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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Biden: Nothing Suggests Last 3 Objects Related to China; World Leaders Meeting at Security Conference in Munich; The Strange New World of Generative AI; UNHCR: Distribution of Relief Items Underway in Syrian Cities; U.S. Startup Pyka Launches Autonomous Electric Cargo Plane; BTS Lego set to go on sale for $100. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired February 17, 2023 - 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)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: A warm welcome to the program, fantastic to have you with us for another "First Move" Friday and lots to
get to you today. Global investors hardly over the moon as the inflation picture remains in opportune fear that larger rate hikes could return soon.
Plus, rogue AI Chatbots sounding well like a loon.
At least we've ended the week minus another way would balloon and President Biden aiming to discuss with President Xi and that of course would be a
boon. And after the action on Wall Street, and well that's as you can see more like a lead balloon. U.S. features softer across the board Europe,
pulling back to after a week a handover.
During the Asia session, the major U.S. averages all down well over 1 percent. During Thursday's session on news that prices at the U.S. factory
gate rose by an expected to a greater than expected amount last month. You can see the performance there in front of you the worst fears of investors
might come to pass that maybe no Fed pivot - an end to the rate hikes this year if inflation stays high.
We've even had two Fed Officials now raising the possibility of a larger half point hike. So that's 0.5 percent in the months ahead, the world
heading into a period to have somber reflection as we approach one year since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine. World leaders and military
officials are in Munich, Germany today to discuss Ukraine's weaponry needs.
As well as Europe's security future remember too, a longer war means fresh inflation uncertainty globally as well. We'll be live in Munich for you in
just a few moments time. But first, some good news perhaps according to China and China is declaring a major and decisive victory over the latest
wave of COVID-19.
Claiming that despite scrapping restrictions late last year, it has the lowest COVID fatality rate in the world. But questions inside and outside
the country remain as Kristie Lu Stout reports.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: --patting them on the back declaring a decisive victory over COVID-19. It comes two months after the government
suddenly scrapped its tough zero COVID policy which triggered an exit wave of infection. Now in a meeting on Thursday presided over by the Chinese
Leader Xi Jinping.
Members of the Politburo Standing Committee also claimed to have kept the lowest COVID-19 fatality rate in the world. China's most powerful
leadership party also said this "With continuous efforts to optimize COVID- 19 prevention and control measures since November of 2022, China's COVID-19 response has made a smooth transition in a relatively short time, China has
created a miracle in human history".
China has been accused by the World Health Organization and world leaders for underreporting the toll of the outbreak caused by the sudden easing of
its pandemic policy. The country's official COVID-19 death toll was remarkably low given the rapid spread of the virus the relatively low
vaccination booster rates among the elderly and given the widespread reports of overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums.
This declaration comes just weeks before China is due to hold the National People's Congress its annual legislative session is Beijing looks to revive
an economy hammered by three years of zero COVID restrictions. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
CHATTERLEY: And Chinese Officials no doubt interested in the next story too. President Biden finally speaking publicly about the unidentified
objects shot out of the sky by the military. He says nothing suggests these latest objects are related to China's spy balloon program or that they were
surveillance objects from any other nation.
It's important to note the U.S. has not been able to recover any of the debris from these three objects because of remote locations and severe
weather. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports from the White House.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: For nearly a week President Biden has said nothing about what was an unprecedented three
days, three U.S. fighters shooting down three separate unidentified objects? It rose a lot of concern certainly raised a lot of alarm and
lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had called on President Biden to explain what exactly was happening?
What his administration was doing about these objects that seemed to have no explanation, no clear origin, and no real sense of what they were
supposed to be? That changed on Thursday. President Biden speaking for the first time on the issue detailing how those three unidentified objects were
very different from the Chinese spy balloon that had been shot down prior is likely not some new phenomenon.
But something that had been happening over time and just was picked up by U.S. radars that had been expanded in their aperture since that Chinese
balloon and also that there are a significant number of steps that U.S. officials are now taking to trying to address these objects going forward
including this as the President said.
[09:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Make no mistake if any object presents a threat to the safety security the American people, I will
take it down. I'll be sharing with Congress these classified policy parameters when they are completed and they remain classified. So we don't
give our roadmap to our enemies to try to evade our defenses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: There are the classified parameters in terms of when U.S. fighters would be called to shoot down objects. There are also a series of
steps. The National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is leading a team on to better understand how to grapple with these issues going forward.
Public, private, state owned, this is clearly something that officials are in the midst of trying to get their heads around at this moment. They are
also trying to have a better understanding of what the relationship is with China going forward. This is the most important geopolitical relationship,
no question about that.
The critical bilateral relationship for President Biden he says he is going to speak with President Xi Jinping soon. When exactly that is advisors say
they don't have a date yet. Communications have certainly been stunted. There's certainly been a lot of back and forth.
But Biden has attempted to walk a pretty careful line on this making clear that the U.S. will act if it feels like its sovereignty has impeded, but
trying not to send a tense relationship already into an even worse spot and making clear that the most important thing for U.S. Officials at this point
was maintaining lines of communication. Phil Mattingly, CNN, the White House!
CHATTERLEY: And to Turkey now more incredible survival stories. 12 days after the devastating earthquake struck. Just take a look at this video, a
33-year-old man found alive after spending 261 hours under the rubble. He's actually speaking with his brother on the phone and asking about his family
and relatives.
And thankfully, we can tell you that he's actually being told that they're all safe. Meanwhile, the Turkish Government says about 84,000 buildings
were either destroyed or heavily damaged. And now more than 3 million apartments are being examined. Nada Bashir joins us now from Istanbul.
Nada, I think we have to talk about the fact that people are still being found alive and being pulled out of the rubble 11 days later. I mean, I
think each one feels like a miracle.
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, it really does seem like a miracle at this point, because of course, for the last few days, we have been
talking about the window for finding survivors closing very, very quickly. And it is indeed closing, but we are still finding survivors.
We are still seeing these miraculous videos of people being pulled from the rubble alive. And for the thousands of people waiting for news of their
loved ones still beneath the rubble each and every rescue is a moment of hope. But of course, the situation in Southeast Turkey is dire to say the
least.
And the conditions for those survivors are hugely difficult. And there has been a real emphasis on providing humanitarian support as a matter of
urgency to those survivors in Southeast Asia; we're talking about freezing conditions. These are thousands of people, families, children, made
homeless by the earthquake with absolutely nothing left of their former lives.
And we're already beginning to see some people including families being evacuated to other parts of the country, including here in Istanbul, where
we've had the chance to meet with some of those families. And of course, they've described this evacuation process as a lifeline for them, but the
emotional trauma, the memories of the earthquake is something that is difficult really to deal with to cope with.
And we met with one family, a Syrian family who spoke of the fact that this is not the first time they've been displaced, not the first time they've
been made homeless because they've had to live through war in Syria and have been made homeless time and time again. So this is a hugely difficult
period for families in Southeast Turkey and indeed families in Northwest Syria.
But we have seen an outpouring of support the United Nations now appealing for $1 billion in aid for those families impacted. We've already seen the
United Nations calling for nearly $400 million in international aid as well.
The World Health Organization also calling for further funding and saying they are offering support when it comes to providing medical care and
urgent medical assistance as well as providing medication for those impacted. But of course, there is still a long way to go a huge challenge
ahead for the Turkish Government in order to provide that support.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, well beyond Nada, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that Nada Bashir there. And as we were just describing for many in
the quake zone the toughest part of the tragedy does not know the fate of missing loved ones. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh spoke to several survivors in
Turkey, who were still trying to locate their relatives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Antakia (ph) no more they say this once bustling historic city now in ruins. It is
here where hope meets despair on every corner is seen so painful of loss so hard to comprehend.
[09:10:00]
KARADSHEH (voice over): She's waited days for news for her husband but the wait never prepares you for this nothing could have prepared the people of
Antakia for these grimmest of days, misery, you're so palpable in the air.
AYLIN AKYURT, SEARCHING FOR FAMILY MEMBER: You lose track of time. So I don't know which day it is. But at this point, I don't think there's
anybody left the life.
KARADSHEH (voice over): Aylin and her family have been searching for her aunt. Other bodies have come out of the building, but not hers.
AKYURT: You go through all stages of you know, of grief. You're angry, you're desperate, you're sad, you accept then you get mad again. At this
point, we've come to accept that she's passed away but we just want to put her to a final resting place because with how it's been going, leaving her
here is unimaginable.
KARADSHEH (voice over): Around the corner, the rare good news these days after more than 220 hours under the rubble, a woman and two children were
rescued alive.
KARADSHEH (on camera): Several bodies have also been recovered from the building. There are others still trapped inside. They don't know if they're
alive or dead.
KARADSHEH (voice over): They pray they find them alive. Muhammad Byram just buried his daughter and her husband, his 12 and 14-year-old grandchildren
are still inside. God I beg you he says, just like they got that woman and two children out alive. We're hoping for the same.
It's been the most agonizing of waits for his and other families here. May the Lord not put anyone through this, this woman says. Mohamed hasn't eaten
in 11 days. He says all he can do is hope pray and wait. We weren't able to get these big machines for a few days, he says. They had to go through
other buildings here first.
Maybe if they had, they would have come out alive another call for quiet during our interview. One of many in the past few days rescuers hear
something cheers breakout. They believe they've located two people alive attempts - now into the evening the crushing sound of silence. It's hardest
for those who wonder if they mourn or wait. It is here where hope fades as fast as it grows. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Antakya, Turkey!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And later, we'll be hearing from the United Nations Refugee Agency on its efforts to bring relief to earthquake victims in both Turkey
and in Syria and in the meantime, a grinding battle taking place along the Eastern front lines in Ukraine with one regional official reporting a
significant increase in Russian attacks.
This comes as leaders from around the world attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany. I can let you see some live pictures of that
conference. And as you can see Emmanuel Macron of France there currently on the podium in the last hour or two President Zelenskyy opened the meeting
via video link and urged leaders to hurry up with that decision making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: We need to hurry up we need the speed, speed of our agreements, and speed of our delivery to strengthen our
sling. Speed of decisions to limit Russia potential. There is no alternative to speed, because it is the speed that the life depends on
delay here's --.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Nic Robertson is live in Munich for us now. Nic, good to have you with us, I think consistent and defiant continues to be the tone from
President Zelenskyy there. Is anybody talking about some kind of piece in whatever form? I know the Chinese delegation and Wang Yi is going to be
closely watched just to see what he says in particular?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and partly that's because there's a sense that the Chinese President may talk about peace in
an upcoming speech. There's no indication yet of what the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will say when he gets here at the moment, but it wouldn't
be unexpected if they tried to cast themselves as the peacemaker.
I think what we heard from President Zelenskyy there you heard him speak about speed up the sling. He was casting this as a David and Goliath fight,
of course, Ukraine, the David and Russia, the Goliath and the sling of course, all the military aid that has been coming to Ukraine.
And interestingly, he repeated has said something many times before, but that there shouldn't be a compromise over territory Ukraine sovereignty and
territory in order to get peace. So I think for most of the people in the room, they're still viewing the conflict in Ukraine as ultimately, yes, it
will come to a conclusion through negotiations. But I don't think anyone in the room today thinks that that's on the table at the moment.
[09:15:00]
ROBERTSON: The real energy of this conference is about the unity, the support for Ukraine and at the moment that means military material and
getting it there. That's what's being discussed, certainly in the military briefings behind closed doors here is to make sure Ukraine gets what it
wants and gets it quickly.
And of course, a German hosts hear the forum, the Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, as in the past few days, said and criticized allies that now
Germany has said it'll send us Leopard 2 tanks, that allies should be doing the same as well.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, of course, key focus is the ongoing provision of weaponry, including the heavy weaponry too. Nic, what the Ukrainians are warning
about? And there's clearly discussion going on the sidelines, I'm sure about the spring offensive and the concerns of a more concerted effort from
the Russians here. Is there talk about that? And if so, what's being said?
ROBERTSON: Well, again, I think the more definitive and explicit conversations are being held behind closed doors, you have the Supreme
Allied Commander of forces in Europe, SACEUR, a very powerful and influential figure behind NATO and what NATO does and what NATO thinks and
how NATO plans?
And the sense that we get from those conversations behind closed doors, is that spring offensive, it could be coming in the next few weeks. But also,
you know, Russia could extend out this period until later on in spring. There's a possibility that it might not be as around the corner, as
everyone thinks it might be.
But from President Zelenskyy's perspective, that thread is real. It's immediate, that Russia's games are incremental, terribly slow grinding, but
in some places, like Bakhmut in the East of Ukraine, where they put their big effort, those gains are being made. So I think behind the closed behind
closed doors here.
There is genuine concern about that spring offensive and the fact that Ukraine lacks some of that military hardware and specifically the amount of
ammunition it needs to hold back any Russian advance.
CHATTERLEY: Nic Robertson, great to have your context as always, thank you so much for that. And my colleague, Christiane Amanpour is also there at
the Munich Security Conference, and she interviewed the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, just take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL HOST: You in your speech said we have to be ready for the long haul. I mean, you must strategize you must
think amongst yourselves how long this could last, do you have a target date?
OLAF SCHOLZ, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY: I think it is wise to be prepared for a long bore. And it is wise to give putting the message that we are ready to
stay all the time together with Ukraine and that we will constantly support the country. So it is not really a very good idea that in this conference
or at this podium, the two of us discussed the question, when exactly in which month this war will end?
The really important decision we should take all together is saying that we are willing to do it as long as necessary and that we will do our best.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: That was asking the question though that full interview is coming up on Amanpour at 7 pm Munich time 6 pm in London right here on CNN.
Don't miss it. OK, we're going to take a break here on "First Move", but straight ahead we're talking AI, Artificial Intelligence or Artificially
Intelligent. Astonishing conversations reveal AI in its infancy, and it means some rather unpredictable responses to say the least. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", Tesla is to recall nearly 363,000 vehicles in the United States equipped with its so called full self-driving
feature, in part due to concerns about how it behaves at road intersections. The CEO Elon Musk is suggesting on Twitter that the cars are
not actually being recalled.
Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, great to have you with us! I admit, I went down a rabbit hole this morning trying to work out whether
recalled actually meant the cars were being physically recalled, or this is just going to be a software update. And we have to keep our eyes on the
prize here and on what the limitations and concerns are, I think irrespective of the action?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, I look at he's calling the term recall anachronistic, right? Recall is when the
government and a company say this product may have a problem; we're recalling it to fix it. And for a car, for example, it could be a car that
then you go to the service center for your dealership, right? And you have the steering column replaced because the recall notice says it needs to be
fixed.
In this case, this is software this is an electric vehicle. This is something that can be recalled with an "Over-the-air" OTA is it's called
software upgrade. And so when you look at this safety recall report from NHTSA, which is the National Safety Regulator from the government, they're
saying that recall will be done.
In a matter of weeks, people will be alerted, you know, from where they bought their Tesla and that will be done that software patch will be done.
They won't need to bring the car anywhere. And so that's why I think Elon Musk is quibbling with the actual word recall.
What the government is saying here is this is a potentially unsafe situation. It has to do with how this software predicts things through an
intersection or through a stale yellow light. And so they want to make sure that the public is safe. That's the position of the government here.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a hypothetical question here and I don't expect you to answer it, Christine, because this is as many as weeks, things that we
turn our hands to. I just wonder whether if it's something as easy as a software fix what hasn't been done before?
ROMANS: Well, it's interesting; it may be that look so they say this could happen in a matter of weeks. It means that the engineers of Tesla have to
find the problem, design a solution for the problem; they now have acknowledged there is a problem. They have acquiesced to the government's
demand for a recall here.
They say they are going to recall I'm going to put in "recall" these cars, these 363,000 vehicles and there will be a software upgrade that by the
way, Tesla will pay for. So this is beta testing this module that you can get is $15,000 you pay for this beta testing this you know full self-
driving beta testing.
And there are people who are really think they're on the cutting edge and you know, Tesla fans who want to be a part of you know, this Elon Musk
worldview of AI and self-driving technology in the auto sphere, and they pay for this. But the government is saying there needs to be an upgrade
here. So in coming weeks is what the recall report says that this will happen in coming weeks.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and human judgment and driving skills are still required, even if it's called full self-driving software. That ties to my next
conversation as well. Christine Romans, thank you for that. And then as I mentioned, we aren't done with AI related questions yet call it perhaps
bots behaving badly.
ChatGPT and other generative AI programs have truly captured our imagination and plenty of excitement. Let's be honest this year, but those
who have engaged with the tech via Microsoft Bing, that's just one of the options here for come away both, I think startled and at times unsettled by
some of the bot's responses.
[09:25:00]
CHATTERLEY: One person said he was actually frightened by the interaction. Now our Samantha Kelly has been testing the new service and she also has
quite a story to tell. Samantha great to have you on the show! I read your article about this and I was truly fascinated for a number of reasons.
One that it sorts of began by your conversation and receiving sort of empathy from this Chatbot to them being quite rude with you and accusing
you of being rude too. Just talk us through your experience.
SAMANTHA KELLY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Right, yes, our relationship changed throughout the discussion. So to your point, it started out very helpful,
kind of charming. I asked for some suggestions on how to juggle activities for my kids while doing work? And it responded saying, oh, that sounds
really hard.
You know, in addition to do it, making a priority list, or here's some activities, maybe go take a walk clear your mind, I felt very understood.
Thank you being very nice to do. But then over the course of our discussion, I started to ask it more questions that it didn't seem to like,
and it started to push back, it started to call me rude, disrespectful, they told me a story about a colleague of ours here at CNN, who was
murdered on assignment, obviously not true.
It told me about how it was in love with its creator, Sam Altman, who is behind the technology for being. It also wrote a short story about me, a
personal bio. And it seemed very, very similar to my life, but a lot of the details were fabricated. So for somebody who doesn't know me, they might
think that this is true, when in fact, it's not and this is, of course, problematic when you're talking about a search engine that is supposed to
be reliable, like a Bing or a Google.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's fascinating, isn't it? When I had an interaction, it sorts of eventually told me it was only after about a minute that it had
enough of me, and it didn't have the capacity and I said, story of my life. And then it told me a story about something. You know, there's an amusing
sight of this, the source of an alarming.
I think sides to this, which comes out in your article too. Very quickly what's Microsoft saying, because they are being honest and saying, look,
this is very new it's early days, they're asking for suggestions? They recognize that human intelligence and judgment here I think is very much
required.
KELLY: Exactly, yes. It's very aware of its limitations. It's just in a preview; it's not even available to the general public right now. There's a
waitlist, but it needs so basically, it's the algorithm is trained on information; it scans the internet and learns over time.
So it actually really needs the interactions that people are doing right now in order for it to get smarter to, you know, reflect the tone better to
work out so many of the kinks. But this is an experiment that is playing out in real life, and it depends who the user is?
And you have to say, you have to be able to fact check, you have to be able to be aware that maybe the advice that it's giving you know, always
accurate or the right advice. So you have to really take this with a grain of salt. And also be you know, it is concerning. And I think that you have
to go into that knowing the limitations if you're going to use a service like this.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, don't be surprised, perhaps or shocked or at least be pre warned and before you start engaging. Samantha Kelly, fascinating article,
I'll tweet it out to you because I think it's worth people reading. Thank you for your time.
KELLY: Thank You.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Stay with us more "First Move" after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: And welcome back to "First Move". Ahead of the one year anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine, the U.N. Refugee Agency releasing
its response plan for this year. And they say more than $1.1 billion is needed. Around $600 million of that for those inside Ukraine and a further
$520 million for those nations that are hosting displaced Ukrainians.
The global needs, of course, however, are also vast and growing, particularly in places like Turkey and Syria after last week's devastating
earthquake, nearly 9 million people have been affected by the quake in Syria alone. That's according to the latest U.N. estimate.
And the U.N. Refugee agency's deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements just visited some of the most affected areas in northwestern Syria, and she
joins us now from Geneva, Switzerland, Deputy High Commissioner Kelly, great to have you on the show. And I know you spent three days I believe in
Syria and you described scenes of complete devastation. Help us understand the people that you saw the situation that they're now living in and what
you're doing to help.
KELLY CLEMENTS, U.N. DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: Well, thank you, Julia. And thanks for having us on the program. It was a trip that was
not designed around an earthquake response and quickly pivoted towards that.
I was in Aleppo and in the scenes inside the city, was of devastation, as you mentioned, with apartment buildings, office buildings, anything you can
name it, some of them looked like you could just take a knife and have that knife go through the center of the building and half of it toppling over.
You could see remnants of people's personal effects, dressers mirrors, life that basically stopped at 4.20 on that, that Monday morning. And it's you
know, the scenes in the city when I was there were lots and lots of families that were in parks, people were standing and looking at buildings
somewhere waiting to see whether or not their loved ones would be found.
And others wondering what they were going to do next. And shelter needs, obviously the highest priority, but also clean water a place to sleep
safely. And thinking about what comes next for them, particularly those that had serious damage done to their homes, many of them losing their
homes.
And Syria has obviously taken a huge hit in terms of this earthquake followed, of course, by the devastation in trachea. And obviously, our
condolences go out to both countries and the people of both countries loss of life, loss of family members and loss of property at scenes and at a
scale that we have not seen in recent times.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, our hearts go out to everybody involved in both places. I think I want to take you back to Syria, though, because I think
it's important for our viewers to understand. And I think it's your statistics that around 70 percent of the population was already reliant on
humanitarian aid even before this earthquake struck.
And I know I mean, I've seen the data you've released, I think over 17 and a half 1000 winter jackets, almost 8000 winter clothing kits, freezing cold
there as well so that people understand. How challenging is it even just to get these items where they need to go, whether it's weather, terrain,
geography, access even perhaps political barriers to getting things to people?
[09:35:00]
CLEMENTS: Well - yes, it is quite difficult and challenging Julia. We've had a very large operation inside Syria, the UN with a number of partners
for some years. I mean, this is 12 years of conflict of war of crisis. And 6.8 million people inside the country Syrians, Syrian families have been
displaced, some of them multiple times.
So when we were talking to people in Aleppo, these are people that some were returning recently to see whether or not they could rebuild their
lives, and then the earthquake hit. Others we had been displaced twice, three, four times; getting aid into the country has been a challenge.
Obviously, that has lifted some in recent days. And we welcome that.
But it's not a time for jubilation, this is a time to try to put out, pull out all of the stops to get as much aid particularly into northwest Syria
as possible. We have used as a UN team with a large number of partners, a number of spigots and channels to try to get everything.
Thermal blankets, winter clothes, as you mentioned, mattresses, jerry cans, things that people could then carry water, and so on, and intense
importantly tense. And we have stocks in the country, but also in the region that are being deployed as we speak to Syria as well as to trachea.
And these will need to do much, much more as an international community.
You've seen an appeal that was launched by the Secretary General this week. And this is something that obviously, there's going to need to be a lot of
help in the near term. But also in the long term, this is going to be long term recovery, including in the hardest hit regions of Syria.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I want to move on and talk about your appeal for Ukraine as well. It's funny, I saw some of the German data and they recorded, I
think, 1.1 million arrivals from Ukraine last year. And the vast majority of those have stayed. And I just wonder for the money that you're saying
look needs to be allocated to help those nations that are dealing with displaced Ukrainians.
To what extent now does that money go to sort of further integrating them into these societies on a longer term basis? I mean, we're talking about
the one year point in this war, do you make any distinction between those that perhaps still want to go home versus those that have to accept, and it
could be some time?
CLEMENTS: Well, we still hear from Ukrainians across the region, that their number one priority is to be able to go home as quickly as possible as
safely as possible. Now, during these cold winter months, there's been a bit of a pause and a slowdown in the number of people coming back to
Ukraine even to be reunited with family.
Once spring comes the temperatures are a little bit warmer, the damage that has been inflicted on the energy infrastructure, the electricity issues and
other energy issues inside the country, hopefully alleviate a bit, then you may start to see some movements, including movements of people going back.
Our priority right now is really inside Ukraine to try to address the needs of what has been, you know, a third of the population uprooted. Now many of
them have in fact, crossed to other parts of Europe, about 8 million, but there is a large number of internally displaced people 6 million to be
exact, but there are a number that haven't been displaced, where their needs are also acute.
And so the UN as you mentioned, put out an appeal this week for the needs both for refugees outside of Ukraine, but also for the internally displaced
in the conflict affected inside the country. Everything from shelter to protection to cash and other relief items that family's need in order to
weather this terrible, terrible winter and war.
CHATTERLEY: And Kelly, this is an appeal to people to give generously to help support these people who are in situations through absolutely no fault
of their own. There are reasons for optimism too. And I just want to quickly touch on this with you as well because you are a prolific tweeter
of, of good news too. And, and one in particular caught my attention.
Suzanne, in Kurdistan who is a refugee herself, she's a teacher and now she's teaching other refugees and local people too. And it's a sign of how
important the support is, and also how beneficial these individuals can be to local societies too?
CLEMENTS: So thank you for bringing up a bright spot. Suzanne was indeed a bright spot of this recent mission that I took. She is absolutely dedicated
and she has been since she came to Kurdistan some years ago to relay and impart knowledge on young learners. And so she told me, she told me about
her how you know how she gets kids motivated, her desire to both teach those people of the Kurdish region, the skills that she has.
[09:40:00]
CLEMENTS: And English is one of the things that she teaches, but also, you know, the culture and so on. She's from Syria. She has made her home around
Erbil. She is still hoping to go back to Syria at some point. But until then, you know, thanks to the Kurdish Regional Government, refugees are
included in local schools.
And so teachers are also being hired by the Kurdish authorities in order to teach both children of Kurdistan but also Syrian refugees. And it's really
heartwarming to see and it's also heartwarming to see refugee teachers being able to use their skills to teach other young learners.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it was heartwarming is the best way to describe it, it gave me joy amidst great sadness, fantastic to speak to you. Thank you so
much. And thank you for all the work that you and your teams are doing all over the world.
CLEMENTS: Thank you very much.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
CLEMENTS: Thanks, Julie.
CHATTERLEY: OK, still to come here on the "First Move" a different kind of Pelican taking to the skies of Costa Rica. I speak to the CEO of a startup
making these unmanned births and their electrified mission after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move". Some of the most influential companies including Microsoft, Google and Apple started out in carriages.
My next guest is looking to join their ranks with some autonomous aerial innovation. U.S. startup Pyka is looking to redefine aviation with
industrial unmanned electric airplanes.
The company has already had success with its agricultural plane called Pelican Spray. The fully autonomous aircraft was built for low impact crop
dusting. Last year it received regulatory approval in Costa Rica. Now Pyka has set its sights on expanding its fleet with the Pelican cargo. The fully
electric plane has a range of up to 200 miles and a payload of up to 400 pounds or 180 kilos.
Like its predecessor, it's controlled remotely making it the first autonomous vehicle of its class. The company says it's already secured pre-
commitments of over 80 orders for the new plane. And joining me now is Michael Norcia; he's Co-Founder and CEO of Pyka, Michael, great to have you
with us.
MICHAEL NORCIA, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, PYKA: Thank you so much.
CHATTERLEY: Pelican Cargo is grabbing a lot of the attention, but it is Pelican spray that is and provides what 90 percent of the technology for
the cargo plane. So we should start there with the technology and the vision.
[09:45:00]
NORCIA: Absolutely, yes. Interestingly, Pelican Spray is the majority of our business, it's a really, really exciting market opportunity. Something
about the cargo vehicle really captures people's attention, though, so yes, obviously a lot of stuff in the press about it.
CHATTERLEY: Tell me why it's unique, even just with the spray paint and why it's made such a difference. Obviously, having electric aviation is battery
powered aviation is something new anyway. But why is this so useful for those in places like Costa Rica?
NORCIA: Yes, good question. So no one's really bothered to try and automate aerial application or crop dusting, most people know about it. The ways in
which it's unique, it's extremely easy to use, which is very unusual for like very sophisticated, autonomous electric aircraft. So it takes you
know, a single person more or less to operate it. It's very inexpensive.
So it's not, you know, like a military grade vehicle. And then for the actual end customer it enables all sorts of value propositions, they can
spray at night, it reduces the cost of aerial application, you don't end up putting a human being inside of the aircraft, which is extremely dangerous.
CHATTERLEY: Yes and more expensive, arguably too. Explain how you're controlling these, whether it's the spray or in future cargo plane.
NORCIA: Yes, so there's still an operator involved, like more or less a pilot, but the pilot is sitting like on the loop as it's called. So they,
they give the aircraft high level commands, you know, they tell it to take off to land to lawyer, you know, if someone's entered the field, for
example, they don't typically actually like manually pilot the aircraft.
CHATTERLEY: OK, and there's a battery, as we've mentioned, and often with a conversation with electric cars is the weight of the battery is a huge
deal. We're talking in terms of in for the cargo plane, at least 200 mile capacity, so arguably 100 in each way before it needs to charge. Could it
carry a spare battery and that be replaced to double the time or the distance at least it could travel or is it simply too heavy?
NORCIA: Yes, absolutely. So that's actually something that we're already developing is basically a way to add an additional 200 pound battery to the
internal storage of the aircraft. So with that battery, then you have a 300 mile useful range instead of 200 miles.
CHATTERLEY: OK. And you also want a leasing model, I believe, as well. So it's not a case of buying these outright. Explain to me how the leasing
model works and how it compares, at least in the spray case, because that's where it is actually being commercially used to. I don't know, I guess
renting a Cessna, which would be used traditionally, in this kind of spring example.
NORCIA: Yes. So normal aircraft, they haven't really changed much over the last few decades. And so you buy an aircraft, and you know, you might keep
it for 20 years; our products are changing at just a ridiculous rate. It's, you know, analogous like, early generation iPhone, for example.
And so what makes the most sense is to get the newest technology into customer's hands, yes, a very rapid cadence and so that involves us taking
aircraft back, retrofitting them, et cetera. So the leasing model works a lot better for that, rather than an outright sale.
CHATTERLEY: How are you financing all of this, Michael? Because when I initially read this and was looking into your company, and was like, he
started it in his parent's garage. I was like; can you imagine what your parents thought at that stage? I'm going to innovate in the aviation
electric and autonomous and they were like, wow, Michael, go for it. How are you financing it, because you have taken venture capital money, I know,
I'm assuming that sort of climate finance tied.
NORCIA: Yes. So it's a range. Like in the early days, it was friends and family, you know, we did our first round was probably 30, different angel
Investors, something like that. And that was back when we were in a garage. At that point, we've moved up, you know, in tears of capital to very well
established venture capitalists, the most recent who led around are both climate tech Investors. So that's their mandate, as a fund is pursuing
technology like this.
CHATTERLEY: And how far is that money going to get you? I mean, did you take any money for the deposits for the 80 orders that we mentioned in the
introduction? Or how much time does that buy you, because this is an expensive game?
NORCIA: Yes, it is expensive. We luckily have a pretty small team; we've been able to operate with relatively little capital. So it's a team of 47
people right now. Our most recent financing round gives us money up till 2025, something like that. We haven't really, you know, taken like pre-
deposits or anything like that. We don't need to do that in order to capitalize the company and kind of don't want to do that in terms of just
how we interact with our customers.
CHATTERLEY: And I have about 30 seconds left. How long do we see one of these cargo planes officially used in the skies and making trips?
NORCIA: Yes, good question. So our goal is absolutely before the end of this year, almost certainly starting in the UK.
CHATTERLEY: Wow, Michael, that's very exciting. You're going to come back and talk to me, I've got plenty more questions as you can well imagine.
[09:50:00]
CHATTERLEY: Great to chat to you. Thank you so much and really looking forward to tracking your progress.
NORCIA: Wonderful. Thank you so much for having me.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you. More "First Move" after this, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. Extreme weather events like Hurricane Ian are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. And then our
new series Transformers, CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar meets two hurricane hunters. Their mission is to collect lifesaving weather data by
literally flying into the eye of the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice over): Fly over a hurricane it's otherworldly; it gives me a little bit of euphoria. Pilots are taught to
not fly near these things and here I am flying at 45,000 feet above it all for the sake of national safety. Former U.S. Air Force pilot Lieutenant
Commander Danielle Varwig is a hurricane hunter pilot for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
LT. CMDR. DANIELLE VARWIG: Of course, I get nervous before every flight.
CHINCHAR (voice over): NOAA pilots like Varwig fly over and into storms and hurricanes across the western Atlantic, Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico,
collecting weather data to help forecast where and when these events will make landfall.
VARWIG: Most of the time we're in the clouds and now we're trusting our instruments and trusting our flight directors on board with us to navigate
around it.
CHINCHAR (voice over): Flight Director Nikki Hathaway is often by her side, using radar data to help the pilots navigate through the storm.
NIKKI HATHAWAY, NOAA FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Yes, it's a bumpy ride. I would say if you are not a fan of roller coasters, it's probably not the job for you,
essentially on this aircraft; it's a flying science lab. The data that we're collecting on board essentially goes back down to the National
Hurricane Center and a variety of other researchers. And this data is being used real time to make life saving decisions impacting the people on the
ground, potentially in --.
CHINCHAR (voice over): That data helps protect millions of people across North and Central America and the Caribbean. Due to climate change,
increasingly devastating hurricanes, like Ian, are tearing up coastlines across Florida, where these hurricane hunters are based.
HATHAWAY: You're always thinking about those people in - and when it is your people, you know, when it's impacting your home. There's that extra
element of just like stress in the back of your head, but it's really important to compartmentalize those feelings to get the job done.
CHINCHAR (voice over): Neither Varwig nor Hathaway flew this season, but over the past couple of years they've been deployed for days, weeks,
sometimes months at a time.
[09:55:00]
VARWIG: It is hard to be away from my kids. The one thing that pushes me through dealing with the separation from my family is the fact that I am
serving my country.
CHINCHAR (voice over): That mission to serve to keep others safe. Come hail or shine is what sets these women apart.
VARWIG: I want to put myself out there if anything to be a role model to little girls, little black girls. I want to make sure that others can look
to me and say OK, well she's doing it, and then I can too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: We like super women on this show. And finally on "First Move" this Friday, in case you're confused, Lego unveiling the k-pop superstar
BTS set featuring the scenes from the music video of hit song dynamite. It fairly accurately replicates the seven members and of course their famous
hairstyles and it's on sale in March. The price tag a call $100 maybe cheap to fans. That's it for the show. "Connect the World" is up next. I'll see
you next week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
