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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Churches And Synagogues Targeted In Dagestan Attacks; Dagestan Attackers Revealed; Israel's Ceasefire Stance; Israel Tells Hamas It's Committed To The U.S. Ceasefire Proposal; Israeli Defense Minister In Washinton; New Videos Of Hostages Being Abducted; Boeing Starliner's Return Delayed Until July; Apple A.I. Features In E.U. On Hold; Apple Accused Of Breaching E.U. Rules; More Than 1,301 People Died During Hajj Pilgrimage; Pretrial Hearing For Trump's Classified Documents Case; Revolutionizing Communication At Work Through A.I. Avatars; Euro 2024: Italy Through, Croatia Out?. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired June 24, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 6:00 a.m. in Shanghai, 8:00 a.m. in Sydney, and 6:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Julia Chatterley. And
wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
And a warm welcome to "First Move" as always. And here's today's need to know. Horror in Russia. A martial arts fighter accused of being among five
gunmen who attacked places of worship and police in Dagestan, killing at least 20.
Ceasefire stance. Israel telling Hamas it's committed to the U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, according to a source.
Set back in space. Astronauts at the International Space Station staying a while longer as engineers battle to fix helium leaks and faulty thrusters
on Boeing Starliner.
And avatar superstar. The startup using multilingual full body A.I. avatars to help businesses tell stories and train their staff. That conversation
and much more coming up.
But first, we're learning more about the gunman who killed at least 20 people on Sunday in Dagestan in Southern Russia. The attackers reportedly
included relatives of a regional government official as well as a mixed martial arts fighter. They opened fire at various houses of worship,
including synagogues and churches.
It's the second major terrorist attack on Russian soil in three months. And in addition to the devastating human toll, these attacks pose a political
program too for President Vladimir Putin. He came to power promising to eradicate extremism. And a quarter of a century later, it remains a serious
issue for Russia.
For more on this, we're joined by Nick Payton Walsh. Nick, good to have you with us. And I guess as a result of that, information remains pretty
scarce, perhaps by design. Just give us a sense of the scale of how big a problem Islamic extremism is in Russia today and what more we know about
these attacks.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's something that Putin has struggled to contain since he came to
power and it's had various forms, various depths of savagery that it's been willing to scrape to over the past 20 years. We've seen schoolchildren held
hostage. We've seen even links towards the Boston bombing back to Dagestan as well as this threat has really metastasized.
But ultimately, what we saw on Sunday was a later manifestation. We don't entirely know exactly who's responsible for this. Ultimately, many fingers
will point towards ISIS-K who were behind, three months ago, the attack on a shopping center in Moscow that killed over a hundred. This attack appears
to have been coordinated mostly against Christians and Jews, it seems, and police, just before evening prayer as far as we know.
At this point, officials suggesting that about four civilians were killed. Very low, given the volume of destruction we've seen, but about 15 police,
kills two. And I should warn you, the package you're about to see which is what we know at this stage does contain disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): It's the horror Putin rose to power, pledging to eradicate, but still nearly a quarter of a century later haunts him now.
Pitched battles in the southern region of Dagestan, where likely Islamist militants attacked Jews and Christians in synagogues and churches over
hours in which police struggled into the night to gain control.
We still have an incomplete picture of what sends security services into a frenzy Sunday as evening prayers began. But it is clear, the flames spread
along Dagestan's coast down to this synagogue in Southern Derbent. And the police were also targeted. Their ranks stripped thin by mobilization to
Putin's other war in Ukraine.
Russia's security services keen to emphasize their swift reaction, releasing this video of them securing the Assumption of Our Lady Cathedral
in Makhachkala. Dagestan used over two decades to scenes of mangled metal and police hunting militants, but this time, absorbing whether Putin's war
in Ukraine had taken away the security forces from their own home streets.
[18:05:00]
And the disturbing news that three of the gunmen were related to a local official, one his son, another a nephew, and a third a cousin, a local MMA
fighter.
A key victim, Father Nikolai (ph), pictured here, apparently having his throat slit amid reports there was a hostage standoff for a while.
The deaths announced so far, mostly police. Leaving questions as to whether more civilians had been killed when they came to evening worship. And the
main suspect here, ISIS-K, yet to claim the attack, and officials slow to name them.
Of course, we understand who is behind the organization of these terrorist attacks, he says, we understand what the organizers were trying to achieve.
Extremism has long cursed Dagestan. The Boston Bombers partially linked back to here and its militants in 2013. Police have long been ferocious in
their response, fueling yet more extremism, analysts say.
Yet, in 2022, protests erupted when so many Dagestani men were sent off to Ukraine. And so, now, the old agony of terror, perhaps made worse by police
being thinned out for Putin's long war of choice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Nick, and that's actually a question I wanted to ask you. You wrote an op-ed on this providing far more context and in-depth analysis
that I recommend people read. But one of the things you pointed out was this anger that had been caused by the disproportionate mobilization of men
from this region to fight in the war with Ukraine. You also said that the extent of the law enforcement response is going to be critical in the wake
of this.
What do you expect and how do you expect them to respond?
WALSH (on camera): I think, ultimately, Moscow is more concerned about the opinions of people living in the capital and closer to it than a farther
flung region like Dagestan. It's when you see incidents like this or you see the protests that we saw at mobilization that it gets onto the
Kremlin's radar. But there are really questions, I think, about how Moscow can expect its grip on a place like this to be as strong as it wants it to
be if, indeed, they are thinning out their law enforcement by sending many of them to the front line in Ukraine.
So many of the dead, we've learned of, indeed, have been from Dagestan. What that does for security, what that does towards people's emotions
towards the Kremlin per se. And on top of that, too, we now have this mythicizing extremist threat. We don't entirely know if there was an
overarching group behind this. We do know that many of the attackers were indeed related, related to a local official, it seems. That might mean they
were operating in isolation.
But there are also questions, too, as to exactly how this attack seemed to have killed so many police, so few civilians. And exactly if we know the
full extent of the damage at this time, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Nick, good to have you with us. Thank you. Nick Payton Walsh there. Now, the Israeli government telling Hamas it's "committed to a
ceasefire deal," at least according to a source close to the negotiations. It follows comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On
Monday, he walked back from what he'd said over the weekend where he appeared to dismiss that proposal.
Last month, President Joe Biden outlined a plan that would see the release of all remaining hostages in return for a permanent ceasefire and
withdrawal of Israeli forces in Gaza. Now, all of this comes as Israel's defense minister is in Washington for high-level meetings with U.S.
officials. Those talks aimed at transitioning to a new phase of the war in Gaza.
Jennifer Hansler is in Washington for us. Jennifer, what came of those talks, and what more do we know, perhaps, about a transition away from what
we've seen in Gaza, perhaps towards the northern border now in Hezbollah?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Julia, we know this was going to be a key topic of conversation in all of Gallant's meetings
here in D.C. He was just here at the State Department for a little over two hours for that high-stakes talk with Secretary of State Blinken. We just
got a readout of that meeting. It says that they discussed the efforts to get to that ceasefire deal that would see the release of the hostages in
Gaza. But they also talked about this day after, the plans for what happens once the fighting comes to an end.
State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller said earlier today that they wanted to hear some of Israel's own ideas for this next phase. They wanted
those to be "realistic and robust." They wanted them to focus on governance, on security, on reconstruction. Now, these are also all efforts
that the U.S. has been undertaking with its regional partners for the past several months of the war.
Now, Julia, I should also note that the readout said that the secretary of state underscored the importance of avoiding further escalation of the
conflict, referring to the north there, where we have seen these heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. Blinken pointed out that there needs
to be a diplomatic solution to what is going on there so that both Israelis and Lebanese can return to their homes.
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This is something we have heard the United States really focusing on in the past few weeks as we have seen these heightened tensions between the two
sides. They really do not see -- want to see another conflict exploding there in the north. So, we know that this was a key topic of their
conversation there.
The other thing I want to point out is that Gallant and Blinken talked about humanitarian aid for Gaza. This has been a through line throughout
the many, many months of this war, this need to get more aid to those who need it in the war torn Strip. This is something the U.S. has been pressing
Israel on repeatedly, so they want to see action there.
Now, Blinken and Gallant have spoken a number of times in the past, Julia. They have met both here in the United States and in Israel. The difference
here is the situation around it. We have seen these ongoing comments from the Israeli prime minister blaming the United States, alleging that they
have been withholding weapons for this war. The United States has pushed back on those allegations, but this has been days and days of this public
spat.
So, there is a lot of tension, a lot of high-stakes around these meetings between U.S. officials and Gallant. He will be here for the coming days,
meeting with additional officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in the coming days. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Jennifer, great to have you. Thank you. Jennifer Hansler there. Now, in response to those ongoing negotiations, the families of three
hostages have authorized the release of new video of their loved ones being kidnapped from the music festival on October 7th. And I warn you, the
images are distressing.
The video, taken by Hamas, which shows the hostages in the back of a pickup truck being driven through Southern Israel. One can be seen with his face
bloodied and his arm seemingly partially amputated. Some of the video has already been seen by the public, but now, the hostages' families want more
footage released to help increase pressure for a deal to bring them home.
Now, to the International Space Station, where the return of Boeing's Starliner capsule has been delayed again. The Starliner project, already
over budget and behind schedule, made it to space earlier this month for its first test flight. But NASA's next challenge is getting the capsule and
its two astronauts home. As engineers grapple. NASA is now saying that they won't return until July.
Meanwhile, two other NASA astronauts were planning to do a spacewalk today, but that was cancelled due to a leak in one of the spacesuits. Let's bring
in former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino. Mike plenty of issues to discuss.
Let's just start with that spacewalk today. And we got some of the comments that the astronauts were making. What do you make of, firstly, that water
leak, I think, from one of the spacesuits?
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, Julia, I don't think it was a space suit. I think it was the umbilical that feeds the space suit, which
is really an important difference from the report I got. The space suit itself, if it was leaking, there would be more problematic.
What they're -- what they see the leak in is in the umbilical. Before you before you do the spacewalk, you're in the airlock, you're getting your
power and your cooling water and your oxygen from the spaceship itself. And that comes through an umbilical hook up to the space suit. And so, that's
where the water was leaking from that umbilical.
So, that's a much easier problem to fix than if it was actually the space suit itself, which -- because you go outside in the space suit. So, if you
have a problem in that space suit, you're in a much worse situation than if it's with the equipment that's inside.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. That's a really vitally important point. It was the cooling system perhaps that was leaking here and it fits with what NASA
said, which was that the crew were not in danger at any point during this incident.
Starliner docked on June the 6th, it was expected to be a 10-day mission. And now, we know it's been extended by several more days, perhaps into
July, according to NASA today. Helium leaks was one of the issues. And then we know they had a thruster problem when they were initially trying to dock
with the space station.
Can you give us context on that? How worried should we be by both of those issues?
MASSIMINO: I don't think you should be worried. I think there's more -- there's other things to worry about. It's really kind of -- you're giving
me a funny look. There's really two different things that are going on here. You had the problems with the thrusters during the rendezvous, which
was problematic back then. But they've looked at that and there's -- out of the 28 thrusters they have, there's only one down now. So, they have 27 out
of 28 working.
The helium leaks were also a problem earlier. In fact, delayed the launch. But apparently, they solve those as well. So, they don't -- do not
experience any healing helium leaks. And they're down only in one of the thrusters.
The reason they're staying on orbit is, yes, they want to get a better look at the spacecraft, but also, you know, they have to work logistically
around the spacewalks and visiting vehicles and other things that are going on.
[18:15:00]
It was planned to be a nine-day mission, but that really was the minimum. It can be anywhere between nine and 45 days. And the more time on orbit is
actually a good thing. It gives the astronauts who are visiting, Suni and Butch, those two astronauts, more time on orbit, more time to help out the
crew that's there and for the folks on the ground and for the astronauts in space to run more tests on the spacecraft.
So, the spacecraft has actually been cleared for return. If there was an issue with the space station, we've never had one of this situation happen,
but if there was an emergency where they had to leave the space station, they could take that spaceship home. It's been cleared for entry.
So, the extra time I actually think is a good thing. And I think we should look at those nine days, really, that was a minimum. I think it's kind of a
communication issue here between NASA and the world because it could be anywhere between nine and 45 days. And so, they kind of plan on the
conservative side of nine or 10 days. But this is actually extra bonus time. So, I think it's really a win-win for everybody that they're staying
up there longer.
Yes, they've got problems they need to figure out. But the service module, which is the module that was the propulsion unit, that does not return to
Earth. That right now is docked with the crew module on space station. Once they come back, that thing disappears. It burns up on re-entry. The crew
module comes back. So, they can look at the crew module on the planet, but they can't do any further study of the service module. That has to be done
in space.
So, I actually think this extra time -- if I was one of the astronauts, I'd be pretty happy about it.
CHATTERLEY: That was going to be my next question. As an astronaut, when you hear this, you're like, I get to stay there a bit longer. It's why it's
so important to get your context, because even this morning when I was reading the headlines, I was putting two and two together and clearly
making six, which is why we're talking about it.
But to your point, that the idea that it was just -- it could be a minimum of nine or 10 days versus potentially up to 45 is such important context
and obviously gives them more time to explore and spend up there. Mike, great to chat to you. Thank you for the positive spending on what was an
alarming story, at least for me this morning.
MASSIMINO: No. You've got other things to worry about. This is keep an eye on my friend. I like you covering it. Don't give up. I like that. I
appreciate it.
CHATTERLEY: We won't. I love the story.
MASSIMINO: But there's a lot of (INAUDIBLE) world too.
CHATTERLEY: Awesome.
MASSIMINO: All right. Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you, sir. All right. Now, to a space drama of a different sort. A drama versus that were not being apparently. Scary moments for
residents in Southwest China when debris from a suspected Chinese rocket rained down on their village over the weekend.
Social media posts showed people running away from a falling piece of what is believed to be the remnants of a rocket that had just been launched.
Many of these videos have since been removed from social media. The rocket that seems to have crashed into the village carried a powerful new
satellite into orbit. And China says the launch was a success.
All right. Straight ahead, Apple's regulatory purgatory in the E.U. Its new A.I. features are on hold, and now a hefty digital competition fine could
be looming.
And later in the show avatar awakening. Our artificial intelligence twins are becoming more lifelike and expressive by the day. We'll talk to the
founder of a company taking avatars to the next level. Stay with us.
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And we hope all our viewers around the globe are having a wonderful start to the week. And a Wall
Street rotation conversation tops today's "Money Move." U.S. stocks beginning the last trading week of June pretty mixed, with investors
trimming their positions in tech and stocking up on lesser love names from sectors like banking and energy. So, rotation.
NVIDIA shares lower for a third straight session too, taking its recent losses to over 10 percent. The textbook definition of a correction,
especially when it's soared as it has so far this year. Context is everything. NVIDIA shares are still up 140 percent year-to-date. And many
believe that a broadening out of the market rally beyond a handful of those big tech names will be a positive thing. Morgan Stanley analysts say market
breadth hasn't been narrow -- this narrow since the mid-1960s.
Now, mostly lower session in Asia with the Nikkei on the rise and the Shanghai Composite down over 1 percent. We'll see what Tuesday's session
brings.
Apple in the meantime, having a particularly rough start to the week. E.U. regulators saying the tech company broke new competition rules by
preventing app developers from freely directing consumers to cheaper services. Now, if found guilty, Apple could face a whopping $38 billion
fine. That's what's new. The rules came into force in March, shortly before the European Commission began investigating Apple, Alphabet, and Meta.
Now, for more detail on this, we're joined by Clare Duffy. Clare, when I saw this headline, I thought, didn't the E.U. just hit Apple with a $2
billion fine over these anti-steering restrictions? Explain what's going on here and what's new about this.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Julia, this latest action is the result of an investigation that began in March just after the new Digital
Markets Act went into effect in the European Union. And the E.U. is taking issue with the fact that Apple doesn't allow app developers to let
consumers know about offers or sales that are available outside of the Apple ecosystem.
The context there, of course, is that app developers often charge a premium on purchases made in their iOS apps, because Apple takes a cut of all of
those purchases. And the E.U. is saying that may be depriving consumers of getting to know about better deals. Of course, Apple is saying that it has
made changes to be in compliance with the DMA, that it believes it is already complying with this law.
But if the E.U. doesn't agree here, it could mean a huge fine, $38 billion, even for one of the most valuable companies in the world, is no small chump
change, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: No, and we're talking 10 percent of the annual global revenues. It's enormous. I mean, that, just for context, is over $380 billion.
Wowzers. This feels like war because it comes, what, just days after you and I were talking and we had Apple announcing their new A.I. Apple
Intelligence features. And they've said, look, we're not going to do that in the E.U. And that's just one component, an aspect of new tools that
they're not going to allow E.U. consumers access to. So, it is having an impact.
DUFFY: It's true. I think what we're seeing is this sort of core tension developing where Apple says, we want everything to remain in our ecosystem
because it's better for consumers. In the case of the app payments, it says that you should make payments through the iOS app because we have security
measures and it's safer for consumers. In the case of A.I., it's saying that it won't roll them out in Europe because it would be in violation of
the DMA and it doesn't want to sacrifice consumer privacy measures.
Apple says it wants to keep everybody in Apple land. But the E.U. is saying that that is essentially a misuse of Apple's market size and its power and
it is in violation of this law. And so, I think that's the thing that will be really interesting to see how this shakes out is, is Apple going to be
willing to compromise on this sort of walled garden ecosystem that it has built its brand around.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the DMA, the Digital Markets Act, to your point, and basically, what that's built to do is protect consumers and Apple is
saying, hey, we're doing it ourselves. Clare Duffy, this is not the end of this conversation. Great to have you with us. Thank you.
[18:25:00]
All right. Turning now to extreme weather in Saudi Arabia. Officials there say more than 1,300 people have died during this year's Hajj. Authorities
are blaming scorching heat and say that the majority of those who performed the annual Muslim pilgrimage were unauthorized to do so.
Temperatures exceeded 51 degrees Celsius last week. An estimated 1.8 million people took part in the pilgrimage to Mecca this year.
Now, we've been covering devastating heat waves and floods around the world for weeks. Unfortunately, some places are now dealing with both. The
Central U.S. faced a deluge over the weekend, and now people are trying to recover while under severe heat alerts. For more on this, we're joined by
Chad Myers. Chad, the problem here is dry earth can't absorb the level of rainfall anyway, and you get more rainfall, and the problem just compounds.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At least on the globe, gets a half a meter of rainfall, 17 inches of rain in 72 hours, you're going to get significant
flooding. And that's what happened in a widespread area. If four city blocks would get it, OK, yes, it will run off, but there's no place for it
to run off, and those pictures show it. There are rivers that are at record levels up here, really right there. That's where all of that rainfall came
through. And I can show it to you on a map.
Because here's Chicago over on this side, here's Omaha, Nebraska, but then up to the north from Sioux City, Sioux Falls all the way over toward
winter, South Dakota. But look at Worthing, South Dakota 17 and a half inches of rainfall just over the weekend. 24 major record, I would say, the
river records are now being broken to the tune of 30 percent higher than we've ever seen before.
So, we're not just like three inches higher, but we're talking 10 feet higher than we've ever seen before on these major river flood levels. And
that's just going to be the case for the next few days. It's going to take some time for this water to all run off.
There could be a few thunderstorms in the mix for tomorrow. But at least, Julia, the storms move tomorrow. What we had over the weekend are storms
that just would not move. Now, it will be hot. We're going to see heat indexes around 110 degrees, you know. So, we're still talking, you know,
middle 40s when it comes to temperatures in Celsius. So, it will be hot, not as hot as they had at the Hajj.
I think people don't understand though, even though, yes, we're going to be in the middle 30s here, about 90, 95 degrees in parts of the U.S. We think
of the desert or Saudi Arabia to be a desert, but it is a muggy, humid place, not just a hot only place like we get sometimes in Phoenix and in
Las Vegas. Those places, yes, they do get muggy in the summer. But right now, the places in Saudi Arabia are as muggy as they've ever been.
So, here we are, temperatures aren't going to cool down much. We are still going to be in the 70s to almost 80 in the morning hours. So, things aren't
going to cool down. And even Atlanta, it was 99 yesterday. So, tomorrow, it may be somewhere around 96, 98, again 97. These are all temperatures that
are well above normal for these places across parts of America. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, stay hydrated and carry an umbrella. That's the Brit in me speaking. Chad Myers, thank you for that. We'll be right back. Stay with
us.
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[18:31:38]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" with a look at more international headlines this hour. A fire at a lithium battery factory in South Korea has
left at least 22 people dead. Most were workers from China. Battery production involves flammable and toxic materials. Firefighters say several
explosions took place inside the building, which filled immediately with deadly fumes.
And we gave you a teaser there, but Buckingham Palace confirms Princess Anne has been hospitalized with a head injury and concussion. A royal
source says a 73-year-old had been walking near horses on her estate beforehand. Her medical team confirms she may have been struck by the
horse's head or legs. The king's sister is expected to make a full recovery.
Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states can restrict gender affirming care for minors. The court saying it will hear the Biden
administration's challenge to a Tennessee ban. The state's law blocks minors from receiving hormone therapy and other treatments. Tennessee is
one of a number of U.S. states restricting transgender care.
Now, Donald Trump's legal battle shifted today to Florida, where his attorneys are fighting the former president's classified documents case.
Trump is accused of storing the documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House and refusing to turn them over to the National
Archives.
Now, during a hearing on Monday, Trump's lawyers tried to disqualify the special counsel, Jack Smith. Prosecutors, meanwhile, called for a new gag
order against the former president. Katelyn Polantz joins us now, who's been following today's developments for us. Katelyn, at least on the gag
order, the judge seems skeptical about the reasons for doing so.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: She did indeed, but the prosecutors did their best to try and convince Judge Cannon that there
is a dangerous environment that Donald Trump himself has created and continues to fuel whenever he is speaking about law enforcement and the FBI
search of Mar-a-Lago back in August of 2022.
So, at this hearing today, it happened in the afternoon, where the prosecutors spoke to the judge about the gag order that they want on Donald
Trump. They want to change his conditions of his release while he awaits trial, have basically new bail for Donald Trump that limits his speech, and
they tried to argue to the judge that there are limits on his ability, that she can do this if she wants to, that what he's been saying about the FBI,
it's not campaign speech at all, and that there is a need here to ensure the safety of people in the FBI that took part in this search of Mar-a-
Lago.
But Judge Eileen Cannon, here in South Florida, she had very tough questions, even getting a little testy with the prosecutor that was
speaking to her at times, not liking his tone, telling him he needed to put evidence before her that she didn't have if he wanted to make her -- make
his case. And really, was pressing for the prosecutors tie together -- to tie together the threats that they believe could be coming from Donald
Trump's followers, his supporters, and the speech itself that Donald Trump is making, that is there some sort of call for violence that they are
showing the judge that would put her in a position where she can lock down the speech.
[18:35:00]
But of course, no decision today as is become fairly expected and typical in this courtroom of Judge Cannon's here in Florida. She's asking for more
potentially information from the Justice Department. And we could see a lot more in writing about this issue before there's any decision in the coming
days.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, a further delay. Katelyn Polantz in Washington for us there, thank you. All right. Coming up for us, the software firm that wants
to revolutionize the way we communicate at work through A.I. avatars. The CEO of Synthesia, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." Do you have a message for your friends, co-workers, maybe your employees, and a simple e-mail, text or
social media post simply doesn't cut it? Well, maybe having your very own A.I. avatar is the future. NVIDIA-backed A.I. startup Synthesia has been
producing A.I. generated content for years now that allow clients to bring text to life using computer generated avatars or even personalized ones
that look like us.
Here's one they made for none other than NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. You can see his avatar there on the upper left-hand side of your screen. Now, the
company's avatar star is rising even further with newly announced features, including a full body avatar, cue the jazz hands, and they can speak in
other languages too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's happening, folks. (Speaking foreign language).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Synthesia says nearly half of Fortune 500 companies now use its software. The big question, of course, is security. How to ensure this kind
of cutting-edge technology will deepfake crisis? Much to discuss. Victor Riparbelli joins us now. He's the co-founder and CEO of Synthesia. Victor,
fantastic to have you on the show.
We got a sense of it there, but just explain your unique offering to business clients and why they should hire you and use your product.
VICTOR RIPARBELLI, CEO, SYNTHESIA: Yes, thank you so much for having us. Fundamentally, what we're seeing in the world is that people want to watch
and listen to their content, kind of like they're doing right now by watching this awesome show. And people don't want to read that much. That's
not news. If you look at the growth of TikTok and YouTube and podcasting, I think that's a very obvious trend.
[18:40:00]
But for the enterprise, this has caused kind of significant -- a big problem, actually, for the last many years. Because as much as people want
to create video and audio content for both their employees and their customers and other stakeholders, it's just really difficult to shoot video
content or record audio content if you compare it to writing an e-mail or document or making a PowerPoint deck, for example.
And what we offer them is a super easy to use tool. Works directly in the browser. You go in, you select one of these A.I. avatars, which can either
be yourself, you can make an avatar of yourself, it can be one of the avatars in our library. You type up the script and you have a video in just
a few minutes. So, it kind of makes the process of creating video into something that feels a bit more like making a PowerPoint and having to go
around the physical world with cameras and so on.
That's been really popular offering. Now, we see our customers using avatars, A.I. videos for everything ranging from customer support, to
sales, to marketing, to internal employee training.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. I mean, you have examples on your website. I think we've taken the video examples actually from your YouTube sort of channel as
well. I mean, they look like humans, but they're avatars in this case. But basically, your alternative as a business will be to, I guess, hire an
actor or an actress, make them read the script, video the content and then produce whatever the video is. I mean, the time saving on this, the human
labor saving on this too, I guess, Victor is vast.
RIPARBELLI: Sure, in some ways. But actually, what we're seeing the most is that where the technology is really powerful is not really as a replacement
for real video production. When you're doing like your key brand moments and like the most, sort of, important things for your business, right? Most
of our customers still do video the traditional way, because you could do more, you can get a better result out, at least with this sort of current
state of A.I. technology, but this is really powerful is replacing all the text and all the slide deck you have in your company, which would never
have been a video if you weren't using A.I.
So, that way, what we're seeing is actually more kind of a market expansion into text than it's necessarily a disruption of the existing video
production market. Of course, as these technologies get better and better, they'll probably eat more into what we think of today is traditional video
production, but sort of the lay of the land today is that what our customers are using us for is much more tool to replace text and to replace
video production, which is really powerful.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's interesting.
RIPARBELLI: And it also --
CHATTERLEY: Yes, but you can see where it's going. I mean, we showed the CEO of NVIDIA there. And again, I'll point out, he is an investor. You
could create a Julia A.I. avatar, give me a script and have an A.I. avatar of me that actually would be exactly the same to our viewer is watching me
live. But actually, it's not me. It's my avatar doing it and you could do that very quickly.
I sort of can see where this is headed, Victor, in both an excited and alarming manner.
RIPARBELLI: For sure. I think on what we think of as video today, that's also going to evolve as an idea, right? So, when we think of video today,
we think of like a linear kind of broadcasting type format where essentially, you know, a million people are watching the same video stream
that is --
CHATTERLEY: Oh, no, we've lost him. Now, if this were his avatar version, then that wouldn't be a problem, which is also an alarming factor. We're
going to try and re-establish contact to see if we can. No, we're struggling. OK. We're going to -- no, we're going to take a quick break and
see if we can get him back. Bear with us. This is the beauty of live TV. Things happen. Stay with us.
Coming up, at least, late, late drama in Germany as Italy's progress in the Euros with a last-minute goal. So, there is some sport coming up to
brighten our day. We'll try and re-establish contact with Victor too. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:45:57]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And I have great news for us all, I believe that we've got Victor, the CEO of Synthesia, back and re-
established with us. Victor, can you hear me and are you there?
RIPARBELLI: I can. I should have sent my avatar, you know.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And that's what I said. I said that. If I was speaking to your A.I. avatar, we would not have had a problem. Just before we lost
connection with you, we were talking about the fact that it perhaps will put some actors, perhaps even some news readers out of work. But I think --
I want to talk about the more serious perhaps side of this, which is -- and I know you require a lot of all clients to go through a KYC, the know your
customer, sort of format that banks require in order to have clients.
And you also signed up to the coalition for content, provenance, and authenticity, which requires watermarks on fake video. But when I watch
these A.I. avatars, Victor, it does make me very concerned about the proliferation of fake videos. How do we better regulate this even today?
RIPARBELLI: So, I think, first and foremost, right, these are very powerful technologies and as with any other technology, people with bad intent will
pick them up and they'll misuse them. So, we have to do everything that we can to make sure we maximize all the positive benefits of these
technologies and minimize the harm, right?
I think regulation is one tool we have in the toolbox. And certainly, is a very important one. Our sort of, you know, high level thinking around this
is we believe that there should be a responsibility put on companies developing these technologies to make sure that they aren't misused.
Now, what that means exactly is probably different from product to product, to company to company. Sort of saying, it's hard to be for me right here
and I'll be prescriptive what that means, but we think that companies have a very real responsibility to make sure that their technology isn't
misused.
So, for us, we take that very seriously. We have been since we found the company eight years ago. As you mentioned yourself, we do KYC. We do
absolutely no avatars or voices that's nonconsensual. We also take a pretty strict stance of what you're allowed to create on the platform by content
moderation. So, if you try to create videos about questionable topics or what we call gray areas or red areas, then we'll simply block the creation
of the video. You won't even get to actually make it.
I think the last part that I think is worth mentioning, which I think is maybe actually the most important one is education and getting this
technology into the hands of people. No matter what, we're going to be moving into a world in which just like we can't trust everything we read
online just because someone tweets something, that definitely doesn't mean that it's necessarily true. For video, audio, and speech content, that's
also going to be the case in the not-so-distant future.
So, it's really important that everyone is literate on these technologies. How do they work? What's their limitations? What should we be looking for?
And the best way to do that generally is actually to have people create videos themselves, right?
So, when I see school kids using Synthesia and people if -- of all walks of life, making videos, I think that is really, really positive because that
is the best way we can educate the population of what these technologies could be like, what we see with ChatGPT and other kind of similarly
accessible generative A.I. technologies.
CHATTERLEY: But that education doesn't necessarily mean that you can spot fakes. I mean, you're coming to us from the U.K. There's a general election
taking place. We're heading into a U.S. presidential election where I think trust in leadership is at record lows. Victor, how do you advise people
that are just looking at social media right now?
And we've even seen it in the last few weeks with both President Biden and Former President Trump, you don't know what videos are real and what's
fake. How do you advise social media users and voters to be able to distinguish between these two things in the absence yet of the kind of
controls that we're talking about?
RIPARBELLI: So, I think, ultimately, all this goes back to the fundamentals of media literacy, right? Approach everything with a critical mind, just
like you can't just trust something because you read it on the internet or for that matter in a book or in a newspaper that doesn't necessarily mean
it's true. You should look at that piece of content for many different sites, right?
[18:50:00]
And that is just incredibly important. And I think what we have to teach people or what people have to maybe remind themselves is that when you look
at content online, you need to look at it with a critical point of view, right? Who created the content? When was it created? What platform was it
distributed on? And take sort of a critical point of view.
And I think part of the onus here is on the consumer themselves, but there's also, I think, a big responsibility on the distribution platform.
So, like the big social media networks to also help their users understand where content originated from, how is it created, and how can you evaluate
this content, right? That -- part of that is this -- the content authenticity initiative that we're involved in, which is essentially a kind
of coalition working on how can we fingerprint content, how can we help users understand not just what they're seeing, but when was it created, how
is it created, what tools were used in the process to help them better judge the content that they see online.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a good point. Trust but verify. And actually, users of social media are quite good at policing this kind of content, too,
because if you keep looking, you generally see people debunking what's fake and pointing out perhaps what's real as well. So, it is a great point.
Victor, I'm sorry that we've run out of time because I have a whole sheet of questions for you. But we'll get you back on to talk about the reception
to the new tools. It's a fascinating industry and A.I. is moving really fast. Good luck with the with the adoption of the new tools and we'll speak
again soon.
RIPARBELLI: Thank you for having me.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you, sir. Good -- great to chat to you.
All right. There's late drama and then there's the football match between Italy and Croatia in the Euros leading 1-nil. After the 97th minute in
their final Group B game, Croatia was set to progress to the knockout stages. Then Italy equalized with the last kick of the game to snatch a
draw. That's enough to send Italy through and likely knock Croatia out. It was a less stressful evening for Spain, topping the group and with a win
against last placed Albania.
Patrick Snell joins us now. Patrick, there's a lot of very happy Spaniards in the world today. There's a lot of very disappointed Croatians. Wowzers.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, there's a lot to break down, Julia. I'll tell you why England fans are happy as well. A little tease, just stay
with us for that. But look, let's start with the race to book a place in the last 16 years. Getting exciting now over there in Germany at the Euros.
Ahead of Monday night's fix, we had four countries already through to the tournament's next phase. The host nation, Switzerland, Cristiano Ronaldo,
Portugal, and the three-time winner, Spain, they faced Albanian Group B action. Get to that in a moment.
First up, Italy. The Azzurri, knowing they'd be through as group runners up, if they could avoid defeat in their match against Croatia. But, you
know, Croatia, very durable opponents. They make life tough for you, and they would take the lead in this one. Luka Modric talks it, but it's saved
by Gianluigi Donnarumma who keeps it scoreless, but only for about 30 seconds or so, because would you believe it, it's into the back of the net
from Luka Modric there, making amends for the penalty. At 38 years of age, Julia, he's now the oldest player ever to score the Euros.
But the Italians -- look at that. Eight minutes into injury time. Mattia Zaccagni finding it with a wonderful finish, a stunning goal, curled to
perfection. That was the last kick of the match. Huge relief for Italy, because that point puts them through, but in stark contrast, it is
heartbreak for Croatia. Their players and their fans alike they are left absolutely devastated. Their hopes of reaching the last 16 shattered, and
they are hanging by a thread. We call football the beautiful game, and rightly so, but it can often bring with it so much devastation as well.
Now, Spain, they're already qualified, as I said, as Group B winners. La Roja into the last 16 ahead of the match with Albania. It was certainly no
surprise in this one when the Spaniards take the lead after just 13 minutes of play. Ferran Torres, the Barcelona man, showing lovely class and
composure in Dusseldorf there to put his country ahead. Just curls it nice. Look at the curl on the shot there. Precision finish. The only goal of the
night.
Albania did put up a pretty decent fight. Decent performance by the Albanians, but Spain won it 1-nil and Albania are eliminated from the
tournament. So, another three points for Spain. But what a finish, Julia, to that Croatia-Italy match.
The Italians advance as group winners. They haven't been that impressive, I will say, Italy, the defending champions, but they've got the job done.
They're through to the next phase. They'll take on Switzerland next. Croatia are on just two points. They do retain a tiny, tiny, tiny chance of
advancing as one of the best third place teams, but their hopes are hanging by a thread, as I said earlier.
Now, to that England news, because that win for Spain, good news for England, for France, and the Netherlands, they are all assured of
progressing now to the knockout rounds. Back to you.
CHATTERLEY: Hooray.
SNELL: There you go.
CHATTERLEY: Hooray.
SNELL: I knew that would make you happy.
[18:55:00]
CHATTERLEY: We are finishing on the good news. I know. That's not stopping all the abuse and criticism of the team, as usual back home. I'm watching
it, but hey.
SNELL: You know, England can still finish top of their group. So, we'll see.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. OK. I'm being told to shut up, Patrick. Naughty, naughty. Great to have you, sir. Thank you. Patrick Snell there.
Now, Swiftly on, fans at Taylor Swift's London concert got a pretty big surprise on Sunday. Take a look at this. Swift's boyfriend, U.S. football
star Travis Kelce, appeared on stage with her. He wore a tuxedo and a top hat, playing a brief role in the show. Swift played three nights at Wembley
Stadium. And it was a busy weekend through and through. On Saturday, she also posted selfies with Prince William, Prince George, and Princess
Charlotte, too. Prince William was celebrating his 42nd birthday at the concert.
And finally, on "First Move," from a true beauty to what some, although clearly not me, would call a real beast. Rule number one on "First Move" is
that all dogs are very beautiful and very special. And that goes for Wild Thang, an eight-year-old Pekingese who won this year's world ugliest dog
competition in California.
Now, I would argue that Wild Thang has character to spare and is, pardon the pun, a diamond in the rough. Judges say he's been a fan favorite at the
competition for years now. And now, he's finally won the $5,000 prize. They do say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and we are sure his owners
think that their precious pooch is the most special dog alive. I think he's very cute.
And that just about wraps up the show. Thank you for joining us. I'll see you tomorrow.
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