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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Australian Woman Denies Intentionally Killing Ex-In-Laws With "Death Cap" Mushrooms; Tesla Stock Down 14 Percent Thursday Amid Nasty Feud With Trump; New Artificial Intelligence Model Refuses Human Commands. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: To push back and say those fears are overblown and that perhaps AI actually creates jobs too.

MATTHEW MARTIN, SENIOR U.S. ECONOMIST, OXFORD ECONOMICS: Yeah, I think that's -- you know, when we're thinking about AI over the longer term, I think the research has shown that it's likely to create more jobs than it's going to displace in the long term.

I don't think that's a lot of encouraging news for those who are looking at the job market right now where they're really seeing the downside to AI where it's making current workers at companies more productive, allowing them to assume some of these tasks that entry- level positions would have done.

So I think at the moment, we're at a bit of a -- you know, a timing effect.

SOLOMON: Um-hum.

MARTIN: Many businesses who are slowing hiring in general due to an uncertain economic outlook, but they're also looking to reduce their overall head counts and potentially reduce their cost of their staffing.

And so I think what we're seeing at the moment is these entry-level positions which are a bit more playing to the strengths of AI -- you know, coding, data analysis, and analyzing documents -- things that entry-level positions might have really been key for. You know, cutting you -- you know, starting to learn that new role in a company -- like, obviously, does a lot of entry-level positions and do a lot of grunt work. And sometimes this is what AI can really excel at, at the moment.

So --

SOLOMON: Yeah.

MARTIN: -- I think we're just seeing for these entry-level positions, specifically, the downsides of AI. SOLOMON: Yeah, and you bring up an interesting point just sort of like the timing of all of this. I think anyone who has graduated during a time of financial upheaval, whether it's immediately after COVID-19 -- for me, it was graduating not long after the great financial crisis -- you know and can appreciate that it can sometimes take -- maybe not in the case of COVID-19 but it can sometimes take years for the labor market to right size for companies to start to feel comfortable hiring again.

I'm curious, Matthew, what you think it'll take or how long it will take for the labor market to right size in this environment.

MARTIN: Yeah, absolutely. And I think what we would say at the moment is that it's likely, unfortunately, to get worse before it's likely to get better.

As I mentioned before, businesses are really operating in quite an uncertain period at the moment, so going through expansion plans is likely to not be on the cards at the moment. So we're not likely to see a large increase, particularly in the tech sector, of business demand. So until we start to see that turn around -- so you're going to continue to have graduates. You know, computer science is still a large-growing field of study so you're going to continue to have a steady supply of workers into the labor market.

I would say that 2026 and 2027 and beyond look like years where hiring should pick up. I think you'll also start to see college students move into fields that have more demand. One of the ones we highlighted is health care services. That's where there's a ton of job demand still. So I think you'll start to see a natural shift away from the tech sector and not as much of an emphasis on those degrees because if there's not jobs to do it then likely those college students are going to enter those fields.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, if there's -- if there's a silver lining at all, at least from my perspective, is that you sort of learn how to become adaptable when you graduate in an environment like this sort of by necessity.

Really important points, Matthew Martin. Thank you. I appreciate you being on with us from Oxford Economics.

MARTIN: Thanks for having me.

SOLOMON: Well, estranged relatives and a meal laced with deadly mushrooms. Testimony continues in trial of an Australian woman accused of murdering three of her ex-in-laws.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:38:10]

SOLOMON: Now to an Australian courtroom where the woman on trial for triple murder has pled her innocence during cross-examination. In testimony on Thursday, Erin Patterson repeated her claim that she did not intend to serve a lethal dose of poisonous mushrooms to her ex-in- laws.

CNN's Will Ripley has more on the murder case that has gripped Australia and the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): When Erin Patterson invited her estranged in-laws over for lunch no one could have imagined it would be one of their last meals. Beef Wellington on the menu. In the quiet Australian town of Leongatha four people sat down to eat with her. Three of them died days later -- Don and Gail Patterson, Erin's former in-laws, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, barely survived spending weeks in intensive care.

Prosecutors say they were all poisoned by death cap mushrooms. She's pleaded not guilty. Just a few bites can destroy your liver. Deadly, fast-acting, extremely difficult to survive.

Erin Patterson says she used store-bought mushrooms, adding dried ones from her cupboard -- some, she admits, she picked herself. She told the court there were death caps in the mix, but she didn't mean to pick them. She claims she only ate a small amount. She said she was eating slowly then later binged on leftover cake, forcing herself to throw up, citing past struggles with bulimia.

After the lunch Patterson admitted she threw out a food dehydrator. Police later found it in a dumpster with her fingerprints on it.

The loan survivor told the court his wife noticed Erin eating from a different colored plate than others.

This case has gripped the world. Crowds outside court. Wall-to-wall media coverage.

Erin's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, also testified. Jurors saw these text messages from the night before the lunch.

[05:40:03]

Simon: Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mum, dad, Ian and Heather tomorrow.

Erin: I've spent many hours this week preparing lunch. Spent a small fortune on beef eye fillet. It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow.

The mother of two cried on the stand. A prosecutor asked, "You intended to serve one of those Beef Wellingtons to Simon Patterson if he came?" Erin responded, "Yes, but not one with death caps. Not intentionally."

Outside the Wilkinsons' church small tributes for a family ripped apart. RIPLEY: Photos on Patterson's phone showed mushrooms being weighed days before the fatal lunch. She admitted deleting the images, fearing they'd be used against her.

A fungi expert said the mushrooms looked a lot like death caps. Prosecutors allege she foraged them intentionally after seeing a post online. Patterson denied that, saying she wasn't trying to poison anyone. She also denied claims that she'd been testing dried mushrooms in other meals.

Will Ripley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us, Tesla probably won't get any more White House photo ops after the bitter attacks between its CEO and President Trump. And now the automaker's financial losses are mounting.

Trump's plan to ban international students from Harvard has come to a halt. Details on how long the latest injunction will last coming up next.

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[07:45:50]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, and here are some of the stories we are watching for you this morning.

President Donald Trump is describing his long-awaited phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as "very good." Trump says that the 90- minute conversation focused almost entirely on trade. The talks come after weeks of growing tensions between the two leaders after they agreed to a 90-day tariff truce last month.

The mayor of Kyiv says that at least four people were killed and 20 wounded in Russian strikes overnight. Search and rescue operations are ongoing in the Ukrainian capital. Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones in the early hours of Friday morning. Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of targeting residential areas.

And Donald Trump and Elon Musk's feud exploded into a barrage of back- and-forth insults on Thursday. What started as a professional disagreement over the U.S. president's budget bill quickly turned personal. Musk saying that President Trump should be impeached, and the president has suggested that has "Trump derangement syndrome."

Meanwhile, Musk's remarks on X are costing him a lot of money. Tesla's shares closing lower by about 14 percent on Thursday. And Musk's own net worth took a $34 billion hit. That's according to Bloomberg. Now while that's perhaps just a drop in the bucket for the world's richest person -- well, the fallout for Tesla -- that could be more painful.

Here is what one market analyst who has been bullish on Tesla for years had to say about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: The worry here, and you saw it in Tesla's stock, what does this mean in terms of the autonomous -- the regulatory future? You don't want Trump on the bad side. And I think now you're seeing this sort of cascade into this next chapter, which caught everyone by surprise. I mean, I think this is a -- get the popcorn out. It's not ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN's Hadas Gold takes a closer look at Tesla's troubles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Tesla's stock had recovered in recent weeks after hitting some lows just a few months ago as Elon Musk's association with President Trump and with DOGE really affected the Tesla stock as well as the Tesla sales price. But as it became clear that Elon Musk was leaving the government and he, himself, said he was going to be focusing 24/7 on his company, sleeping on the factory floor, Tesla investors cheered, and the stock price reflected that.

Well, that all seemed to disappear on Thursday as the relationship between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump imploded in real time and for all to see as the insults flew back and forth on social media and on live television.

Tesla's stock was down around 14 percent on Thursday and investors are now very concerned. They're concerned about what's going to happen to the future of Tesla. They're concerned not only about the brand damage to Tesla but also about the regulatory environment.

President Trump threatened Elon Musk's contracts and his relationships with the -- with the government. Elon Musk's various companies have tens of billions of dollars' worth of contracts with the federal government.

And there a lot of regulations coming down the pipeline that will directly affect Elon Musk's businesses and especially Tesla when it comes to autonomous driving. Lots of concerns from investors on that.

And also, investors are concerned just about the Tesla brand. The Tesla brand has already, of course, gone through such a beating over the last few months. We saw Tesla dealerships being vandalized and attacked. We saw the Tesla consumer base, the Tesla sales just completely dropping.

When you think about who was going to buy a Tesla before Elon Musk joined the Trump administration there was a feeling that it was a lot of liberals or left-leaning people. People who cared about the environment. People who were interested in electric cars were buying Teslas and really enjoyed them. Now you're seeing those stickers on Tesla cars saying, "I bought this Tesla before I knew Elon Musk was crazy." And then Tesla became almost a MAGA symbol as President Trump almost had a Tesla informercial on the White House lawn featuring Tesla. And so many people who associated Tesla with President Donald Trump were going out and buying those cars. But now there is a concern as this relationship has imploded whether that consumer base now will be alienated. And if so, then who will be left to want to buy a Tesla?

[05:50:05]

Now, some Tesla investors -- they're still bullish and they think that the company is so valuable that it will recover, but others are very concerned with what this implosion will do not only to Elon Musk's companies but especially to Tesla.

Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: A federal judge has temporarily stopped Donald Trump's latest attempt to block international students from attending Harvard. The injunction comes just a day after Trump signed a proclamation suspending international visas for new students at the U.S.' oldest and wealthiest university. The judge will hear from both sides in mid- June to determine if Trump's ban will be blocked indefinitely.

Harvard says that the White House is retaliating against it for refusing to comply with the administration's policy demands.

Mahmoud Khalil, the Colombia University graduate who was among the first detained in a series of high-profile arrests of pro-Palestinian students by the Trump administration, has now personally responded in new legals filings to the U.S. government's claims that he's a threat to foreign policy. Khalil denies the claims and described the "irreparable harm" of missing the birth of his son during his nearly three-month detention.

This new evidence was submitted by Khalil's legal team in support of his request for immediate release.

Well, Hollywood has been warning humans for decades that robots may take over Earth one way, but could it be happening sooner than we think? Just ahead, details from a new study into how far AI might go to protect itself.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:56:00]

SOLOMON: Tokyo-based iSpace says that its uncrewed moon lander has crashed onto the surface of the moon. It's the company's second failed attempt to make a landing on the moon. iSpace says that it's been unable to communicate with the Resilience spacecraft and believes it made a hard landing.

It was carrying a four-wheeled rover and payloads including scientific equipment and works of art.

Now, before Resilience even launched, iSpace said that it had already had funding in place for a third attempt at a lunar landing.

It looks like some types of artificial intelligence are becoming too intelligent and maybe too powerful as well. A new study has found that some AI models fight back if they're programmed to shut down.

CNN's Tom Foreman has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Artificial intelligence staging a real life revolt. In a series of tests a new, powerful AI model directly refused human commands, according to Palisade Research which studies the technology. Specifically, Palisades says the new program from the company OpenAI sabotaged a shutdown mechanism even when explicitly instructed allow yourself to be shut down. Not every time, but enough to raise alarms.

JUDD ROSENBLATT, CEO, AGENCY ENTERPRISE STUDIO: We have no idea how AI actually works. We need to be fairly concerned that behaviors like this may get way worse as it gets more powerful.

FOREMAN (voiceover): The idea of intelligent machines resisting human control has been a sci-fi trope for ages in movies like "I, Robot," but AI developments are sharpening concerns.

When another company's AI chatbot was threatened with being shut down, it threatened to expose the engineer in charge for an alleged extramarital affair. It was all just a test.

DARIO AMODEI, CEO, ANTHROPIC: This is an example of how we have to be very careful in how we take control of AI systems.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: You've spoken out saying that AI could manipulate or possibly figure out a way to kill humans?

FOREMAN (voiceover): Almost two years ago, right here on CNN, the so- called godfather of AI warned it will smarter and could get out of control.

GEOFFREY HINTON, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PIONEER: And it knows how to program so it will figure out ways of getting around restrictions we put on it. It'll figure out ways of manipulating people to do what it wants.

FOREMAN (voiceover): Now industry experts suggest that may be happening much sooner than expected, triggering warnings of catastrophic national security risks, a potential extinction-level threat to the human species, and at very least, massive job disruptions.

ANDREW YANG, CO-CHAIR AND CO-FOUNDER, FORWARD PARTY: It's going to affect just about every segment of the economy and a lot of Americans are going to be looking up wondering what happened to the jobs. FOREMAN: It is important to note that this incident of the program refusing to do what it was told happening in a test, but the real world questions about it go on.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Now to sports.

Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers have done it again winning game one of the NBA Finals in spectacular fashion. The Oklahoma City Thunder led the entire game, but Haliburton got the ball with less than 10 seconds left. The Pacers down by one. He drained the jumper with only three-tenths of a second on the clock. The Pacers win 111- 110.

Oklahoma City will try to even the series when game two tips off on Sunday.

It looks like veteran NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be wearing black and gold this season or for Wiz Khalifa fans, black and yellow. Multiple reports say that the four-time MVP will finalize a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers this week. Rodgers was released after two frustrating seasons with the New York Jets.

Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl victory in 2011. And speculation has been swirling about where the 41-year-old might land.

And the Cinderella run for France's newest tennis star came to an abrupt end on Thursday. American Coco Gauff crushing Lois Boisson in the semifinals of the French Open.

[06:00:03]

Now, the 22-year-old French outsider shot to stardom almost overnight taking down two of the world's top 10 players on her way to the semis.

Gauff will not face the number one seed Aryna Sabalenka in the final on Saturday.

OK, that'll do it for me. I'm Rahel Solomon. Thanks for joining us here on EARLY START. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.