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Quest Means Business
U.K. Suspends Some Intel Sharing With U.S. Over Boat Strikes; Congress Could Approve Deal To End Shutdown On Wednesday; Airlines Ramp Up Flight Cancellations To Comply With FAA Orders; Delegates Gather In Brazil For COP30 Talks; SoftBank Sells Its Stake In Nvidia; A.I. Usage In Classrooms Sparks Safety Concerns; Cristiano Ronaldo Says 2026 World Cup Could Be His Last; "Flying Car" In Action. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 11, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:18]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: So you see the Dow there, a very tidy increase there. More than one percent. I'd like to call this a classic
rotation -- sector rotation, I am not so sure though, given the A.I. bubble. Is it a bubble? We will see.
Those are the markets, and these are the main events: A major rupture between the United States and U.K. in Intelligence efforts over American
strikes in the Caribbean.
House lawmakers are traveling back to Washington to vote to reopen the government. First, though, they need to make it through the airports
disrupted by the shutdown.
And Cristiano Ronaldo tells CNN's Becky Anderson he is looking to the next chapter as he nears retirement.
Live from New York, it is Tuesday, November 11th. I am Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Tonight, Venezuela says it is launching a massive mobilization of its military forces in response to the U.S. buildup in the region. Now, it
plans to carry out exercises through Wednesday involving its land, air and naval forces. The move comes right after the U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford
Carrier Strike Group arrived near Latin America.
Now, the U.S. says it is targeting drug smuggling, but Caracas apparently believes the real goal is regime change, and sources tell CNN, the United
Kingdom now is no longer sharing some Intelligence with the U.S. on drug trafficking. The sources say the U.K. does not want to be complicit in
strikes on alleged drug smuggling vessels, which it believes may violate international law.
Stefano Pozzebon is with us now, live in Caracas.
And Stefano, you followed this so closely for so many years. When the Venezuelan government actually indicates to us that they are carrying
through with this, what can that actually mean?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Paula, what we are trying to understand and decipher -- we are trying to understand and decipher what is
the message from the Presidential Palace, Paula.
This is coming from a video message posted by the Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, a few hours ago, saying that up to 200,000
Venezuelan soldiers and members of the militia will mobilize in the next 24 to 48 hours as a way to prepare for possible attacks from the United
States.
Padrino, in particular, did not mention attacks, but he says that the U.S. oppose, and I quote, "an imperialistic threat." Now it is worth noticing,
of course, Paula, that it is not the first time that we are seeing these sort of rhetoric and this sort of saber rattling from Caracas and in
particular, from the government of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro. Only a month ago, if I am not mistaken, or it must have been a few weeks
ago, they also declared that some naval exercise to front up the threat posed by the United States with this new wage campaign in the Caribbean
sea, which has so far led to the death of at least 76 alleged narcotraffickers. We need to say, of course, that The White House is yet to
provide any conclusive proof that any of the people killed in this campaign were actually involved in narcotrafficking.
But going back to Venezuela, there are a lot of questions on the capability of the Venezuelan armed forces. We know that Venezuela, especially in the
years of Hugo Chavez, when this was one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, bought and purchased a lot of military equipment from
Russia. It is not clear whether that equipment has been affected and the capability of that equipment has been affected in the ten years or so that
this country has been in deep economic trouble.
But of course, some intense saber rattling from Caracas, and I think it is no mistake that this is happening. It is no coincidence, Paula, that this
is happening on the day when the U.S. Gerald Ford, which is the largest aircraft carrier in the world, has arrived in the Caribbean Sea. So we are
seeing immediately as the new pressure is put on Nicolas Maduro, the response is to mobilize the Armed Forces, and we will try to understand
what this entails in the next few hours and perhaps tomorrow, Wednesday, here in Caracas -- Paula.
NEWTON: Stefano Pozzebon for us, grateful to you.
Now, Natasha Bertrand joins us from Brussels.
This reporting that you have, exclusive reporting is material to what is going on in Venezuela. Why do you feel that the U.K. at this moment decided
to take this dramatic step? Because in deciding to no longer share this kind of Intelligence, it really is unprecedented in a way, and it goes
against the reason that the Five Eyes was put together in the first place.
[16:05:10]
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Paula.
I mean, the U.K. took this dramatic step because they feel fundamentally that the U.S. military attacks on these boats violate international law.
The U.K. views these alleged drug traffickers despite their -- whether -- the fact that they are ferrying drugs to the United States or elsewhere or
not, they view them as civilians.
The U.S. views them as enemy combatants and says that they are in an armed conflict with these individuals. And therefore, President Trump has argued
that he has the right to authorize these strikes, the U.K. does not agree. They believe that these strikes are illegal and they don't want their
targeting information that they provide to the U.S. military and that they have provided for many, many years as a key partner operating in this space
in the Caribbean to be used to kill people that were previously treated as criminals, treated as subjects of law enforcement, not people that are
going to be blown up by the U.S. military without any kind of due process.
So that's what our sources have been telling us, is that they believe that these strikes, the U.K. believes these strikes amount to extrajudicial
killings, and that the U.K. does not want to be complicit in them. Obviously, a very significant message that the U.K. is sending to the U.S.
here, not entirely sure how substantively it is going to impact the U.S. military operation because the U.S. has an abundance of Intelligence that
it can draw from given the vast amount of resources it currently has in the Caribbean in order to try to find these boats and ultimately target them.
So it may not have much of a material impact, but it certainly does underscore the growing concern not only at The Pentagon, which we've
reported on, but also now internationally over the legality of these U.S. strikes.
NEWTON: Yes, and likely more than symbolic, because as you've pointed out, the U.K. is concerned about the legality of these strikes. I am wondering
if you've heard from the Trump administration and what the fallout might be.
BERTRAND: The only response that we've gotten so far from The Pentagon is that they don't discuss Intelligence matters. But behind-the-scenes, what
we are hearing is that the administration is working to downplay this. They are very much sending the message that they don't need any allies to help
them, that they are determined to carry out this military campaign because the President has said that these individuals pose an imminent threat to
Americans, and therefore, he is acting in the national interest by defending the United States.
Similarly, Canada has also expressed similar reservations about their Intelligence being used to target these boats with lethal strikes. But
again, they are not the be all and all of the U.S. military operation down there.
So for now, the U.S. remains completely undeterred -- Paula.
NEWTON: Natasha Bertrand, really appreciate the exclusive reporting there. Grateful. Thanks so much.
Now, the U.S. government could be back open very soon. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson expects to hold a vote Wednesday on a funding bill that would
end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
For it to pass, though, he will need to rely on his razor thin Republican majority. But first, House lawmakers will have to actually make it back to
Washington, D.C., through airports that have been a mess of flight delays and cancellations triggered by, yes, you guessed it, the shutdown.
Under the FAA's emergency order, six percent of flights at 40 U.S. airports were cut today, that could go up to eight percent on Thursday and 10
percent by Friday.
Now, this is key here. Even when the shutdown ends, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warns there is no quick fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We are at the cusp of hopefully having the government reopened. I am concerned that we are not
going to have on day one, controllers come back into the towers right away. I am asking them to do that. President Trump has asked them to do that. It
is their jobs and they will be paid, but it might not be immediate that they come back in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: CNN's Gustavo Valdes is at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and he joins us now.
I am not exactly sure what you're seeing at the airport. I know a lot of airlines have said, look, if there is something wrong with your flight, do
not go to the airport. But what are you seeing? And do you find the pace of cancellations and delays picking up?
GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Paula, we've been seeing a very quiet day, and I think yesterday, we did see a lot of frustration. People
coming back from weekend trips that found out their connecting flights, particularly were cancelled, and we did see a little bit of frustration.
Today, the situation is a lot calmer.
Those who had their flights cancelled knew in advance and they are not showing up to the airport, and the board here at Delta Air Lines, the
largest in the hub here in Atlanta tells the story. There are about 200 flights in these screens. There are only seven cancellations. There is
about three percent to 3.5 percent of flights cancelled. The delays are also minimum.
So that tells me that things are getting a little better.
[16:10:08]
Obviously, those cancellations mean a big pain for those trying to get to those destinations, but it is not what we saw yesterday. Also, nationwide,
the reports of shortages, staff shortages at the control towers are, at a minimum much lower than other days, so maybe the air traffic controllers
are trying to come back knowing that the end of the shutdown is near, or maybe listening to those warnings President Trump did yesterday saying that
many might not, if they don't come to work, they might not get paid and those who do show up might get a bonus. But we won't see that until the
Congress comes to an agreement.
And let me show you something else. This is the people departing. The other federal workers that haven't received a paycheck are the security agents,
TSA. You can see there are no lines. There have been no shortages. We have seen no delays. The waiting time, the longest we've seen is four minutes
stated by the clocks on the wall. So overall, a very quiet day here in Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world. Things are calm.
We can see the cancellations, but we haven't seen the frustrations we saw in the past and we will see what happens the next day knowing that
Secretary Duffy is warning that even if the shutdown ends right now, things might not come back immediately to normal. He says that the cutbacks that
are at around six percent today could go up to 10 percent by Friday.
NEWTON: Gustavo, valuable insight you're giving us there into the airport and we certainly hope that the shutdown will bring an end to some of the
confusion we've seen over the last few days. Gustavo Valdes for us in Atlanta. Thanks so much.
Now, this shutdown, one of the features of the shutdown is what our next guest calls the casino economy. Kyla Scanlon argues that President Trump
has ushered in an economy built on enormous speculation and, yes, risk.
Now that if you look closely, you can discuss some of the bets here. Right? Big bets like shutting down the government over health care subsidies.
Right? Maybe rolling the dice on massive spending on A.I. data centers. Tariffs as trade policy. Again, more risk, shuffling the deck and seeing
which cards get dealt to whom.
And of course, getting back to the chips, the proliferation of meme coins, stablecoins and all of the digital coins.
Kyla Scanlon is an author and an economic commentator. Her book is called "In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work."
Kyla joins us now.
You make some alarming observations about what you say a casino economy looks like, and let's go through that, that Donald Trump has ushered in, as
we said, a casino economy built on speculation and risk and that this is key here that the public sector, as a stabilizer has been destroyed, that
the private sector is now gambling. Right? Gambling with the money and trying to cash in. It is quite a gamble. I want to ask you what your proof
is. What proof do you have that backs up your thesis?
KYLA SCANLON, "IN THIS ECONOMY?" AUTHOR AND ECONOMIC COMMENTATOR: Yes, so in the article I provide you know, links and data to back up the thesis,
but it really is just the proliferation of these various aspects of gambling, so if you think about the tariffs, like obviously that has been
an attempt to leverage other countries to do things that we want while assuming that they are still going to want to be our trading partners.
You're seeing a lot of venture capital firms start to invest in companies that encourage certain types of gambling behaviors. You know, private
equity is doing its own gambling thing as well. The tech giants, you know, A.I. is sort of a giant bet on the economy as well as being the entire
economy at the moment. Its 75 percent of the S&P 500 earnings growth, as well as 40 percent of GDP growth.
And so we really are just seeing aspects of gigantic bets on pretty much everything you can bet on, and that's nothing new, but the Trump
administration has really enabled a lot of this stuff to proliferate in a pretty unprecedented way.
And if we get to the second part of this, the government is supposed to be the great stabilizer, as you say, and like you said, there is a cruel logic
to this casino economy. Can you unpack that for us?
SCANLON: Yes, I mean, I think the logic is it is not always fair, like the way that you can sort of think about it is its pretty systemic. So the risk
is privatized upwards. So corporate gains and speculative capital like a lot of people are making a lot of money off of the bets. A lot of people
are making a lot of money on the companies that the administration is investing in, like Intel.
But the losses are socialized, and so workers and taxpayers are ultimately going to be footing the bill for these gambles if they do go wrong. And,
you know, ultimately they probably will.
[16:15:08]
And so that's kind of the cruel logic of it, is that we are betting on all of these things so some people can make a little bit of money. And, you
know, the cost is going to be borne by those who can afford it the least.
NEWTON: Yes, and a lot of people did not bargain on being in a casino economy in the first place. Didn't want to set foot in it, and yet a lot of
their 401 (k)s or retirement plans are held captive to it.
I do want to go through the three scenarios that you lay out especially if this continues undaunted. Right? Like first is that, you know, maybe
nothing happens. You know, maybe this is actually going to be okay and things will settle out. Then you come up with a slow burn scenario, right?
That things unravel before anyone really notices, but then what we have is economic stagnation.
And then the third thing you point out is the nightmare bust scenario, and I don't need to describe that to anyone right now. Everyone knows what that
looks like. What do you believe is most likely when you see it now?
SCANLON: I mean, it depends on what we see with regulation. Unfortunately, with bubbles, like especially with regards to A.I. and some aspects of
maybe what we are seeing with prediction markets and sports gambling, like the only way out of that is if they kind of implode amongst themselves,
which is terrible. And we don't want that to happen. But I think because we haven't really seen any policies be put forth in order to rein some of this
speculation and some of this irrational exuberance, I do worry that we are staring down a worst case scenario.
You know, a lot of people are speculating that could happen with the A.I. bubble that we are currently in now. A lot of think pieces have been
written about that. And so, you know, I am very hopeful that everything lands smoothly. But I think just because there is nothing stopping this, we
could see a worst case scenario.
NEWTON: And Kyla, I want to ask you, because I really do think you've distilled something here and tapped into something that people are feeling.
They do feel that everything that's going on right now is a bit reckless, to use another term.
But I do want to ask you, because the other analogy you could use is that it is like a storm coming. Well, we shouldn't act like sitting ducks,
right, if that's what happens.
You know, if a storm is coming, you prepare, right, you mitigate, you do what you can to get out of its way maybe. So what do you think can be done
there? Because I am not sure you know that the analogy works when people just feel helpless.
SCANLON: Yes, I mean, that's the exact opposite of what you want people to feel, and I think that's a feeling that is really proliferating right now
is sort of financial nihilism, so people not believing that they have a path forward with the economy and/or the stock market.
And so I think like the way that you can sort of develop agency around everything, feeling very much like a casino is taking control of your own
personal finances. So if you do invest, trying to diversify as much as you can, you know, invest internationally if that feels comfortable to you,
invest in things like gold, invest outside of the tech sector.
There are ways to broaden your portfolios so you have a bit of more legs to stand on if everything does go a little bit wobbly and then there is a lot
of value, too during a time of A.I., which is sort of challenging, you know, jobs and what humans are potentially wanting to do with their lives,
investing in your human capital, so investing in new skill sets, investing in your community.
So I think there are a lot of things that we can do to kind of combat some of the feelings that a casino economy might create and reestablish some of
that agency, but it is difficult. It is a tough feeling to have to grapple with.
NEWTON: Yes, and the bottom line, you know, as many people have pointed to on this show, is supposed to be regulation in the public sector, and we do
not see a lot of movement on that right now.
Kyla Scanlon, I have to leave it there, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Now, still to come for us tonight, Israel's Parliament advances two controversial bills. One would formalize the so-called Al Jazeera Law. We
will explain when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:21:31]
NEWTON: Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer has resigned from the government. He steps down one month after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire
in Gaza went into effect. Now, Dermer had led the Israeli hostage negotiation team, where he faced mounting public criticism, considered by
some as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest ally, Dermer had served as Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. during the first administration of
President Donald Trump.
Now, two controversial bills are making their way through the Israeli Parliament. One would allow the government to shut down international media
outlets without a court order. The other measure would mandate the death penalty for certain murders.
Jeremy Diamond explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two controversial bills pushed by Israel's right-wing have now passed a preliminary hurdle inside Israel's
Parliament, known as the Knesset. One of these pieces of legislation concerns expanding the death penalty in Israel, the other aims to
potentially shut down foreign media outlets that are operating in Israel.
Now, on that first piece of legislation, this is one that's been pushed by Israel's right-wing for years now, and it would expand the death penalty to
be applied to convicted terrorists and individuals found guilty of nationalistically motivated murder, making clear that it is only aimed at
those with nationalist intentions aimed at harming the state of Israel, meaning it would apply only to Palestinian convicted terrorists and not
Jewish convicted terrorists in Israel.
This piece of legislation was pushed in large part by the National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has claimed that this would create a
"substantial deterrence against terrorism."
Interestingly, this piece of legislation was previously opposed by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But now, with the release of
all living hostages held inside of the Gaza Strip, the Prime Minister now supports this piece of legislation.
This bill would also amend Israel's military courts law, meaning it would expand the authority of these military courts that rule over the lives of
Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank to allow those courts to impose the death penalty by simple majority, rather than by unanimous vote.
And this system of law has already been heavily criticized in the past by Human Rights groups and by the United Nations because of the fact that
while Palestinians are subject to military law in the West Bank, Israeli civilians such as those who live in settlements in the West Bank are
subject to civilian law.
Now, this second piece of legislation, which also passed what's known as the First Reading in Israel's Parliament, would aim to give the Israeli
government the power to shut down foreign media outlets without a court order, effectively making permanent an authority that the Israeli
government used during the war last year to shut down Al Jazeera's ability to broadcast inside of Israel.
At the time, that was used because it was a time of war, a time of national emergency. But this piece of legislation would now aim to make that
authority permanent for the Israeli government, for its own reasons, to choose to ban any foreign media outlet without relying on any court.
Reporters Without Borders has already condemned the proposal, calling it the first nail in the coffin of broadcast media's editorial independence in
Israel, but the latest signal, of course, of backsliding of press freedoms in Israel.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[16:25:10]
NEWTON: So representatives from nearly 200 countries are in Brazil for COP30, the planet's largest climate conference. California governor and
potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, Gavin Newsom says he is filling the void there left by high level U.S. officials who are skipping
the Summit.
The effort to get richer nations to honor commitments are a big topic at this year's conference. A U.N. report says developing countries will need
more than $300 billion annually by 2035 to adapt to climate impacts.
Lord Nicholas Stern joins us now from Belem, Brazil. He is the author of "The Growth Story of the 21st Century: The Economics and Opportunity of
Climate Action."
I've been told that we can call you Nick, and Nick, thank you for joining us.
I do want to get to that issue of opportunity. In your book, you put forward your conviction that growth and development can really go hand in
hand with climate mitigation, not just climate adaptation.
I think many are wondering how that's possible, because I don't have to tell you, many are cynical about the prospect right now, and many are
wondering what is it? Is A.I. going to save this thing in the end?
LORD NICHOLAS STERN, AUTHOR OF "THE GROWTH STORY OF THE 21ST CENTURY": Thank you very much, Paula, and greetings from Belem and COP30.
Let me try to describe how this works. If you look at energy and particularly, power. The clean is cheaper than the dirty in most countries
of the world, and that explains why, last year, over 90 percent of investment in power, that's electricity was in renewables, so that's one.
The second is, a lot of these new technologies have got increasing returns to scale so that if we expand the activity, we really drive down the cost.
The Indians drove the LED light bulb cost down by a factor of four or so in a year or so, just by going to scale.
If you think of efficiency, energy efficiency, but efficiency more generally, increasing efficiency increases productivity increases growth.
If you think of the way our cities work, cities where you can move and breathe are much more productive than cities where you have real difficulty
doing both.
If you look at health taking that story a little bit further, take my own country, the U.K., we kill from air pollution in the U.K. about 35,000 a
year. We kill from car accidents about 1,700, one-twentieth of the deaths from air pollution. And of course, it is not just the deaths from air
pollution, it is the maiming of children and adults and old people. And of course, we have to invest more to make all this happen.
So all of these things are real drivers of growth. In addition, of course, if you're running into wildfires, if you're running into floods, if you're
trying to deal with Hurricane Melissa, clearly adapting is going to protect your growth. So all sorts of reasons, Paula, why these actions on climate,
whether its reducing emissions or adapting, they drive growth.
NEWTON: I think though at the local level, some do not feel that really that investment has been made soon enough and you've listed some of them
there, too numerous to list.
But if we go through a few, you know, the recent hurricane in Jamaica was the strongest that the country had ever seen, one of the strongest, in
fact, in the Caribbean; the Los Angeles fires earlier this year apparently were made worse by, what scientists say is climate change. And I do want to
point out also the forest fires in Canada, which I've seen up close for myself in 2023, the Boreal Forest in Canada suffered a record breaking
loss.
And then we come back to the Summit, and the Summit that you are at right now, and the kind of arguments that you're putting forward. I think some
would ask, are we getting closer to that adaptation or further?
You speak as well in your book about a tipping point, and you have actually spoken about the tipping point for years?
STERN: Yep. I tried to describe those things which are happening and which we can do, but you're absolutely right, Paula. We are not moving fast
enough. We really have to accelerate, and without getting too technical, these tipping points are about, for example, the thawing of the permafrost,
which would release methane, which would really accelerate this process of climate change and global warming.
You're talking about land based ice sheets in the Arctic and the Antarctic sliding off into the ocean and very quickly raising the sea level. If you
remember, Archimedes' principle from your high school Physics, if you get in the bath, then the level of the bath goes up, and, that's what we are
talking about with ice -- land based ice sliding off into the ocean.
Here we are in Belem, in the Amazon, in Brazil, where this COP is taking place, we don't know how close we are to the collapse of the Amazon system.
We may be pretty close and if we don't act quickly and really stop deforestation and start afforestation, if that Amazon system collapses,
that releases tremendous amount of carbon dioxide. It disrupts so much.
So these are the tipping points, and that's why we have to act so quickly.
[16:30:44]
And really stop deforestation and start afforestation, if that Amazon system collapses, that releases tremendous amount of carbon dioxide.
NEWTON: And yet --
STERN: It disrupts it so much. So these are the tipping points. And that's why we have to act so quickly.
NEWTON: But you've been articulating those tipping points for some time and yet some people feel as if the situation might be hopeless at this point in
time. I do want you to hear Bill Gates from a couple of weeks ago speaking to CNBC, and how I would say his philosophy on climate and how you deal
with it has changed. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GATES, COFOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Climate is a super important problem. There's enough innovation here to avoid super bad outcomes. We won't
achieve our best goal. The 1.5 or even the two degrees. And as we go about trying to minimize that, we have to frame it in terms of overall human
welfare, not just everything should be solely for climate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: You know, this seems to be an evolution in climate philosophy. What do you think about his comments and what's being said there at the summit?
STERN: Look, Bill Gates is a great guy, and through his philanthropy, he's done a lot for development and he's done a lot for climate action. But I
think he's got this one wrong, Paula. And let me tell you why. He's talking about going way beyond two degrees centigrade in what -- in the quote that
you just gave. And I just described the dangers of those tipping points. So the difference here is not that environment is more important than reducing
poverty.
It's not that environment is more important than educating young people, particularly girls. All those things are important. But if we do not pay
attention to the environment, within 20 years or so we'll be in a situation where some of those tipping points are likely to be passed and the climate
is becoming so hostile that the lives of these young children and their futures will be deeply undermined.
So what we've got here is the science telling us that there's some things we have to act on now, otherwise climate, of course, biodiversity,
otherwise we undermine all the other things that we care about, Bill cares about, I care about.
NEWTON: And we will see what COP 30 can do about getting to more of that action that you say is needed.
Nick Stern, for us, really grateful to you. Thanks so much.
Now SoftBank is cashing out of Nvidia. We'll look at the reasons why and whether other investors might be tempted to follow suit. That's after the
break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:17]
NEWTON: Hello, I'm Paula Newton and there's more Quest MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when SoftBank sells its shares in Nvidia for $5.8 billion. We'll
discuss why. An international icon, Cristiano Ronaldo, tells CNN's Becky Anderson this upcoming World Cup is definitely his last. Before that,
though, the headlines this hour.
Flight reductions at major U.S. airports are expected to increase despite progress on Capitol Hill toward ending the government shutdown. The U.S.
Transportation secretary says regular flight schedules could resume before the Thanksgiving holiday if a deal is struck soon and air traffic
controllers do return to work.
A bombing in Pakistan's capital has killed at least 12 people and injured another 20. It's the worst suicide attack in Islamabad in nearly two
decades. A faction of the militant Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast, which took place in the city's busy judicial
complex.
Masked Israeli settlers went on a rampage in the West Bank today, attacking Palestinians and torching land and vehicles near Tulkarem. Israel's
military says four Israelis were arrested after what it calls extreme violence. It says four Palestinians were injured and evacuated for medical
treatment.
Nvidia shares fell nearly 3 percent after SoftBank sold its entire stake in the company. SoftBank cashed out more than 32 million shares of Nvidia
worth $5.8 billion. It needs the money for other ventures like OpenAI's Stargate data center project.
Still, SoftBank's decision is raising questions about whether other A.I. investors might be considering a drawdown.
Anna Cooban is with me now.
All right, Anna, let us know what's behind this divestment because, as we were just explaining, SoftBank says it needs to invest more in A.I. and it
needed the gains from Nvidia to do it, right? We should point out they made a good profit off of Nvidia.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They had really good results for the last quarter. And that's partly to do with all
of the frenzy around this A.I., this A.I. boom. I mean, SoftBank is trying to become a huge player in this space. It's, as you've mentioned, it's part
of this Stargate consortium of companies that's trying to build data centers across the United States.
But it's also pledging to invest around $30 billion into OpenAI and is, of course, selling some of its or all of its stake in Nvidia in order to do
just that. But what's interesting is that both Nvidia and OpenAI are major players, really at the epicenter of this A.I. boom. But yet SoftBank is
making the call that it believes the gains that it's going to receive on the market won't come from Nvidia, but will come from OpenAI.
NEWTON: Yes, it is an interesting turn of events there. People, though, argue whether or not this really means the A.I. bubble is deflating.
COOBAN: Well, I think looking at the circularity of this investment, I mean, yes, they are divesting their stock in Nvidia, but that money is then
going into OpenAI and what is good for OpenAI is really good for Nvidia because Nvidia's chips are fueling the A.I. systems, helping power these
A.I. systems by OpenAI.
And so that has caused people, investors, onlookers to become quite worried because it's part of this trend about these similar companies all within
the same space, hoovering up investment, pledging to buy equipment from each other such that if one of them was to post disappointing results one
quarter or the demand for their A.I. systems was seen to be out of step with reality, that it could trigger a selloff, a market correction,
potentially a market crash.
NEWTON: Anna Cooban, for us, thanks for explaining that.
[16:40:01]
Now, A.I.'s presence in the classroom is becoming a growing concern for parents and teachers. Some are turning to safety tools produced by
companies like GoGuardian. Its software and Web filters are now used by nearly half the K-12 kids in the United States.
Ritch Preece, the CEO of GoGuardian, joins me now live.
Good to see you. And we do want to learn more about this technology. Can you spell out how this works and detail it, and why some public schools
find it invaluable.
RICH PREECE, CEO, GOGUARDIAN: I can. Good afternoon, Paula.
So as you mentioned, GoGuardian is a company where we're in about half the schools in the U.S. and so our products are in about 25 million school
issued devices. And one of the challenges that I think, you know, we're all well aware of, sadly, over the last few years is the increase in suicides
in schools. And so one of our products GoGuardian Beacon, the way it works is essentially, again, on a school issued device, we are able to see what
that student's Web site, which Web sites they're visiting, their social media, we're able to kind of see what Google docs they're writing.
And if there's a pattern where they're going to a Web site looking for how many pills do I take to kill myself? Sadly, you know, how do I tie a noose?
And then perhaps on their social media, if they're reaching out to friends and saying, this may be the last time I see you. What our product does, it
essentially extracts the HTML on that page. It puts those warning signals together. And it's the earliest warning signs of self-harm, suicide and
possible harm to others.
And then we provide that information to the school, and they're able to obviously intervene with humans, with the social workers at the school,
before something tragic happens.
NEWTON: It is chilling just to hear you describe some of the things that we know unfortunately some young people are actually putting and prompts that
they are asking of A.I. and other programs. At the end of the day, though, this is surveillance, even if it is for a good cause.
What kind of safeguards are in place to guarantee not just privacy, but, you know, an understanding of what the notifications are to make sure the
notifications are going to the right people to the issue of, you know, the fact that parents need to be informed when they're informed, how they're
informed?
PREECE: It's a great point. And the way we certainly look at it is it's very deliberately not surveillance. It's obviously intervention. Now, the
safeguards are, first of all, on the devices, every student is informed every day that this software is in place. And so they are frequently
reminded that this is on those school issued devices. And it's in place.
Now for each school when they use a product like GoGuardian Beacon, they fully implement the product to their own specifications. And so they decide
what alerts they want to receive. They decide if certain alerts go to the parents. They decide if certain alerts go to the authorities. Perhaps if
it's a school shooting concern. And so it's very much customized at the school level.
NEWTON: You know, it's such an interesting topic and controversial as well. The AP, the Associated Press reported on a Tennessee teenager, you know,
who was flagged what she admits was a stupid joke. But authorities ended up arresting her. She was in jail. She had to obviously go through the steps
of explaining what she had done to authorities. Some have believe that perhaps this kind of surveillance goes too far. It is too extreme.
Are there more things that you can develop to make sure that these concerns are flagged perhaps in a different way that can show discretion from the
outset? Now, I know in Tennessee that was actually the law that the school needed to call authorities. And this did not involve your company. But you
can understand the concerns of children, of their parents and of authorities.
PREECE: We can. Absolutely. And so, I mean, the first part of the answer is we're always looking at how do we strike that right balance with obviously
kind of being aware of those concerns, but also thinking about the safety of students first. Now what I would say is, you know, it's incredibly sad.
But again, one in five students, by the time they get to 18, say that they've seriously considered suicide.
So that in itself obviously is a heartbreaking statistic. And then interestingly, with the sort of rise of A.I. chatbots, particularly in the
last 12 months or 24 months, we now see a trend where 64 percent of students say they're using an A.I. chatbot at least once a week. And of
course, as we've also seen in recent media reports, very sadly, those interactions have led to where students are starting to sort of form almost
an emotional connection at times with an A.I. chatbot.
And then they are sharing their thoughts about self-harm or harm to others. Those thoughts aren't getting to the right people. And then, tragically,
those students are taking their own lives.
[16:45:01]
So I think it's such a difficult argument, but one that we try to take face on.
NEWTON: Right.
PREECE: And we try to kind of think about that safety first mentality.
PREECE: And Rich, I do have to leave it there. It is a fascinating discussion. I appreciate you explaining the technology to us.
Now, later for us, football legend Cristiano Ronaldo says he's retiring soon. What exactly does that mean?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Cristiano Ronaldo says this summer's World Cup will be his last. He spoke with CNN's Becky Anderson at the Saudi Tourism Conference. She began
by asking him when he plans to hang up those boots.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRISTIANO RONALDO, FOOTBALL LEGEND: Well, the soonest for me, I mean, in in 10 years, in 10 years. So the people, the people realize that when I say
soon, it's in six months, one year. No, I'm joking. What I mean soon it's - - I'm going to back in the days and tell you, I'm really enjoying the moment right now. As you know, in the football, when you reach some age,
you count the months very quick. So the moment is good. As I tell you before, I feel very good in this moment. I score goals. I still feel quick
and sharp. I'm enjoying my game in the national team, in Al-Nassr. But of course, let's be honest, what I mean soon is probably one, two years. I'm
still be at the game.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So you expect this World Cup to be your last?
RONALDO: Definitely yes. Because I will be 41 years old and I think will be the moment and in the big competition that's -- I don't know yet. As I've
told you before, I enjoy the moments. That's what I mean soon it's really soon because I give everything for football. I'm in the game for the last
25 years.
[16:50:04]
I did everything. I have many records in the different scenarios in the clubs and also in the national team. I'm really proud. So let's enjoy the
moment. Live the moment.
ANDERSON: As you look beyond the game, of course, your son Cristiano Junior kicks off his career in the Portugal under 16. So how good is he? Is he
better than you?
RONALDO: I wish. Let me tell you something. We always, the human beings, we don't want nobody being better than us. But in my point, I wish if my kids
will be better than me, I'm never going to be jealous of him. Trust me. But this is a big task. It's very, very difficult. And I don't want to make it
pressure because what I want, it's for him, it's to be happy. Doesn't matter if you want to play football or play another sport, be happy. Be
free.
Don't be with the pressure of your daddy because the pressure of your daddy it's a lot. And this this new generation, different generation. They are
thinking different. They live different. But as a father, I'm here to help him to be whatever he wants to be. I will be support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: OK. Coming up for us, flying cars have long been symbolic of the future. Now they are kind of becoming reality, but maybe not exactly as you
imagined.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: In a sign that the future may be now, flying cars are getting closer to becoming reality.
Our Nick Watt got a demo of one of the latest models and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are clear for takeoff. Have fun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger that. Clear for takeoff.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't need a pilot's license. And you don't even need a runway.
There, can you see it? It's just there.
(Voice-over): If you've ever played a video game, you can fly this thing. It's one joystick. Seriously. And there's a lever to release a parachute if
it all goes horribly wrong.
It looks awesome from down here. What's the feeling?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Such a great feeling. And just the best view ever. In a normal aviation, you don't get to fly this low to the ground that often, so
getting to do it in this point of view is spectacular.
WATT: I'm going to stop talking to you because I don't want you to crash.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Appreciate that.
[16:55:02]
WATT (voice-over): Kitty Hawk gave birth to the age of aviation. And all this might be another massive milestone in the history of flight.
It looks wrong. You know, my brain can't quite get a handle on the movement. I'm used to seeing how cars, motorbikes, airplanes move. This
just moves differently. It's disconcerting. It's weird. I mean, it's awesome. It's weird.
What are we calling this? Do we call it like an aircraft? Do we call it flying car? I mean, what is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So technically, it's an EVTOL, which stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
WATT: You need a sexier acronym.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WATT: Or a sexier name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.
WATT: And why don't you put some wheels on it and actually make it a flying car?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We definitely don't have the budget for wheels to be taken on the road unfortunately.
WATT: I'm disappointed, Ken.
(Voice-over): They got to keep it in the FAA's ultralight category so that you don't need a license to fly under 254 pounds before some safety stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meet George Jetson.
WATT (voice-over): But hey, his flying car didn't have wheels either. Listen, we've been dreaming of something like this since the Jetsons. Look,
there's an old fashioned land car. Pivotal says they've sold five of their first model Blackfly and trained dozens to fly them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of them is a professional pilot, and he flies it to his airport from home.
WATT: So you do have somebody commuting already?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a couple people commuting.
WATT (voice-over): There is a catch. You aren't allowed to fly over so- called congested areas with lots of people and buildings. A couple of other downsides, starting price $190,000. And for now, the battery life is only
around 20 minutes, the range only about 20 miles. Pivotal says that will improve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, let go of it.
WATT: Woah, geez, Louise.
(Voice-over): Another issue, they won't let me fly for real because I haven't practiced long enough in the VR simulator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let go.
WATT: Let go the trigger?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there you go.
WATT: Wow. That feels great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cool. Right?
WATT (voice-over): Ignore my histrionics. This is very easy.
I mean, this feels very cool. And I'm just pretending.
(Voice-over): You have to pass a test in the simulator before you can buy a Pivotal personal aircraft. It isn't a legal requirement. They say they're
just being responsible. And also looking into uses helpful to humanity, maybe for getting a smoke jumper into a wildfire or getting a doctor to a
hard to reach patient. And of course, there's the military.
You've given them to the U.S. Air Force already.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct. For non-developmental testing. And now we're working with other agencies within the DOD. That said, there's I
think an amazing opportunity in recreation.
WATT (voice-over): And one pilot told me flying a Cessna is like driving a sedate sedan. Flying this is like riding a motorcycle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Our thanks to Nick Watt there.
And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Paula Newton. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
