Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

U.S. Government Runs Out of Funding and Shuts Down; Official: Hamas "Carefully Reviewing" Trump's Proposal; 60 Plus Dead after 6.9 Magnitude Quake in Central Philippines; Musk to Take on Wikipedia with his "Grokipedia"; Mbappe Nets Hat Trick as Real Madrid Rout Kairat Almaty 5-0. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, if you are stateside while you were sleeping, the U.S. government shut down. How did we get here

and what happens next? It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East Programming

Headquarters.

You're watching "Connect the World". Also coming up, the latest Gaza peace plan hangs in the balance, will Hamas agree to release the remaining

hostages and disarm. The most dangerous situation for Europe since World War II. That is the warning from the Danish Prime Minister as EU leaders

meet in Copenhagen to discuss security.

And a state of calamity is declared in the Philippines after a powerful earthquake kills scores of people. The stock market in New York opens about

30 minutes from now, all arrows on stock futures at least pointing lower on the indices. Not a surprise, after this U.S. government shutdown the impact

on investors later this hour.

Well, the shutdown is now nine hours old, and the blame game is in full swing. Republicans and Democrats accusing each other of causing the

shutdown after negotiations went nowhere and dueling votes to keep the government open were defeated, mostly along party lines.

Democrats are painting it as a battle over health care, saying millions of Americans face huge increases in premiums without an extension of Obamacare

health insurance subsidies, which are due to expire at year's end. Well Republicans say Democrats are refusing to negotiate and are bowing to the

far-left base of their party.

Well, one thing is clear. The big losses are the big losers, sorry, are the American people who will endure a loss of services. And according to

President Trump, tens of thousands of job cuts, which he says could be permanent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and

irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.

And you know all -- you all know Russell vote. He's become very popular recently because he can trim the budget to a level that you couldn't do any

other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well Republicans say they won't negotiate with Democrats until the government reopens. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer spoke to CNN

last hour. And he said that health insurance costs must be addressed to reach a funding deal. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Republicans thought that they could barrel us into a shutdown because they didn't want to protect the health care of the

American people. Well now they've seen they can't bully us. They can't barrel us. They don't have the votes to push their partisan bill through

that did nothing to protect American health care.

So, the solution now is for both sides to sit down and come to an agreement that protects American health care. The American people are struggling and

helping. And here's some news. We just got it from the Kaiser Health Foundation that starting today, people will get notices that their health

care premiums could go up as much as $1,000 more than double.

We thought it was $400 a month. It's more than that. When people get these bills, they're going to be outraged, and they're going to say, how do we

stop it? And the answer is simple. Democrats should get should sit down with Republicans, and Republicans should negotiate with us to deal with

this health care crisis.

It's really descending upon the American people in a very bad way, and they're going to be furious, and they're going to be furious at the people

who refuse to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Alayna Treene is here with more on this stalemate. And Alayna, they can't bully or barrel the Democrats, Schumer says. Well, that

is open to debate, really, because government is shut down at this point. Democrats have chosen to fight a stomach to fight.

But the impact for people in the states, of course, can be swinging. What's the -- you know, downside at this point, how bad can things get?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Things get incredibly bad, particularly the longer that this goes on. I'd remind you, Becky, that the

last time we saw a shutdown like this was six years ago, in 2019 during the President Donald Trump's first term, that went on for a very long amount of

time.

[09:05:00]

And the longer that time went on, particularly people who were considered or federal jobs that were considered essential they still had to go to work

while not being paid. For example, people working in an airport, and we saw actually people leaving their jobs as a result, morale was very low.

That's just one example of many -- National Parks are shut down. There's a lot of different examples we can use. And I think the key question, of

course, is, how do we get out of this? And any sort of solution or off ramp at the moment seems very far off, because, as you showed, both sides are

playing the blame game here.

You just played that sound from Chuck Schumer, but we also heard from the Vice President J.D. Vance last hour, he was on Fox News saying that really,

for them, they don't see a negotiation until the shutdown is ended, actually happening. And so, they are very far apart.

And at least from the political side of all this, which is, of course, weighing on everyone's minds. Leaders in both parties. I can tell you, from

the White House perspective, they don't see a lot of downsides politically. They believe that they have a good story to tell, blaming the Democrats for

this.

Of course, we'll see if that's actually the case. As of now, recent polling suggests that Americans are blaming both sides, but they are arguing that

they can really play this up politically to their advantage. And then, of course, I think one of the more interesting aspects of all of this as well

is how the White House is going to plan to use this to their advantage.

We heard you play that clip of the president earlier, of him saying that they could have, you know, some massive job layoffs and other cuts to the

federal workforce that could be permanent. And he also referenced Russell Vought. He is the White House's Budget Chief.

He is the one who is really looking to capitalize on the shutdown, to kind of expand on the president's executive authority. Listen to what he told

Fox yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL VOUGHT, DIRECTOR OF OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: There are all manner of authorities to be able to keep this administration's policy

agenda moving forward, and that includes reducing the size and scope of the federal government. And we will be looking for opportunities to do that. We

have the authority to make permanent change to the bureaucracy here in government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, you heard him say, there we have the authority to make permanent change to the bureaucracy. The -- what they're talking about, and

I know this from my conversations with White House officials, is that they are looking at slashing as well, not just the number of people working in

the federal government, not just the size of the workforce, but also cutting benefits and different programs that Democrats, you know, that

could be very painful to Democrats, I should say.

And this is all able to be done potentially without congressional authority given the shutdowns. There are a lot of consequences here and a lot of pain

that this White House can try to really inflict on the Democratic Party while all of this plays out, but again, Americans really are the ones who

are going to be feeling the impacts of this.

Shutdowns are very expensive. We're going to see hundreds of millions of dollars kind of being lost to the taxpayer as this all plays out. All to

say, a huge issue, of course, and one that does not have an immediate solution, if anything, we're looking at, I think, potentially weeks until

they can find an off ramp to this, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and it is interesting that this is the fight that the Democrats have chosen to take on, as it were, and for many watching from

the outside, looking in, it seems the Democrats have sort of finally found their voice. But from your perspective, just as we close this out, was this

the fight worth fighting, given that the American public is blaming both sides, the Democrats not going to come out of this looking any better than

the Republicans, it seems.

TREENE: Yeah, and I would argue as well, just if you look at history as an example, it's normally the party, the minority party, that gets blamed,

because they are seen as the ones holding this up. And in this case, of course, it's the Democrats. And so, we'll see who ends up getting the blame

for this.

But it is an interesting fight, and what we're hearing from Republicans and people in the White House who are pushing against the Democrats, they're

saying essentially that the health care benefits that they are pushing for the Democrats. Those don't expire until the end of this year, so there are

months for them to negotiate this.

And there was one proposal on the table to try and keep the government open for a certain amount of time that would expire. Essentially, they would

have this fight again before the end of the year. So essentially, they're saying you have time to negotiate the things that you want to negotiate

without shutting down the government.

That is the argument that Democrats are fighting against. Of course, what they argue they are pushing for the health care benefits that are due to

expire. They argue as well that they need the leverage of something like a government shutdown in order to get what they want. All to say, it's very,

very messy, and it's very unclear who's going to come out on top here.

ANDERSON: Yeah, yeah. It's good to have you, Alayna. Thank you. Alayna Treene is at the White House. Let's get you to Arlette Saenz now. And

Arlette, what are you hearing in the halls of Congress? What's the sense from that vantage point?

[09:10:00]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, there still does not be -- here to be any clear end in sight to this government shutdown.

Right now, Republicans and Democrats are simply digging in on their positions and really engaging in this blame game of who will bear

responsibility, pointing to the other party.

Now, Republican leaders are planning to bring up that seven week stop gap funding bill up for votes over and over and over again, hoping that it will

force Democrats to get on board once the real-world consequences of this shutdown come to reality. But Democrats are insisting that the Republicans

need to come to the negotiating table on Obamacare subsidies and other issues.

But there are really big questions about whether Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will be able to keep his Democratic caucus together on this

matter. But as many are engaging in this blame game, there's an interesting point that we heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson this morning, who said

that this government shutdown will now pave the way for the White House Budget Office to be able to accomplish many of their goals that they want

to get done when it comes to scaling down the size of federal government.

He thinks that Schumer's decision to move forward with the shutdown ultimately will backfire against him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): While a shutdown is very damaging for real American people who depend upon government services, it can provide an

opportunity to downsize the scope and the scale of government, which is something that we've all always wanted to do.

And so, in a way, Chuck Schumer has now handed the keys to the kingdom to the executive branch under President Trump to do some things that we would

not otherwise be able to do, because we would never get Democrat votes for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, there has been some concern within the Democratic Party about what exactly the Trump Administration can do when it relates to laying off

federal workers and masks. So that it will be top of mind for many senators as they're thinking about their votes going forward.

There will be a key moment in the next two hours when the Senate is set to vote on that seven week stop gap funding bill, once again. Last night,

there were three senators who caucused with Democrats who sided with Republicans. That's John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto

of Nevada, and also Angus King, an independent from Maine.

Big question is whether Republicans will be able to peel off more Democratic votes, or Democrats will have forced Republicans to the

negotiating table on health care, as they are looking for an end to the shutdown.

ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Arlette Saenz and you are up to date with what is going on in Washington with regard this

government shutdown. Now, Hamas representatives met with mediators on Tuesday night and told them it was carefully reviewing the U.S. President's

Gaza peace plan.

That is according to an official familiar with the talks, who said Hamas plans to submit its final response after consulting with other Palestinian

factions. Well as those negotiations move forward, an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza is making progress towards the

enclave.

These are pictures so shared from its live stream. Volunteers say Israeli vessels have been intimidating their boats. CNN's Jeremy Diamond on both

stories, he's tracking developments that start with that ceasefire proposal currently sitting with Hamas. What do we know at this point? What are the

expectations?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's only been about a day and a half since Hamas was actually presented with this 20-point plan

to end the war in Gaza. And so, what we've seen since then has been meetings that they've been having with Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish

officials are really a clear sign of a full court press that is happening here to get Hamas on board with this, or at a minimum, to get Hamas to

respond positively and with, you know, reasonable counter proposals.

And so last night, there was this meeting with those three countries involved and senior Hamas negotiators. Hamas since then has been carefully

reviewing this proposal and also consulting with other Palestinian factions, and they are indeed expected to respond.

We heard President Trump yesterday saying that Hamas only has about three to four days to respond to this proposal. But the question then really is,

what happens once they do respond? You know, I think there's very little expectation that Hamas is going to reject this out of hand. They understand

that they have to engage positively with this proposal.

But the question is whether what they respond with is going to be within the realm of acceptable negotiations. And that's because I spoke yesterday

with a source who is involved in this American plan, who said, listen, the United States is willing to engage with reasonable counter proposals from

Hamas, but is not going to engage in what they described as lengthy and protracted negotiations.

[09:15:00]

And so clearly, there is kind of a limit to the patience from the United States to engage in negotiations. One example that was given to me is that

they're willing to engage in negotiations over how the disarmament of Hamas happens, what the mechanisms are, but they are not willing to negotiate

over whether or not Hamas must be disarmed. And that, of course, has been a top Israeli demand, and it has also been a red line for Hamas.

So how they bridge that gap really remains to be seen. There are other issues in this 20-point plan that Hamas is also going to have issues with.

And so, we will see, you know, to what extent this kind of pressure that's being brought to bear by not just the United States but a series of Arab

and Muslim majority countries, you know, to what extent that actually can help bridge those gaps and feel, you know, make Hamas feel pressured to

respond positively to this.

But either way, this source involved with the U.S. plan told me that they are moving forward with or without Hamas. Notably, this proposal includes

several mechanisms for if Hamas rejects this proposal ways in which other components of this plan would move forward, whether it's increased aid to

Gaza or even Israel ultimately handing over territory to this international security force that would be established.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Yeah, I noted both of those points, and they're important to bring up. Briefly, the aid flotilla, made up of some 50 boats carrying

activists as well, making its way towards Gaza. How close are they? And what's been the latest response from Israel?

DIAMOND: Well, they're now within 120 nautical miles of the Gaza Strip, which is the zone within which Israel starts to police those waters,

although we've seen Israel intercept these ships before in international waters, what has been decried as a violation of international law.

In the early hours of this morning, the Global Sumud Flotilla says that they face what they described as a, quote, intimidatory operation, that one

of their lead ships was, quote, aggressively circled by an Israeli warship for several minutes. They said that during this incident, onboard

communications were shut down, presumably by the Israeli navy here.

Israel has already made clear they are not going to allow this flotilla of some 40 civilian ships. 500 people and pallets of aid to actually make it

to the Gaza Strip. And we know in the past that they have used force to prevent that from happening. Italy and Greece, which offered some support

to this flotilla in terms of an escort previously, as well.

They have called on the activists to accept a compromise proposal that would see them drop the aid off in Cyprus and let the Catholic church then

distribute that aid in Gaza. But these activists with this flotilla say that, that is just not anywhere close to something they are willing to

accept. They are moving forward with this come what may, Becky.

ANDERSON: Jeremy is in Tel Aviv for you today. Jeremy, thank you. Still to come a powerful earthquake hits the Philippines, killing dozens of people.

A look at the rescue and recovery efforts that are now underway this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Well, EU leaders are meeting in Copenhagen today for talks

focusing on European security and the war in Ukraine. Discussions include a proposal to use frozen Russian assets to fund billions of dollars of loans

to Kyiv.

Denmark is on high alert with a temporary ban placed on drones this week, while the prime minister had this warning about Europe's security

situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

METTE FREDERIKSEN, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: When I look at Europe today, I think we are in the most difficult and danger situation since the end of

the Second World War, not the Cold War anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Clare Sebastian following the story for us. Let's just consider this proposal that's on the table and whether it has the

support of all EU leaders.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so Becky, talking about the proposal that seems to be gaining support, it's not unanimous yet, but the

proposal to use the frozen Russian assets that are held in Europe, specifically in Belgium, to fund a new very large loan for Ukraine.

That is a bold move. I think the concerns that have been there all along about these frozen assets, which are of course, frozen from the Russian

Central Bank at the beginning of the war, are still there. What it means in terms of international law, in terms of the credibility of the European

banking system, the credibility of the euro.

Those are still there, but the European plan tries to get around that. Take a listen to the EU Commission Chief today talking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: If we all agree that Ukraine is our first line of defense, we have to step up the military

support for Ukraine. This is the reason why today we are dispersing 4 billion euros for Ukraine. 2 billion euros of that will be invested in

drones.

And we have to increase the pressure on Russia, and this is why I have proposed reparation loans for Ukraine on the basis of immobilized Russian

assets. We are not confiscating the assets, but we are taking the cash balances for loan to Ukraine. Ukraine has to pay back this loan if Russia

pays reparations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, look the 4 billion that she talks about there that comes from an existing facility whereby the G7 has agreed to take the interest

generated by those frozen assets and move that over to Ukraine. What is being proposed now is much bolder and much bigger, essentially taking the

cash balance that sits at this Belgian bank, Euroclear.

And moving it to a new investment vehicle, and essentially giving it to Ukraine, but issuing a bond back to Euroclear, so that Ukraine can repay it

if and when the war ends and Russia pays reparations. So, it's bold, it's certainly controversial, but it is gaining support, though.

I will say today, the Kremlin made it pretty clear that they don't differentiate between this sort of plan that the EU has put forward and

outright confiscation, saying that they would look to retaliate, including with legal action against those responsible. But I think certainly for

European leaders, it is more palatable at this stage in the war than going back to taxpayers and asking for more money for Ukraine.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and this has been, as you rightly point out, an ongoing discussion and debate now for a couple of years. I mean, the war's been

going on, of course, for 3.5 years, and it feels like this has been a discussion that's been going on for pretty much all that time.

So, it's interesting to see where they're landing on this. Clare, it's good to have you. Thank you. Right now, rescuers desperately searching for

survivors after a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Philippines on Tuesday. More than 60 people are dead and a number of buildings and infrastructure

are severely damaged. CNN's Mike Valerio is following the story for us and filed this report.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, to give you an idea of what people have experienced, more than half a million people felt very strong,

shaking. This happened the epicenter we're talking about, in Cebu province, the Central Philippines, right around 10:00 p.m. local time.

So, when you look at the video of when this quake happened, plenty of people are just wrapping up their nights, heading home from late dinners,

or even inside their homes getting ready for bed. This is a 6.9 magnitude quake, 10 kilometers below the surface, a shallow quake, which authorities

tell us, tends to cause more shaking, no tsunami from this quake. Tsunami alerts were canceled a few hours after the quake.

[09:25:00]

We can tell you, though, what we've been looking at all day, a massive effort to find survivors with military troops, police and civilian

volunteers going door to door, searching with dog teams, coming out in some cases, with these black body bags, people sobbing, inconsolable.

We can tell you, the hospital in bigot, a coastal city of around 90,000 people, had been simply overwhelmed. That is a direct quote from civil

defense official, Raffy Alejandro, who was speaking with reporters earlier on Wednesday. Pictures show streets in the city littered with debris.

We can also tell you, according to our latest reporting from here at CNN, in the town of San Remigio, at least 13 people, including three members of

the Philippine Coast Guard and one firefighter died because of this quake when a sports complex collapsed during a basketball game they were all

attending.

That is according to the Philippine Red Cross. So where do we go from here? Where do teams go from here? There have been aftershocks throughout

Wednesday. People are still out in the streets, and the search for survivors continues. Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.

ANDERSON: Well, let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. In a military court in the Democratic Republic

of Congo, the sentence Former President Joseph Kabila to death after he was convicted of treason and war crimes.

He was accused of collaborating with the anti-government rebels that seized key cities earlier this year. Kabila's location is unknown, and he was

tried and sentenced in absentia. Well, Taiwan says it will not agree to demands from the Trump Administration to produce half of its chips on U.S.

soil.

Washington's grown increasingly worried about its heavy dependence on Taiwan, where chip giant TSMC supplies the majority of the world's advanced

semiconductors used in electronics, in AI of course, and in weapons systems. Well twin Atlantic hurricanes churning up powerful waves along the

U.S. East Coast as they move through the ocean near Bermuda, Humberto and Imelda currently Category 1 storm.

So, Imelda is expected to strengthen as it nears Bermuda, one storm death reported so far, a man in Florida drowned after he was swept into the ocean

by rip currents. Well, the New York Fire Department says a high rise building in the Bronx has partially collapsed. Live pictures here of that

building.

We don't have any word yet about casualties or what caused a corner of this building to collapse. And we are getting teams on the ground, and we will

get you the latest as we get it. Well, the U.S. stock market is about to open. We'll get our first look at investor reaction to what is this U.S.

government shutdown, and explore the possible long-term effects with an economist. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Well, we're ringing the bell today, Neptune flood and insurance company and the folks there getting the trading day out of the gate, as it

were. But we have been discussing U.S. government shutdown, which are, of course, fairly rare. They are, though, nothing new.

And we want to get a sense of the impact on investor sentiment when they've happened in the past. The pain has been limited. It's pretty short lived,

to be honest. The economy takes a few dings, recovers quickly as the government reopens, but this time may be different, if President Trump

lives up to his threat to use the shutdown to order mass layoffs across the federal government, it could be deeply problematic.

The U.S. job market already slowing, and investors could lose confidence in a quick rebound. That's the story on the DOW. That's just the tip of the

iceberg. We brought in an expert to explain all the implications. So, Paul Donovan is Chief Economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, and he joins us

from London.

And Paul, the economic impact of job losses is pretty clear, and I think that our viewers will get that. You are raising the alarm about the loss of

government data, which you describe as narrowing the view on the economy from an open door, as it were, to a keyhole. Can you just explain what

you're thinking.

PAUL DONOVAN, CHIEF ECONOMIST AT UBS GLOBAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT: So, what is happening is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is responsible for a lot

of the economic numbers that come out of the United States, is saying, Look, we're shutting down. We can't give you the data. And we've had this

before. And then what happens is we have to rely on private sector data.

So, these are sentiment, opinion polls, for example, credit card data, things like that. The problem with that is that -- that is a very, very

narrowly focused set of data, and particularly the sentiment data, has been subject to a lot of political bias. It's a very polarized situation in the

states.

And so, we don't get the same sort of broad overview of what's going on in the economy, and we get a narrower and less comprehensive picture, which

affects not just investors trying to make decisions. Of course, it also affects policymakers trying to make decisions as well.

ANDERSON: Yeah, this market today, I'm just looking at the DOW, the NASDAQ and the S&P, all off, you know, but not by any more than one, half of 1

percent so taking a bit of a ding. But these markets aren't falling through the floor. But to your point, a big concern is on a shutdown and how it

will affect consumer confidence?

Also, you know, we look at these assets, U.S. assets, the strength of the dollar, for example. What are the consequences do you think if we're

looking at the dollar, other U.S. assets?

DONOVAN: Well, so it really depends on how long the shutdown is going to last. These things tend not to last very long. But if this one drags on and

again, very polarized environment in U.S. politics at the moment, it could take some time to resolve that does more damage.

The longer it goes on, the more damage you do. Because if it drags on, then government workers who are furloughed are going to struggle to make ends

meet. They'll have worked through their savings. They'll have maxed out their credit cards. They'll be struggling to continue spending in the

normal way, if it's sort of a six-week type shutdown.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

DONOVAN: If it's only a couple of weeks, then you don't get so much of an impact. It has an impact on consumers who are trying to use the government.

Impact on the tourism sector, the National Parks closing down, for example. And of course, the longer you're dealing without that comprehensive data,

the less certain the Federal Reserve is going to be about what it should be doing with policy. So that has another implication.

ANDERSON: Yeah, of course, and the fed recently made its first interest rate cut the year they meet at the end of this month. Obviously, as you

rightly point out what is going on now could have an impact on their ability to make a decision on future rates. It's good to have you, Paul,

always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed.

DONOVAN: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Paul Donovan with UBS Global Wealth Management. Well, Elon Musk getting ready to take on Wikipedia after criticizing the online

encyclopedia of being woke. The tech mogul tweeted and I quote here, we are building Grokipedia with his AI startup.

Grok, Musk added it will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia. Well, this comes on the heels of Musk's newest deal with the U.S. government to

provide his artificial intelligence Grok chatbot to federal agencies.

[09:35:00]

Although critics have said Grok often generates wrong and politically slanted answers. Well CNN's Hadas Gold joining me with more on this. Just

how confident is must that his alternative to Wikipedia will be well received. After all, Wikipedia has been around a long time and is sort of

is one of the most visited websites. It's become part of our lexicon to a degree, isn't it?

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you buy into Elon Musk's worldview, then he hopes that you will not only buy into Grokipedia, but I

mean, now you can live in sort of this Elon Musk information bubble, where you can have you're on a social media site X you talk to the AI Chatbot,

Grox, and you'll be able to use Grokipedia, all while driving your Tesla.

Of course, another one of Elon Musk's famous companies, but I mean, Wikipedia is a very powerful thing. It's one of the first things you see

when you search in Google. It's used to train a lot of AI models. So, if you're looking to control an information ecosystem, to control a narrative,

Wikipedia is a great place to start.

Elon Musk has long had an issue with Wikipedia. He calls it woke he calls it legacy media propaganda. And many conservatives have had an issue with

Wikipedia. Part of that is because Wikipedia doesn't like when the editors, which can be anybody, anybody can edit Wikipedia article, cite sources that

it's from a certain list.

And on this list include a lot of conservative news outlets who have been known in the past to traffic in things like conspiracy theories. These

include sites like Breitbart and there are also left leaning sites on that list as well. But conservatives say that that makes Wikipedia inherently

biased.

There have been other attempts to create Wikipedia alternatives. There was a Conservapedia that was launched 2006, but it was not nearly as popular as

Wikipedia. One of the big questions about this Grokipedia is, will it be crowd sourced in the same way that Wikipedia is crowd sourced, or will it

be essentially run based off of the Grok AI?

Now it seems to be, it's going to be essentially part of Grok, because Elon Musk has actually been posting sort of recruitment messages on X saying,

hey, if you want to help build Grokipedia, come join us at X AI. So still a lot of unanswered questions about this. But again, this is all part of Elon

Musk saying I don't like the way the information ecosystem that I see out there, whether it be social media or websites or Wikipedia.

And he is creating his own information bubble. So, if you adhere to his world view, if you adhere to his idea that you know woke is bad and you

don't like the legacy media and all of that, then now you can essentially live soon. You might be able to live in essentially his worldview bubble,

but that could have some major implications for how our society works and, you know, politics and also going forward, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, I guess we shouldn't be surprised by this. After all, we've been kind of warned. Is there a launch date for Grokipedia at this point?

GOLD: We don't have any information other than what Elon Musk is posting online. He does say he is recruiting people, and we have seen some xAI

engineers actually posting about this as well. One of them said it will be the world's most comprehensive knowledge base, born with rich multimodal

sources, image, audio and video.

ANDERSON: There you go. Good stuff. Hadas, thank you. Mbappe had to travel far, and I mean far in Champions League action on Tuesday. No jet lag for

the French star, though, we're going to talk his performance, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Well, 15-time European Champions Real Madrid were playing away on Tuesday, and when I say away, I might be understating that a little bit.

They traveled all the way to the south of Kazakhstan. Police say, left with a 5-0 victory. Andy Scholes joining me now.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

ANDERSON: And this is a new look, Champions League, Andy, was some unfamiliar clubs taking part, but in the end, a familiar player showing his

footballing prowess.

SCHOLES: Yeah, certainly, Becky, imagine 4000 miles and a 13-hour flight. You better come away with the wings you want to go back after a loss, but

Mbappe coming through big time for Real Madrid, right? Three goals a hat trick. It was his fourth career Champions League hat trick in this game.

He is really informed right now for the team, and you know, he really wants to win this Champions League, because he's never done it and he just

watched his former club PSG, do it, Becky. But we'll have more Champions League highlights and discussion coming up here on "World Sport". Becky,

what was longest flight you've ever been on? Imagine you've been on some long ones.

ANDERSON: Yeah, pretty. Yeah. I think probably New Zealand, and that was, you know, with a touchdown, probably 20 hours, I don't know.

SCHOLES: Goodness.

ANDERSON: Yeah, but, you know, but I mean, when I got there, did a bit of sailing, so I was fine, you know, I blew the cobwebs away, but no. Good to

have you. And this is great. Mbappe playing for the team that we know he wanted to play for, and we know he wants to win this one. Good stuff Andy.

And "World Sport" with you, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END