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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Weakest Monthly Jobs Number in Over 2 Years; CNN Tours Camp Military Group could use in Belarus; Metzl: We can't Blindly Stumble into a Dangerous Future; Zuckerberg: 30 Million have Signed up for Threads; Long Island Beach Ramps Up Shark Patrols; Pickelball CEO: This Sport is here to Stay. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired July 07, 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 "First Move". Great to have you with us this Friday, TGIF and no matter how you slice it,
we've got a real pickle of a program for you today beginning with sour pickles on Wall Street after a Thursday thud and a sharp move higher for
Treasury yields.
Fed Chair Jay Powell in a policy pickle has persistently strong economic data complicates his fight against inflation, and a pickle barrel full of
peak in social media too, and Elon Musk's battle with Mark Zuckerberg, Musk now threatening Meta with legal action after the successful rollout of
Threads.
And last but not least, the "Pickleball Pickle" later in the show, we'll discuss these sports explosive growth here in the United States. Millions
of people are having a ball but lots of Pickleball pain too as injury skyrocket. Mike Neely the CEO of USA Pickleball will join us later.
And the ball in the meantime well and truly in the U.S. labor markets caught today brand new numbers showing 209,000 net new jobs added that's
solid, but it is lower than expected then comes the complications. We actually lost some jobs due to lower revisions on the numbers from prior
months.
So you have to deduct around 110,000 jobs. So I call it a strong labor market. But it's certainly slowing. Here's the market reaction. In the
meantime, U.S. Futures turning positive initially, but trading is volatile. We're tilted back down to the downside Europe mixed after a 1 percent plus
sell off over in Asia too.
Plenty on the line there as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen holds talks in Beijing criticizing China's export controls and its treatment of U.S.
firms, China's Premier, however, saying he sees a rainbow in U.S. China ties, plenty to get to as always this hour.
But up first that milestone for the U.S. jobs market in June 30 consecutive months of jobs growth this month's numbers however, the smallest increase
in well over two years. Mark Zandi joins us now. He's Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics. Mark, great to have you with us your take on this!
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Good report, Julia. I mean, you know, not too hot, not too cold. I think it's exactly what the Federal
Reserve would be looking for, you know, anything over 300,000, which is kind of the monthly job gains we've been getting over the past several
months would have I think, been too hot, anything less than 100k probably too cold. So, you know, 200,200 25,000? Let's just write down the strikes
on so it feels pretty good to me.
CHATTERLEY: And what about the wage growth in this number? Because if there's anything that still remains, I guess, uncomfortable on the surface
for the Federal Reserve in this data set? It's that surely.
ZANDI: Yes, it's going to on the high side, I think year-over-year average hourly earnings, that's the wage measure in today's report was 4.4 percent.
Just give a benchmark, I think the Feds looking for something closer to three and a half.
So but you know, you had to put it into some context, we go back a little over a year ago, at the peak of the very strong wage growth, we're
probably, you know, well over five, close to five and a half percent. So we're moving in the right direction.
And my sense is we will continue to do so you know, with job growth slowing and the economy more broadly starting to pull back a bit, I think wage
growth will continue to moderate. So it's still high. It's still not happy with that number, but it's moving in the right direction. I think all the
trend lines look pretty good.
CHATTERLEY: It's interesting, when you look at the comparison between those accessing the labor market or coming into the labor market, the supply of
labor versus the net jobs added. So those added versus those lost. If one is greater than the other, then you're by definition slowing anyway. Is
that what we're seeing more broadly in this labor market?
ZANDI: Well interestingly Julia, I think labor demand, that's you know, that's just the number of net jobs being created in the economy, and labor
supply. That's the growth in the labor force, number of people coming in, you know, looking for work is pretty much equal to each other, you know,
around right now feels like around 250,000 per month.
And that's consistent with the stable unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is low 3.6 percent. And that's exactly where it's been since last
March. So that suggests that labor demand and labor supply are at this point in balance. And again, that feels pretty good today.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. It's hard to say look at that chart, it says it all. What does this mean for the Federal Reserve Mark, because there was a gigantic
number in a separate payroll private payroll report yesterday and everybody was like, whoa, is the labor market heating up again? What does this mean
for the Federal Reserve? We saw a shift in bond markets with greater predictions of the need for another interest rate hike.
[09:05:00]
How do you think, in totality, the Federal Reserve is now looking at this moment, and the expectations from the market which matter for that behavior
too?
ZANDI: Yes, this is a good lesson. I mean we should be patient and wait for the actual economic data.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
ZANDI: Because, you know, these other reports are up and down and all around, I'm not sure what to make of them. But you know, the data, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, I think are consistent with where the Fed wants to see the economy going.
Now, my sense is they've largely made up their minds that they're going to raise interest rates, another quarter percentage point when they meet again
in a few weeks. So I think we can kind of count on that. That's what's expected. That's what the stock market expects. That's what the bond market
expects is embedded in market prices.
So I don't think they're going to rock the boat there. But you know, these numbers and the trend lines, if you like, to me as saying, you know, the
Feds pretty close to being done here. I don't think they need to continue to raise rates, meaningfully more from where we are today, given what's
happening with the job market and broader economic growth.
But then we're going to get another number on inflation next week. Obviously, that's also very key consumer price inflation, that too, is
still not exactly where the Fed wants it, but it too, is moving in the right direction. So I you know, if we're not at the end of the rate hikes,
probably got one more to go here. We're pretty darn close, I think.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's the difference between whether you can do something further on rates or whether you need to, perhaps one more simply because
it's priced and then give it a pause. Mark, great to get your insights, as always! Mark Zandi there, the Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics!
In the meantime, Janet Yellen making some moves in Beijing, the U.S. Treasury Secretary met with Chinese Premier Li Chang earlier, saying the
U.S. is seeking healthy competition with the world's second largest economy, but doesn't see this as winners take all. In a meeting with
American business leaders so she also raised concerns about certain Chinese behavior listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I've been particularly troubled by punitive actions that have been taken against U.S. firms in recent months.
I'm also concerned about new export controls, recently announced by China on two critical minerals used in technologies like semiconductors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Mike Stewart joins us now. Mark some pretty pointed comments there. The question is did she be as point in what she has pointed when she
met and Beijing's officials? What do we think of that? Because I don't see, given the economic heels that have been pushed in here any real change in
behavior?
MARK STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple things. First of all, if we look at this economic relationship, the trade relationship between the
United States and China, it adds up to nearly $700 billion. Both economies have a stake in all of this.
So there has to be a little bit of gingerly walking in all of this. But she was very pointed when she talked to this business roundtable. I was looking
at who was on the invite list. It was representatives from Boeing, Bank of America, Medtronic, I mean many others. So it certainly was influential
group of business leaders there.
There has been this pattern. And Julia, you are well aware of this. If China is unhappy with something the United States does, well, then they do
something back. China has been unhappy with some of the tech restrictions from the United States.
So therefore, we have this punitive punishment as described by the Secretary of Treasury concerning access to minerals. It's interesting. I
was listening to a commentator we had on CNN earlier this week. And he was saying that if you look at this relationship between the United States and
China when it comes to diplomacy, very strained right now, when it comes to military non-existent.
But if there is a portal, if there is one area where there can be some common ground, it is on these economic and business issues. So I think that
is why we've heard tempered responses from both the Chinese government including the premier, as well as from Secretary Yellen.
I mean looking at these different readouts today these meetings have been described as productive, yet casual but conciliatory. And the other point I
think to make about this trip by Janet Yellen, is that sure she is here as a Secretary of the Treasury.
She's an accomplished economist, but she also is someone who can help turn the temperature down, cool things down and perhaps lead to other
discussions on other topics that are also very pressing between the United States and China.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, no shortage of those. But Mark, I think you've raised a great point which is there should be the ability to strike some sort of
deal over technology tougher things have happened with competitive nations in the past.
[09:10:00]
This should be possible. The question is how. Mark Stewart you thank you for that. And new this morning, Ukraine says it's advanced more than a
kilometer around Bakhmut in the past 24 hours, as it continues to pressure Russian forces in the area.
Ben Wedeman has been at the frontlines near Bakhmut and joins us now from Eastern Ukraine. Ben, this is your intelligence, what you're hearing in
terms of their progress. It's tough going clearly. But this is progress. What more do we know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There does seem to be progress. We were with several artillery units around Bakhmut. And they
were telling us that for instance, the level of incoming fire from the Russians has gradually gone down as the Russians have been pushed further
and further back now.
I've been going to Bakhmut or the area around Bakhmut since January, on and off. And today the amount of rumbling we heard of artillery in the
direction of Bakhmut, I have never heard before the Ukrainian soldiers we spoke to were fairly confident that they are pummeling a Russian forces in
and around that town.
And they're focusing essentially, on the trenches the defenses around it. We've heard time and time again from Ukrainian officials that the Russians
are dug in deep. The Ukrainians have said that as many as 50,000 Russian troops have been sent to that area to defend Bakhmut.
Now also we know that as you said, the Ukrainians are claiming that they've advanced a kilometer but the statement doesn't make clear whether the
kilometer where it is? We know that they're pressuring the city from the north and from the south.
The strategic goal is to eventually encircle the town to force the Russians either to simply surrender or to leave the area. But it does seem that
there is after weeks of incremental gains very modest gains, that perhaps the Ukrainians are starting to pick up some momentum, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: And in the meantime, President Zelenskyy not in Ukraine, he's actually in Turkey for talks can't help but look at the calendar and notice
we're now 10 days away from the end of that crucial Black Sea Grain Agreement. What hopes have some kind of breakthrough, perhaps in
negotiations in these talks to facilitate a further extension to that?
WEDEMAN: Well, that's going to be one of the things on his agenda, of course, because that agreement, which was worked out between Russia and
Ukraine with the mediation of the United Nations, and Turkey, expires on July 17th. It's allowed Ukraine to export around 30 million tons of wheat
and other foodstuffs.
Now the Russians are saying they're not going to renew the deal, because they feel that as a result of sanctions imposed upon Russia by Western
nations, they can't export their grants, so they want more equity in the arrangement.
So Zelenskyy is going to be pressing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to try to convince the Russians to come to some sort of agreement or arrangement
so that the deal is renewed. Also important on the agenda, as Zelenskyy wants to convince the Turks that they should not object to the membership
of Sweden in NATO.
Now, the Turks are very unhappy with Sweden because they feel that they have not been very restrictive, so to speak, on Kurdish militants, who are
living in Sweden and of course, who are agitating for the creation of a Kurdish State within Turkey. So it's a little complicated, but certainly
Zelenskyy is hoping that both of these issues he can make progress on however, President Erdogan is not somebody who is easily convinced, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: To say the least. Ben Wedeman, thank you for that. And to Belarus now, CNN just visited a site where the country's President says
Wagner fighters could be housed should they take up Belarus's offered to move there? It follows Thursday surprise announcement that the Head of
Wagner military group Yevgeny Prigozhin is not in Belarus as previously believed. CNN's Matthew Chance has more.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, where are you join me here in this military base in Belarus about an hour's drive
outside of the Capital Minsk. You can see it's a vast Tent City with all these enormous canvases which we're told can house about 5000 people
they've been erected in the past few weeks.
There were satellite photographs of this place, before and after, and we all believed this is the location where Wagner forces the mercenaries from
Russia would be located if they came to Belarus, that was part of a deal remember with the Belarusian Leader Alexander Lukashenko inviting Wagner
and its leader to come into exile in Belarus as a way of diffusing their military uprising in Russia last month.
[09:15:00]
Well, I mean, at the moment, though, these tents are completely empty and you have a look inside of one of these here, completely empty, there's
nobody in there. It's too dark for us to show you inside by I can tell you, it's just wooden platforms nobody in there at the moment but ultimately it
can house as many as 5000 people.
The problem is of course, the events of yesterday here with the revelations from Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian leader that actually is that plan
is no longer sort of in operation. It's on hold at the moment and at the moment, Yevgeny Prigozhin; the Wagner leader is not here in Belarus.
He said to be in Russia, and not a single Wagner soldier has so far come here. And so we don't know whether there is going to be a transfer of
Wagner to Belarus or not, at the moment, or we can tell you is that it hasn't happened yet, back to you.
CHATTERLEY: OK, coming up here on "First Move", diversifying not decoupling much more on Janet Yellen's mission to Beijing after this. Plus Pickleball
phenomenon how the game with a funny name is taking America by storm.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", and returning to one of our top stories today U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on a mission to ease
Washington's fractured relationship with China just listen to what she had to say in a meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YELLEN: The United States does not seek a wholesale separation of our economies. We seek to diversify and not to decouple, the decoupling of the
world's two largest economies would be destabilizing for the global economy, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Diversifying, not decoupling, but she did warn that the U.S. will fight back against what she calls China's unfair economic practices.
Joining us now for context, Jamie Metzl Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, he's also the Founder of the Global Social Movement, "One Shared
World" and a Former Member of the WHO advisory committee and has been called a COVID whistleblower.
[09:20:00]
That's not all he's the author of five books including Hacking Darwin genetic engineering and the future of humanity and his next book, The Great
Biohack is on its way. Jamie, that's a whole list of your credentials.
JAMIE METZL, SENIOR FELLOW AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Wow, Julia, -- every day -- .
CHATTERLEY: I know -- . I'm sure our audience can guess where that books going. Let's start by talking about the relationship what we've seen in the
past couple of weeks two senior American government officials in Beijing in the space of what, two or three weeks, is that progress? How optimistic are
you?
METZL: Well, it's progress in that the United States and China are the two most powerful countries in the world where the two largest economies. We
have to maintain relations with each other, no matter what, no matter how many tensions, that is around the world, because the future of everything,
in many ways depends on that connectivity?
So it's not that the United States is buying into everything that China is doing is matter of fact, it's quite the opposite. But I do think the
administration is making clear that we need to keep lines of communication open, and they're investing in that message.
CHATTERLEY: They're not mutually exclusive, clearly, but we can separate the diplomatic strains, concerns about Taiwan activity in the South China
Sea, Cuba, which is clearly complicated in of itself, but then the trade relationship and the importance of technology exports and limitations
there.
Surely, we can agree some kind of basis for operating in the technologies sphere why hasn't that been achieved? Is that just the lack of trust? Can
we not separate these two, given the importance to your point, the global economy and both nations' economies?
METZL: I think what we're seeing is that everything is connected, that technology isn't its own thing. Technology is connected to geopolitics. So
in the early days of U.S.-China engagement, there was a philosophy in the United States in the business community, that more engagement is better.
And then there's a perception here in the United States across the political spectrum, that China is essentially has weaponized the open trade
relationship. And that, for example, advanced U.S. computer chips were being used in military technologies that were being excuse me, increasingly
targeted against us.
And so the old idea was, well, we can just think of trade as its own thing as technology as its own thing, even as science as its own thing. And now
we're realizing that everything is interconnected, and we can't shut down all of our engagement and interactions with China.
So we need to, I think the right word is what Janet Yellen was using in Beijing, we need to de-risk we can't decouple our economies, our societies
are interconnected in many ways intertwined. But we can't just blindly stumble into a more dangerous future.
CHATTERLEY: Does that mean more trade barriers, though, not less?
METZL: I think the consensus across the United States is that there must be more trade barriers that China is different trading with China is different
than trading with Japan or Korea. There's a unified perception in the United States, that China is seeking, in many ways to recast the entire
world international order, trying to undermine all sorts of things, and trying to in many ways undermine America's competitiveness.
And so the administration is, I believe, correctly waking up to that threat and saying, we need to rethink our entire relationship with China across
the board. But in that, as Janet Yellen was saying, we have an enormous amount of trade, and we have that is mutually beneficial.
So we need to keep pushing forward where we can. But there's a level of mindfulness in the United States and a level of concern that is higher than
in many, many decades.
CHATTERLEY: Can I ask about technologies like artificial intelligence, because there seems to be an enormous amount of interest in this and it's
moving the use, but also the development of this incredibly quickly, do you see this as a potential future battleground? One of the arguments was made
for not having some kind of innovation pause was that competitors like China won't, and they'll continue to develop and innovate?
METZL: Yes, it will. Certainly I was against that six month moratorium for exactly that reason. We couldn't shut down competitiveness on AI here in
the United States, let alone around the world, let alone in China. But another way of thinking of AI isn't just AI in and of itself, but as AI is
something that's empowering every other field.
[09:25:00]
So AI is going into weapons, it's going into really everything else and so the battle for AI isn't supremacy is in some ways a battle for the future.
And the United States, there's a recognition that just as Europe recognized that it was dangerously over reliant on Russian energy.
And when they had their conflict that the United States and the West more generally is over reliant on China as the strategic and geopolitical
relations worsen and so AI and so many other things get woven into that story.
CHATTERLEY: What caught my attention with what I call the AI Armageddon letter? And there's players in the industry that have warned there's
players in the industry that are saying it's ridiculous, and people are freaking out for no reason, you actually signed that letter.
METZL: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: And I would like to, for you to help us understand why you did that? And in terms of the sort of strategic competition that we're talking
about whether you think nations like the United States and China can ever work together, I think Brad Smith calls it some kind of Digital Geneva
Convention, is that necessary, never mind within nations, between nations if you're that alarmed?
METZL: So let me take your two questions in reverse order, one, the United States and China, as I said, we must find ways of working together, we must
find ways of collaborating, even though I think on both sides, there's a lot of distrust.
AI has the potential to super empower all kinds of wonderful things that we want to make our economies more efficient, to make our health and health
care better to improve agriculture, to help sustainable growth and protect the environment.
All these great things, AI is in many ways, a tool. But like every other tool, if we're not careful, it could be abused. So I certainly don't think
that an AI Armageddon is just around the corner. But I do think that having some anxiety about a possible scenario of future dangers will spur us to
take more action on the national and international levels.
And as we do, we're going to recognize, I hope, at least that if we just have a race to the bottom, and everybody is creating autonomous killer
robots, because they think they have to, we're all going to be in trouble. So just like we did with the Soviet Union, in the worst moments of the Cold
War, the United States and the West need to find ways of trying to find common ground with China and with, frankly, everybody else.
Because then you mentioned "One Shared World", we're all inhabitants with all the other life of this same planet. And if we compete ourselves into
oblivion, no one wins.
CHATTERLEY: It's a sort of devastating comparison. But I like it the idea that deals can be done at the worst points in relationships, the Soviet
Union, the United States over nuclear arms. The comparison today, with things like this technology is, I think, a very apt one. Jamie, great to
have you with us thank you.
METZL: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Jamie Metzl, there Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Sir, thank you. Coming up here on "First Move", what a tangled thread they
weave. Why the gavel could soon come down in the Twitter, Meta grudge match 14 trouble in the social media was next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move", U.S. stocks up and running on the last day of the trading week and a frantic Friday on Wall Street as
investors react to a softer read on U.S. jobs growth as we discussed. The U.S. economy adding 209,000 jobs last month weaker than expected and
sizable downward revisions coming in to for the past two months more than 100,000 fewer jobs than first reported.
But as we mentioned, the big picture is the U.S. jobs market remains solid, but it is slowing and that's perhaps good news for Fed officials looking to
further team inflation, fresh test next week when we get the fresh U.S. consumer inflation data too. In the meantime shares of Alibaba rallying on
news that Beijing has closed the book on its multi-year regulatory battle with the company's FinTech affiliate Ant.
And agreeing to pay almost $1 billion equivalent to settle a number of charges filed. It's one of the largest ever finds for an internet company
in China. And today's news could perhaps pave the way for a much delayed Ant group IPO. Now, turning now, to our Threads Heads and a strong head
start for the new Meta Threads app with over 30 million users signing up so far.
But now the message from competitor Musk is cease and desists. Elon Musk is threatening legal action saying Meta is using Twitter trade secrets and
poached former Twitter staff. Meta denying it stealing staff saying "No one on the threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee that's just
not a thing."
Clare Duffy joins us now. Clare, arguably, they could have been no given the amount of people that Twitter fired in the past year or since Elon Musk
made the purchase. What do we make of this because you were saying to me earlier this week, they're quite similar and in Elon Musk's eyes, he's
saying too similar?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: It's true. I mean, it's not clear to me that this letter is anything more than a thread that this is actually going
to amount to a lawsuit. It's pretty light on details. As you say, Elon Musk was the one who lay off thousands of Twitter employees late last year.
Twitter's layout, its look, its feel is also not exactly a secret to anyone. And so it's not clear to me that this is actually going to amount
to a lawsuit. What this letter is essentially asking Meta to retain any documents that could be relevant if Twitter decides to sue.
But I do think this is a sign that Elon Musk and Twitter are really rattled by this 30 million user signups on Threads yesterday. Is it just stunning
number? And you know you have Musk saying competition is fine. Cheating is not in a tweet yesterday, it seems like he is really rattled by this.
CHATTERLEY: And this dwarfs the signups to the launch of an app I think that we've ever seen. It's a monumental start. There are all sorts of
questions over whether people will stay, whether they'll use it what the content looks like. But just for the first few days, Mark Zuckerberg was
being sitting pretty, I think and smiling confidently or quietly, at least while as you say Elon Musk flaps.
DUFFY: Yes, and I think that's exactly right. I mean, yesterday in the middle of the day, Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture of himself laying on
the floor next to his baby, celebrating the success of this launch. And so I think that this is a huge opportunity for Meta, but I think part of the
deal is here is that you have lots of people who are on Instagram, who are not on Twitter, who maybe at some point would have signed up for Twitter.
Now they're not going to they're just going to go onto Threads. So much easier to get started there to port over your Instagram following list. And
so I think that's part of the concern is not just people leaving Twitter, users leaving Twitter, but all of the new users they could have potentially
had, who are now potentially more likely to just join Threads because it's so much easier.
[09:35:00]
CHATTERLEY: That's a critical question, I think because in this letter in it sort of jumped out to me. It's warning Meta that they're prohibited from
crawling or scraping any of Twitter's followers or follower's data. It immediately made me wonder whether the changes that we've seen in Twitter
in the last few days with them restricting access to the number of tweets, perhaps, and warning about scraping had something to do with this ahead of
time.
The other thing was that Twitter's lawyer actually released the email address of Mark Zuckerberg as well. So one can only imagine what that's
done in the last 24 hours.
DUFFY: Oh, man, yes, no kidding. That was that was quite the move. But, but no, I do think it's sort of interesting that Musk brought up this very
controversial move that he made last weekend to limit the number of tweets that people can view on the platform, which he said was related to third
party sites scraping too much Twitter data.
He had sort of implied it with AI companies was scraping Twitter data to train their large language models for AI purposes. And so, you know, this
is, is this just sort of an excuse for him to explain away that policy while also threatening Mark Zuckerberg at the same time?
I think that's possible. But again, this letter is really sort of white on details. It's not clear exactly. They've thrown a lot of things out here.
But it's not clear exactly how a lawsuit would sort of materialize from this.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, remember, this all began with the cage fight. Non- sense I think we're still headed in that direction, perhaps Clare.
DUFFY: Yes, even more so now, perhaps.
CHATTERLEY: Clare Duffy, thank you so much for that. And actually, that's the perfect segue to our next story, talking about training AI models. For
the past couple of days, we've been searching for some balance; let's call it that in the debate around the use of artificial intelligence and data.
Helping present the brighter side, the AI for good summit is taking place in Geneva. And I had the opportunity to speak to a keynote speaker and
Amazon's Chief Technology Officer to get his take.
WERNER VOGELS, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, AMAZON.COM: Artificial intelligence, as we call it is a field of computer science. It has existed
for probably 50 years already. You know things like natural language processing, text to speech, speech to text, translation, summarization, all
these kinds of things. You know, video analytics, image analytics, forecasting, all these kinds of areas of artificial intelligence, are quite
mature.
Now, the recent launch of some of the newer AI technologies, like generative AI is things that we don't know exactly what role that is going
to play in the future. It will definitely play a role in that. But when I talk mostly about today is what all a large number of companies in and
around the world have already been doing in using the current state of AI for good.
And whether that is helping, for example, we're thinking about sort of how we make sure that we can feed a growing population across the world where,
you know, protein is lacking and where it's hard to actually grow rice for so many people. And AI, you know, natural language processing, computer
vision, things like that play a crucial role in that food and companies.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I had on my show earlier today, the Head of Innovation at the World Food Program, and they're doing an astonishing amount of things,
to improve access and nutrition. All sorts of things, which I think we don't talk about enough when we talk about artificial intelligence, at
least for now.
You also discussed the importance of access to data and actually, without smart, accurate, efficiently labeled, for example, data, the tools that we
have for artificial intelligence in many ways that are worthless. This is a key fundamental part of the future uses of artificial intelligence. It's
also key to democratize access, I think to that data to ensure that everybody benefits from this not just a few.
VOGELS: Absolutely, indefinitely when we're talking about using technology for good not just AI but technology for good database, of -- I mean, all
the AI tools that we have developed over the past, let's say in reality, 25 years are useless if we do not have the data to operate them.
Now, if you look at the past data, what was called a structure that means on forehand, we already knew what kind of questions we wanted to ask? And
then we started to collect that kind of data. Cloud computing, for example, has helped to make storage cost drives down tremendously and research
organizations can basically store all the data that they want at truly low cost.
CHATTERLEY: He also said don't get distracted by the AI Armageddon stuff too. OK still to come, it's the fastest growing sport in America, but some
picklers as they're called; they're finding themselves in a real pickle after playing. We'll explain what it is and why, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move". Now have you ever heard of Pickleball? Well, if you haven't, you probably should. It's apparently the
fastest growing sport now in America with some industry estimates suggesting over 36 million people played last year.
OK, so that gives you a sense it's a hybrid of tennis, badminton and ping pong. The game has actually been around since the mid-1960s. But it's
exploded in recent years with millions of people picking up the paddle following the pandemic. Pickleball's growth has meant a need for more
places to play.
And former department stores and abandoned strip malls have quickly become venues for organizations to set up new courts. The spike in game's
popularity might be coming though at a slight cost for some. UBS estimates Pickleball injuries could be responsible for up to half a billion dollars
in medical bills this year.
Whilst it's joining us now is Mike Nealy. He's the CEO of USA Pickleball, Mike, fantastic to have you on the show for those and I confess -- I may be
one of them. I've not yet tried it. Explain what Pickleball is and what the attraction is toward the Americans that are now playing it? Oh, Mike, can
you hear me? Oh, I may have lost him.
MIKE NEALY, CEO, USA PICKLEBALL: I'm sorry, Julia if you're seeing me but I don't have any audio on my end, just went away.
CHATTERLEY: Oh, guys, can we see if we can? Yes, OK, Mike, bear with us. We're going to try and fix this. He can't hear me, but of course you can.
We're going to try and pick this fix that and come back to him. For now, I'm going to move on and keep my fingers crossed.
The planet as we've already discussed this week has been hotter than well, perhaps at any other time in the past 100,000 years. The Earth's average
daily temperature reached yet another record high on Thursday climbing further above 17 Celsius. According to initial data, remember huge parts of
the world are in winter two.
That's the fourth straight day of record temperatures. Scientists say those rising temperatures are driving more people to the beach, just as shark
populations are recovering and possibly swimming closer to shore to feed. Officials are ramping up shark patrols of a beach in Long Island after a
spike in incidence of people being bitten in the water. CNN's Polo Sandoval has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE GORMAN, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE PARKS: We have more surveillance, more lifeguards out there than we've ever had in the past.
[09:45:00]
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Five suspected shark attacks within 24 hours leading officials to ramp up shark patrols along New York's
coast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's their territory and we're invading their territory.
SANDOVAL (voice over): The incidents happened at five different locations on Long Island beaches. On July 3 officials say a 15 year-old girl was
bitten while swimming at Robert Moses State Park, and a 15 year-old boy says he was bit at Kismet beach.
PETER BANCULLI, SHARK ATTACK VICTIM: My first reaction to when the shark grabbed my foot was to immediately get out the water and get help.
SANDOVAL (voice over): Then on July 4, three, four incidents this time all involving adults at three separate locations, all five swimmers had non-
life threatening injuries. CNN obtained this drone footage from Robert Moses State Park beach on July 4 of what was initially described as sand
sharks.
Deciding to lay the beach is opening, but state park officials now say the animals were likely been other species of fish according to The New York
Times.
GORMAN: What we're hearing from the shark experts is that these baits are undoubtedly a mistake. They think the sharks think they're feeding on bait
fish or bunker fish. And that's why these are bites.
SANDOVAL (voice over): That's why park officials say having an eye in the sky is a critical asset.
LT. ALEX GOODMAN, NEW YORK STATE PARKS: The drones are much more inexpensive to fly, they can be deployed very rapidly, we are entering the
natural habitat of these animals. And there's always the potential for risk. But with all the assets and manpower that we have employed here, the
idea is to keep people as safe as possible.
SANDOVAL (voice over): And it's not just the Northeast that's on heightened alert. This was the scene Monday in Pensacola Beach, Florida where shark
was spotted swimming near the shore. It will, may seem like we're seeing more sharp and counters. Experts say that isn't necessarily the case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot more documentation occurs because everybody's got a cell phone. So we see more of these things. So they come into our living
rooms really quickly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Yikes. That's all I can say to that, OK, well, we back up to this. Fingers crossed with the CEO of Pickleball, USA. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move". And I think when you're talking about a subject called Pickleball that it's only appropriate that you get
into a pickle with your technology fingers crossed though. We've managed to sort that out. And Mike Nealy, the CEO of USA Pickleball should be back
with us. Mike, can you hear me?
NEALY: I have you, and yes, we got something for pickle.
CHATTERLEY: Don't worry. We're going to get into more pickles here. Explain for my audience. You may not know anything about Pickleball in a nutshell,
what is it and why is it captured the imagination of so many Americans?
NEALY: Well, I think it's been described as a badminton ping pong tennis all coming together, but you know why is it popular? I'll tell you one
thing. If you just play the game, the owners stand why. But it really there's such an early and easy learning curve. And it's one of these games
that from experience, you can play against, you can play with your grandmother and your children.
[09:50:00]
And that's kind of an equalizer game. Of course, there's, there are the elite players, and there are levels of success. But you really can play
this game easily and with anybody, and it's just a lot of funds is really that bottom answer.
CHATTERLEY: Economizes on space, too, if you compare it to a traditional tennis court, we're just showing our audience pictures here as well. How
many people are playing? Because I've seen estimates somewhere between 9 million people. And as I said earlier on the show, I think somewhere like
36 million people attend the country, what's the truth?
NEALY: Yes, we're trying to get our arms around that, for sure, nine to 10 million, in which is big number in itself.
CHATTERLEY: OK.
NEALY: Estimates are as high as 30, in the mid-30s and in at least in the 20 million range by the end of this year. And that's, that's a lot of
people playing or at least have played so. But we're, you know, we focus on with our organization, doing what we can to make sure that this game is
growing and growing safely. And it's a big part of what our job is.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, it's monumental growth that we've already seen over the last few years. Do you expect that kind of growth to be sustained? Because
off the back of it, we're seeing courts being opened up, I mentioned that in the introduction, there's restaurants tied to it, there's infrastructure
being built around this game.
NEALY: Sure. There's no sign of it slowing down by any means. And I think the only thing that's slowing down right now is the access to play. And
that's one of the things that we're trying to help people with their activities and growing and building places.
As I think you mentioned earlier, there's big box stores and malls that have closed down or maybe are being repurposed, and they're putting
Pickleball courts in there. So the demand is, is outstripping supply for sure. But we're working on the demand and the supply.
CHATTERLEY: What does it cause us to play? Clearly it differs around the country, depending on what you're doing. But its cost is, ease of cost
because I've looked at even tennis lessons here, and they're pretty expensive. Clearly, I'm in a city. But what's the cost of playing this to
on average around the country?
NEALY: Yes, certainly a very low cost. I mean, you have the equipment, which ranges but you know it's very economical on the equipment side. But
you can buy a net and play in your backyard or on a street if you want to. But really, you know public courts and public places to play very low cost
of entry and low cost of playing.
CHATTERLEY: Can we talk about the injury costs? I shouldn't laugh about this, because they do look quite, quite significant. And the majority of
the injuries are happening in the over 60s, some exuberant big kids playing this as well. Look, we've got the list of where people are getting injured.
Is there advice for perhaps exuberant players? How not to get injured or to perhaps limber up ahead of time?
NEALY: Well, certainly, I mean, common sense always comes into play. And you know this game is played from the young and to the old, which is a
great part about the game. But yes, we need to know our own limits and talk to your medical professionals, of course, just like with anything.
But I kind of smile and I'm aware of the numbers that are talking about as far as the cost and ERs and things like that. I certainly would like to see
that study on the other side of that ledger.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
NEALY: And how much saved and you know, I don't think we ever want to shame somebody for exercising. And I think the numbers, there's more people that
are getting injured on exercise equipment and bicycling than Pickleball, for example.
So, let's not, let's not badmouth any exercising for the best part, you know, people are getting out there doing something that's good. But you
know, be smart, talk to your medical professionals and know your limits.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I think that's a great point. And forgive me, I don't have the stats on that and comparative sports or injuries or what takes
place in gyms or elsewhere, quite frankly. How do you ensure that this sport continues to grow?
NEALY: Well, I think, regardless, it's going to grow because the more people that are exposed to it, the more people that are glitching -- onto
it and playing it. So it's we need to make sure that the supply of courts and places to play are there. It's starting to be played in the United
States in the school systems and collegian clubs and level, so it's continuing to grow.
Like I mentioned that there's no sign of it slowing down like any sport, you know, more and more. But I think we're at maybe a two or 3 percent of
the population, the United States playing it right now. So it's certainly a lot more room to grow. And I believe this sport here to stay for the long
haul, because it's just such a fun sport to play.
CHATTERLEY: I wondered whether you're going to say you're establishing some kind of league potentially.
NEALY: Well, we're not, while there's so many leagues that are out there nesting that are popping up all the time. And there's obviously
professional leagues you know, at the one end, but there's more clubs and leagues being started up all over the communities across the United States.
So that's the beauty of it. It's not a difficult thing to create and start. I mean, elite can be a small group of people getting together and just
having fun. And that's a part of this game was just it's a big social outlet. Going out and having fun together, getting a family together, I can
speak from experience.
[09:55:00]
I probably spent more time with my 18-year-old son playing this game than I would otherwise. So it's a good all-around sport and there's a lot of
reason to be playing it.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I love that, that the number of people I've spoken to that say it's a family thing as well and the whole family gets involved, which
is one of the things why I believe actually it's been come so popular. What about international expansion Mike, do you think this might catch on in
other nations around the world?
NEALY: Oh, I believe for sure it is starting to catch on, there's international groups that are starting up and the game is being played. So
yes, if you haven't heard of it, you're going to hear about it. Hopefully people will get exposed and we'll play it and it's going to catch on. So
ready your night it's coming across the -- .
CHATTERLEY: It's coming for you. Oh, my goodness.
NEALY: It's coming.
CHATTERLEY: Sold it to me, I have to try now. Everyone have to stay away from me though in case I cause other injuries, never mind to myself. Mike,
great to have you with us, thank you, Mike Nealy, CEO of USA, Pickleball.
NEALY: Appreciate that, thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you, sir. And that's it for the show. If you've missed any of our interviews today, they will be on my Twitter and Instagram
pages; you can search for @jchatterleycnn. "Connect the World" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
