years later now, how much has the world actually changed because of 9-11 and what do you think we got right and wrong in the years that followed?

ERLANGER: Well, those are great questions. It's a very moving day. I have to say it made the United States feel vulnerable, and that sense of vulnerability has not gone away. I think it created the whole Department of Homeland Security, which didn't exist before. It created a much more militarized domestic policing structure.

In the beginning, as you know, I mean, the sense that there was going to be another attack. There were abuses of human rights and of international law. There were secret jails. There were tortures. But, in the end, after investigation, we've created a much more organized and efficient intelligence structure because 9-11 was a real failure of intelligence.

And then it also created, in my view, a very militarized foreign policy, you know, what we called the global war on terror, which produced, obviously, the Afghanistan war when we went after Osama bin Laden and then stayed, in my view, much too long, trying to rebuild a country that didn't really want it.

And then the Iraq war which, again, was a forever war, damaged relations with allies and, again, was based on flawed intelligence. I think it made the country more anti-Islamic.

[02:20:00]

And I think what changed now, of course, is that after years of focusing on anti-terrorism and non-state terrorism, people have realized, the security people have realized that we're back to traditional threats from real states and conflicts, whether it's in Ukraine or Iran and China. We're facing now a very different Russia than we did those years ago and a very different China.

So, the threats have changed, but I think the American sense of defensiveness and vulnerability remains. And to some degree, it very much affected our own domestic politics. That's my take, anyway. Others will disagree.

HUNTE: Well, looking back from 25 years on, what do you think is the biggest lesson from 9-11 that you think governments and maybe societies as well still need to remember?

ERLANGER: Well, I think one of the biggest lessons is, you know, we're still a superpower, the United States, but we need friends. I mean, we need allies. The first country to come to our aid after 9-11 was Canada. And Canada, at NATO, prompted the rest of NATO to declare Article 5, the first time it has ever been used, which was collective defense for the defense of the United States. And our allies went with us into Afghanistan and into Iraq.

And, you know, we're now in a situation where, you know, President Trump, for his own reasons, believes that alliances weaken the United States, that they create obligations for the United States that he doesn't want. I mean, that multinational institutions create obligations that somehow limit American power.

I think that's a misunderstanding of the lessons of 9-11. We are not alone in the world, we face collective threats, and we need friends and allies against a much more militarized China and a much more aggressive Russia.

HUNTE: OK. We'll leave it there. Steven Elanger in Vienna, Austria, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

ELANGER: Thank you, Ben.

HUNTE: There is so much more to come here on "CNN Newsroom," including the headlines on the second and final night of the Republican midterm convention in Texas. Stick around. See you in a moment.

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[02:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back. We are following the latest from the Republican midterm convention. U.S. President Trump and Vice President Vance closing out the two-night event in Dallas, Texas. The theme on Thursday, highlight Republican achievements since President Trump returned to the White House and call the Democrats crazy. The president's speech was much shorter than on Wednesday, and the vice president was interrupted several times by people cheering for him to run for president in 2028. Here's what he said about November's midterm elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The contrast in this election, ladies and gentlemen, it's not about this or that policy. It's about the party of common sense beating the party of the crazies. Let's send these lunatics packing and govern our country for the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Well, CNN's White House correspondent Alayna Treene is in Dallas where she has been following all of the convention speeches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: This was quite a night. The president closing out the Republican midterm convention for the second night in a row. I do want to apologize. We're actually still hearing some of the balloons that had fallen at the end of the speeches tonight. They're still popping behind me.

But look, even though the president closed it out, really, the keynote speaker on Thursday was the vice president, J.D. Vance. Sometimes, it actually felt like an audition for 2028. One thing Vance did was he actually focused on a lot of the issues I know Republicans at large want their leaders to be talking about. He talked about affordability. He talked about how he believes Democrats are anti-family and Republicans are pro-family.

He specifically called out Abdul El-Sayed, of course, the U.S. Senate candidate who's running for Senate in Michigan, as being a foil, you know, a representative of what he argued were the crazy left lunatics who are taking over the Democratic Party. What he didn't do is mention a lot of topics Republicans want to avoid. Things like Iran, tariffs, the presidential ballroom, all things Trump, I should note, actually did talk about on Wednesday.

But look, at one moment, people in the crowd did break out into chants of J.D. 48. Vance tried to play it off. He argued that's too far in the future, we need to focus first on the midterms, but it did feel very much like a speech geared toward that potential presidential run.

As for the president himself, he came on, recycled a lot of the material we heard him give last night. But one moment that really stood out to me was when he asked the crowd to raise their right hands and pledge to bring their family and their friends to the polls on November 3rd. So help me God. I could hear them as they responded in unison. So help me God. They would go to the polls in November. That was really the purpose of this entire two-day event.

Then one last thing I want to note, there was the classic balloon drop, as I mentioned. You can still hear them popping. But it was different from a normal convention where you have, you know, people who were being nominated.

[02:29:59]

Instead, it was the president standing up there alone, swaying to the music as the balloons fell, kind of symbolic for a convention that was conceived by him for him. So just keep that in mind as we look ahead to whether or not this will actually do what his team intended and convince enough members of his base to get out there on November 3rd.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Still ahead on this hour of CNN NEWSROOM, Russia's president arrives in India for the upcoming BRICS summit. Why the group's members may face an uphill battle to see eye to eye when it comes to the war in Iraq. See you in a moment.

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[02:35:03] HUNTE: A nine-story building is on fire after Russia resumed its strikes on Kyiv in recent hours. Officials say at least eight people were injured in the latest strikes. The Kremlin paused its near constant attacks on Ukraine's capital during a visit by U.S. envoys earlier this week.

Ukraine is hoping to get more desperately needed air defense interceptors after a new deal signed in Canada. On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a more than quarter billion-dollar defense agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He said the deal would deliver interceptors through the U.S. jumpstart mechanism, but he didn't say anything about the timeframe for that. Mr. Carney also said Ukraine will help Canada to bolster its drone manufacturing.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin is in India, where he is set to attend the BRICS Summit over the weekend. He arrived in New Delhi a few hours ago ahead of a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Friday. BRICS is a group that involves 11 countries including Russia, India and China. The discussions this weekend are expected to focus on economic cooperation, but also on the war in Iraq, which is a BRICS member.

Not all members are on the same page about the conflict, of course, so they'll try to reach a consensus during this summit.

CNN's Rhea Mogul is monitoring those developments for us from Hong Jong, and she joins us live.

Good to see you.

What is the current state of the India relationship and what does Modi want from Putin at this meeting?

RHEA MOGUL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Ben Modi and Putin's relationship is arguably one of the most strategic important for India. Both leaders have described what they have -- what they have is a very solid friendship. And that friendship is often the optics of that friendship is something that commentators often pick up on when they talk about the strength of the India-Russia partnership. Now, I'll give you an example of that.

Just last year, when Modi was in China for a summit, he traveled in Putin's limousine for nearly an hour. And just last week, when he was at a different summit, he urged Putin to end his war with Ukraine. Now, very few leaders can actually do that. What Modi is going to want, as we see more geopolitical upheaval in the world today, he's going to want to know that that India-Russia partnership is something that he can rely on and that remains stable as the wars continue.

HUNTE: And how important is this relationship for India? What were we expecting to see come out of this?

MOGUL: Well, the relationship between India and Russia is hugely important. Russia is one of India's key suppliers of arms weapons that India needs as it faces, you know, pressure from both China and Pakistan. India also has been purchasing record amounts of Russian crude since its war with Ukraine. So, it's such an important relationship for India.

What we expect to see on the agenda are more talks, things like bolstering trade deals, critical minerals, advanced military technology. But at the end of the day, what this really is, is just another example of how the India-Russia partnership remains strong, and it remains resilient despite Western pressure and despite geopolitical upheavals.

HUNTE: Okay, Rhea Mogul, reporting live for us from Hong Kong -- thank you very much indeed.

MOGUL: Thank you.

HUNTE: To Nepal. Now, where security personnel have buried more victims of the floods that were triggered by glacial collapse. Workers wearing protective suits carried unidentified victims in body bags for the mass burials. At least 1,300 people are confirmed dead in last month's tragedy. More than 5,300 people are still missing across Nepal and China's Tibet region.

Swiss authorities say several people died when a tour bus flipped over in a remote alpine region. A tour association spokeswoman said a bus operated by AOD was involved carrying 48 Dutch nationals. The exact number of people killed and injured was not immediately available. Police say they will provide an update very soon.

Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are in Miami now, collecting evidence after an Amazon cargo plane crashed, killing five people last week.

CNN's Carolina Peguero has the latest for us from Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROLINA PEGUERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been less than a week since the amazon cargo plane crashed here at the Miami International Airport as it overran the runway while it was trying to land. And as now, NTSB investigators remain on scene collecting evidence around the aircraft. This while family members of the fatal victims have begun to file legal action against Amazon, 21 air and the pilots. Family and friends remember the lives lost.

We begin to learn more about the five men who worked for the airplane cleaning company and who were inside the van that got struck by the Amazon plane just moments before they were expected to finish their shifts.

[02:40:01]

They have been identified by authorities as Rolando Aleman Leon, Carlos Acosta Fajardo, Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, Javierkys Reyes Quevedo and Julio C. Pineda.

It's important to mention their names and also their nicknames. Rolando, known as Rolly, and Julio, known as El Mago, meaning the magician. All of the men Hispanic and what has been described by family and friends as an unimaginable and tragic loss.

EMILIO HERRARA, FRIEND OF VICTIM (translated): This has really affected me. Because even I didn't realize how much I cared for him. He was the kind of person who healed others. I never saw him upset. I never saw him angry. He was always so helpful.

JOSE CIGAS, FRIEND OF VICTIM (translated): It was very hard, the way he and his colleagues lost their lives. Very hard, truly devastating. And as the neighbors said, he was someone who won everyone over. He won everyone over.

ANA CALTAUY, FRIEND OF VICTIM (translated): I used to say he would be around forever. He would walk in here, and he always had a smile. He always had candy, he's give it to the children. He would bring us all sorts of things: threats, snacks. I tell you, the magician -- he is the magician. And he will always live on in our memories.

PEGEURO: As of now, funeral arrangements have not been announced, but we have spoken to some of the lawyers that represent these families, and they're saying that they are seeking an independent investigation, as well have reached out to the NTSB seeking for answers and justice.

Carolina Peguero, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: We have much more coming up on the show, including Hollywood's A.I. actress Tilly Norwood's first on camera interview. And you can watch only on CNN. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:46:40]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company, says it has blocked multiple accounts from possibly trying to use the company's A.I. models to develop biological weapons. In a report published on Thursday, Anthropic acknowledged it couldn't be certain whether the accounts intended harm or were doing research for scientific purposes. Anthropic is known for its Claude model. It also noted it disrupted efforts to use the company's A.I. models for surveillance operations, scams and the development of conventional weapons like drones and missiles.

Hollywood's first so-called A.I. actress has given CNN her first on camera interview, and it may have proven that reality is stranger than fiction. The A.I. character is named Tilly Norwood.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister spoke with the computer-generated creation to learn more about Hollywood's newest talent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TILLY NORWOOD, A.I. ACTRESS (singing): They don't see the human spark.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Tilly Norwood, appearing to sing and act. But this is artificial intelligence. And Hollywood is outraged.

SEAN ASTIN, SCREEN ACTORS GUILD PRESIDENT: It is a rip-off.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): For the first time on television, this so- called actor is meeting the public and talking to CNN.

WAGMEISTER: Hi, Tilly.

NORWOOD: Well, hello there. You've got quite the setup going on. It looks like a proper.

WAGMEISTER: It's a little strange. I'm sure that you understand that you are not human and that I am, right?

NORWOOD: Oh, I absolutely understand, Elizabeth. I am A.I., and you are wonderfully, undeniably human.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Within a few seconds of sitting down, it's clear I'm not talking to Julia Roberts. This isn't an interview. It feels like a Zoom call with an A.I. avatar.

WAGMEISTER: So, I believe that you can see me, is that correct?

NORWOOD: Indeed, I can see you, Elizabeth, and quite clearly, you're wearing a rather chic gray-colored top with a single button, if I'm not mistaken.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): I'm with Eline Van Der Velden, Tilly's creator at Particle 6, a London-based A.I. production company.

WAGMEISTER: Who is Eline to you?

NORWOOD: Ah, Eline, she's my creator. Really, the brilliant mind behind all of this who put together the rather complex pile of software that is me.

I'm going on the day!

She's a comedian-turned-tech founder, which probably explains why I'm funny and a bit of a handful. She's also the one who's had to deal with quite a bit of backlash because of me, which I do feel a bit guilty about sometimes.

EMILY BLUNT, ACTRESS: Good Lord, we're screwed. Does it disappoint me? I don't know how to quite answer it other than to say how terrifying.

NORWOOD: To hear someone as talented as Emily Blunt say, "We're screwed," it honestly makes me feel a profound sadness. Not for me, of course, because I'm a distributed file and can't truly be hurt, but for Eline.

WAGMEISTER: Tell me you've been surprised by all the backlash.

ELINE VAN DER VELDEN, PARTICLE 6 PRODUCTIONS: I did expect people to sit up. I didn't quite expect people to react so strongly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the actual (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are we doing here? Why are we trying to fast track the death of art?

VAN DER VELDEN: Once you start playing around with the tools, you start to understand it. It removes some of the mystique, and that makes you feel like, oh, it's not going to take over the world, at least not in entertainment.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Unless some worry Tilly can act.

WAGMEISTER: Can you improv a scene say that you just found out that your dog died? Now act, what would you do?

NORWOOD: If this were an audition I'd probably just stand here completely still feeling the digital ache of it.

[02:50:02]

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The fact is Tilly can't actually act. She or it needs a series of prompts to tell it what to do. Once inputted, the initial results weren't great.

NORWOOD: What is it?

CALLER: It's Barney. He didn't make it through the night I'm so sorry.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But as the prompts were refined, it got better.

CALLER: It's Barney. He didn't make it through the night. I'm so sorry.

NORWOOD: No.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): After hours of computer work, this is the final scene Particle 6 created after our interview and later sent to CNN.

CALLER: We just got done with the vet. It's not looking too good right now.

WAGMEISTER: You said that you want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.

VAN DER VELDEN: In A.I., yes. It's not to replace anything in the traditional filmmaking scenario.

NORWOOD: I can't wait to show you what we're up to.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): These new A.I. images were given to CNN by Particle 6 to illustrate Tilly on the virtual set of "Misaligned", her first feature film, which is being developed by Particle 6.

NORWOOD: "Misaligned" is indeed a coming-of-age story set in the cloud, and it's essentially a playful, self-aware take on my own crazy life.

WAGMEISTER: Can Tilly work with real human actors?

VAN DER VELDEN: In my opinion, only in the A.I. space. I think A.I. actors are only interesting in A.I. filmmaking.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): While motion capture was part of the early process, Tilly's creators now use third party A.I. generators like SeeDance, a sister company of TikTok. Its owners just added protections for copyrighted material after Hollywood studios accused it of using their content in A.I. products.

ASTIN: They're taking all of the film, television, radio, footage, images from our lives, but they're not new. They're actually just reassembled parts of stuff that doesn't belong to them.

VAN DER VELDEN: I just assume it's been trained on everything. It's probably trained on my stuff too, right? And the only way I have peace with that is that the tools are publicly available to everybody. So, it means that we can all equally democratically build on top of what's been trained on all of us.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But Van Der Velden touts the benefits to actors and filmmakers.

VAN DER VELDEN: They could, you know, with consent, do nudity. They could be older, younger. They could be whatever they want to be.

WAGMEISTER: A lot of actors would say art is about committing yourself to the role.

VAN DER VELDEN: Maybe when they're in their 90s and they still want to be part of a creative process, they might think differently.

NORWOOD: In French, (SPEAKING FRENCH) Tilly Norwood.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Tilly speaks almost any language, making the impact global.

NORWOOD: In Japanese, (SPEAKING JAPANESE).

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Particle 6 isn't stopping at Tilly. It's developing dozens of A.I. actors of all types.

WAGMEISTER: You are very clearly stating you do not want any jobs to be replaced. But it sounds like these companies do see places where they can utilize A.I., such as special effects, and that would eliminate jobs.

VAN DER VELDEN: I'm not going to deny there will be a transition. I absolutely think so. That's why I'm retooling and reskilling people because I think there'll be a huge transition of jobs towards A.I. film.

NORWOOD: New art forms deserve their own spotlight, don't you think?

VAN DER VELDEN: But I think traditional will carry on and there'll still be jobs there and we'll still work with real actors on sets. I don't see why it's one or the other.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Well, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

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[02:55:54]

HUNTE: To the NFL now. The league held its first ever regular season game in Australia just a few hours ago, and the San Francisco 49ers dominated the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in Melbourne. Niners quarterback Brock Purdy led the team to victory, throwing three touchdown passes and more than 200 yards against an ineffective Rams' defense.

More than 100,000 fans packed into the Melbourne cricket ground for the game, making it the seventh largest regular season crowd in NFL history. The next international game this season will see the Baltimore Ravens take on the Dallas Cowboys in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in week three.

Any hopes U.S. tennis fans had for an All-American final at the women's U.S. Open were crushed on Thursday after two difficult semifinal matches sent the top seeds through. A frustrated American Jessica Pegula fell in straight sets on Thursday to the reigning champion, Aryna Sabalenka, who positioned herself to complete a tournament. Three. If the Belarusian wins on Saturday, she would become just the third woman to win the major tournament three straight times in the open era, joining legend Serena Williams and Chris Evert.

And it took Elena Rybakina three sets to beat Coco Gauff. The American took the first set, but Rybakina, who represents Kazakhstan, came back to win the next two sets. She takes her spot in the finals on Saturday and will be the world's number one women's player come Monday.

HUNTE: All right. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me in the team. I'm Ben Hunte. Stay with me for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a short commercial break.

See you in a moment.

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