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Quest Means Business
Nvidia Forecasts Q2 Revenue Above Expectations; Ambience Offers A.I. Tools to Streamline Medical Paperwork; Piece of Eiffel Tower Staircase to be Auctioned This Week. Aired 4:00p-5p ET
Aired May 20, 2026 - 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: A very healthy rally on the market today. A little bit less concern about the price of energy, as well as a
little bit more calm in the bond market. But as well here, investors really digging in to some very good corporate earnings. Those are the markets, and
these are the main events.
The United States indicts the 94-year-old former leader of Cuba. The acting attorney general says he will face justice one way or the other.
Rupert Murdoch's son, James Murdoch is buying a major part of Vox Media.
And market giant, NVIDIA reports earnings at any moment now. We will bring you the results and of course, tell you what it means for the broader
markets.
Live from New York, it is Wednesday, May 20th. I am Paula Newton in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
And a very good evening to you.
Tonight, the U.S. Justice Department has charged Raul Castro with murder over the downing of two civilian aircraft 30 years ago.
The indictment accuses the former Cuban president of approving deadly force against the planes. Castro was serving as Defense Minister of Cuba at the
time. The planes belonged to the Brothers to the Rescue, a search and rescue group that tried to help Cubans fleeing the island by sea.
Now, Raul Castro took over leadership of Cuba from his ailing brother, Fidel in 2006. He resigned in 2021 as the head of its communist party.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel calls the indictment a political maneuver. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche says he intends to
bring Castro to justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We did indict. This isn't a show indictment. This is an indictment because we expect that there was a
warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way, and go to prison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, according to the Justice Department, these charges are 30 years in the making with federal prosecutors in Miami first drafting an
indictment against Castro in the 1990s.
Now, no charges were filed at that time. In 2016, a former U.S. Attorney in Miami wrote a memo laying out a possible case against Castro. It was sent
to Trump's then Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, though nothing came of it.
The memo in recent months made its way back to the top of the Trump administration. Evan Perez is in Washington for us and so many
extraordinary details in this indictment.
You followed this so closely for some time now. What are the Justice Department's real intentions here with this indictment?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, you know, part of the goal here is to provide a measure of justice for these families, the
families of these four men who were killed. There is no doubt that these were civilian planes, unarmed planes that were in international airspace
outside of Cuba. It is true that the group, Brothers to the Rescue had been an irritant to the Cuban government.
Look, I was a very young, young baby reporter, I like to call myself back in that time and I covered a lot of these flights that they -- that the
Brothers to the Rescue did. There was one incident in which the founder actually buzzed the Havana skyline.
So there was a lot of reasons why the Cuban government wanted these flights stopped. And so what the indictment lays out is an operation by the Cubans
to send operatives to send spies to Miami to infiltrate this group. So they knew when this group was coming. They knew these pilots were coming that
day. And so they had the Cuban MIG pilots flying and ready to intercept them when they got close enough and they gave the order to shoot them down.
Now, that's part of what is at work here. But the broader point, I think you and I both know, is that there is an intense -- there is an effort to
put -- to intensify pressure on the Cuban government. There was a visit recently from John Ratcliffe, the head of the CIA. We don't know exactly
what was discussed, but one of the things that we know is that the U.S. government wants the Cubans to change various things, including their
economic system and their political system, and you can see the reaction from the Cuban government is, no, not just like that.
So the question, though, is, does this indictment serve as a pretext for President Donald Trump to order an operation like the one he ordered where
the U.S. military snatched Nicolas Maduro from his bedroom in Caracas earlier this year and brought him to a court in New York. Does that -- does
that now happen with Cuba?
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It is not clear. Obviously, a lot of things have changed since the Maduro operation, including, of course, the element of surprise. But also the U.S.
is now involved in a war in Iran that has not gone the way they planned. So, it is not clear that the playbook that worked so well with Maduro can
be used in this case, but in this -- but you can bet that one of the things that they want to do is to increase the pressure on the Cuban government
and whatever leverage they think they have to try to bring changes to that island. And we will see whether that works or not.
NEWTON: And it goes without saying, Evan, this is not without risk. As you said, there is a political playbook here. But we've also heard from
Castro's family that this could be much more complicated than the Trump administration assumes.
PEREZ: Right. Exactly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALINA FERNANDEZ, FIDEL CASTRO'S DAUGHTER: I think that at this point, it depends on the Cubans, which is very worrisome. Who can desire or want an
invasion for his country? As easy as it is to say it sitting here, this is not the first time they are told that an invasion is coming immediately.
Weve been under invasion for the last 67 years, or the threat of an invasion. I am sure they are prepared and I don't know how they're going to
respond.
I would remind everybody that the capacity for reaction of the Cuban regime shouldn't be undermined and underestimated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Evan, that was quite a warning there.
PEREZ: Yes, it is a warning, and I think, you know, those words. I think really carry a lot of weight because as she pointed out, the Cuban
government, the island of Cuba, the Cuban people have lived with this persistent threat that the U.S. could invade at any point. The U.S. has not
done so over the years.
And so -- and as I pointed out, you know, a lot has changed since the successful operation to remove Maduro, including of course, the fact that
there is an ongoing war in Iran.
And so we don't know whether the U.S. will actually end up trying to do the same thing, but the operation here is a lot more complicated, and it
carries a lot of risks, especially for the Cuban people and given the fact that the island is suffering through a crisis with extreme blackouts and
energy shortages, it is not clear how the U.S. and the Cuban government can work their way out of this.
NEWTON: Yes and again, Donald Trump continues to talk about this issue at almost every turn when he is asked about it. So the next few days could be
very eventful.
Evan Perez for us in Washington. Appreciate it.
Now, an official at the World Health Organization says developing a vaccine to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could take months.
The warning comes as more cases of the deadly virus are being reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The E.U. is preparing to send about a
hundred tons of medical aid to the DRC, where the virus has been linked to nearly 140 deaths so far.
The head of the WHO says that figure is unfortunately expected to rise.
Dr. Anne Ancia is the WHO's representative in the DRC, and she joins us now from Kinshasa. It is really good to have you on the program, as we all wait
to learn more really about what this outbreak entails for the continent over the next few days and weeks.
Can you give us a full update now on the very latest? I know you've been in the field. So what have you learned?
DR. ANNE ANCIA, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVE IN THE DRC: Yes, I am still in the field actually, because the plane that was supposed to get
me back to Kinshasa has never arrived. So I am still in Bunia for the time being.
The situation is very preoccupying. You know, we -- this outbreak was discovered and confirmed a little bit, a little bit late. It was already
rampant for a few weeks before it was clearly diagnosed and declared by the national authorities.
So, you know, the provinces where, where this outbreak is also unfolding are provinces that have, you know, high insecurity, a lot of movement of
population and the population are very, very vulnerable because they've been actually affected by humanitarian crisis since years.
The Ituri Province is the seat of communal and ethnic conflict since, as I said, since many years, which has led to more than one million displaced
people right now. And as I said, a lot of very, very vulnerable population.
In addition, you know, the budget cuts that the humanitarian communities and the health sector faced in 2025. You know, there has been in DRC, the
health sector budget decreased by 70 percent in 2025.
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So really, it has been very difficult to be able to keep the humanitarian assistance that for all those populations, we really had to, to prioritize.
In addition, as I said, this province is really with high insecurity and the hotspot, the epicenter of this outbreak is actually in an area that is
a little bit hard to reach and very insecure.
In addition, this outbreak has now spread to the town of Bunia, where, where I am right now. And we've got therefore also an outbreak that is
developing in an urban and highly dense area, which will make it even more difficult to tackle.
The outbreak has already crossed over to Uganda, where there has been two imported cases, but so far there is no more case. There are several people
who are under surveillance for the time being. But the outbreak has also disseminated in the southern province here, the province of North Kivu,
which is another province where there is a huge humanitarian crisis that has been there for several years, since actually almost 1994. And that has
been exacerbated last year by the town of Goma, where you've got cases for the time being, the town of Goma being taken by the M23 and therefore not
anymore under the governance of the national authorities, but under de facto authorities' governance, and the town of Goma is also very close to
the border of Rwanda.
So Rwanda has closed its border, although it led the humanitarian assistance getting in for the time being. But before the humanitarian
assistance were coming from the airport of Goma, which has been closed since last year. Then the third hotspot for the time being is also still in
the province of North Kivu, a little bit more north, in an area called Butembo, where we've got also several cases. And that area was already --
severely affected by the last outbreak of Ebola Subtype Zaire in the outbreak that happened in 2018 and 2019.
NEWTON: Dr. Ancia, you've certainly given us a very sobering breakdown of what exactly you're looking at here in terms of the challenge. You are
still in Bunia. What are you seeing there on the ground? Do you continue to see people who bring in loved ones, who believe they are symptomatic? How
is the testing going? And obviously then the contact tracing?
ANCIA: Yes. So, you know, we are we are day three of the response and we are much, much more -- much better organized than on day one. We managed to
bring, you know, health professionals and health experts, both from WHO and the Ministry of Health.
We've been managing to bring supplies on the ground and we've got more and more partners who are also reaching and arriving in Bunia to be able to
help bringing a response in a much more coordinated manner.
So, what we see is really a response that is getting well organized. Today we have -- we have actually, we are transferring actually suspected and
confirmed cases, which were actually, hospitalized in the hospital of Bunia and in the hospitals of Ampara.
Those hospitals were overwhelmed, and actually, even if the suspected cases were tried to be put apart, there were no real condition for infection
prevention and control being put in place. So now we are transferring those patients in another hospital that will be, you know, specifically dedicated
to the treatment of Ebola and where a very strict and robust infection and prevention control measures will be put in place.
So we are also very much working with all the communities. So we have -- we are working with religious leaders, community leaders, teachers, any kind
of influencers. We are working with taxi drivers and truck drivers so that we can start disseminating messages for risk mitigation, risk prevention,
and we will be trying for the recommendation to prevent --
NEWTON: Dr. Ancia, I thank you given us a very stark picture of the challenge ahead, and we thank you just for filling us in on what is going
on, on the ground there. Thanks so much.
Now, James Murdoch, the son of media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, appears to be building his own media empire. We will tell you the latest about that
acquisition after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Well, the U.S. stock market is trading near record highs. The bond market has been flashing warning signs. The yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury has climbed sharply over the last couple of months. It has risen this week to as much as 4.6 percent. That's a signal from investors that
they expect inflation to pick up, and that interest rates will go higher.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury this week at the highest level since 2007, signaling a lack of long-term confidence.
CNN's David Goldman has more now on why yields are rising and what it could mean for consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: So there is a market that you don't think about all the time that's more important than the stock market
right now, and it is sending a worrying signal about the economy and that is the bond market, which you can think of like a scale.
And when prices go down, the yield or the interest rate that it pays goes up and that is happening big time right now as bond prices are falling like
a rock and yields are going higher. And the reason that's happening is all of that negative stuff that's happening in the economy right now.
And you can think about it like the cost of inflation or the amount that we need to finance the debt, all of those war costs. We also have potential
rate hikes and all the money that we are paying for A.I., and then, of course, all the consumer spending that fuels all of this.
And so the prices are falling and yields are rising. Actually, the 30-year yield just hit a 19-year high. And the benchmark 10-year yield, well, that
is at its highest since 2025 and that's a problem because all of those consumer loans that are pegged to the 10-year yield, well those are rising,
too. Think credit card loan rates and mortgage rates, auto loans, all of that has to do with the yield of those bonds.
It is not just consumers, it is also businesses, and they have to pay more money and that means that their stock prices might start to fall.
In fact, the stock market is falling today, and also the government needs to pay a lot more to finance its debt. So when you think about why the bond
market matters so much, the problems with the economy mean problems for your wallet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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NEWTON: Our thanks to David Goldman there.
Now, James Murdoch, the son of media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, is making a major investment in the American news media.
His holding company announced it is buying most of Vox Media and "New York" Magazine. The deal includes Vox's subsidiaries, including its popular
podcast network and main website.
Murdoch and Vox both declined to comment on the purchase price, but CNN previously reported that the assets would fetch upwards of $300 million.
That was David Goldman, you are Brian Stelter. It is good to see you, Brian.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: You can call me whatever you want. Good to see you, too.
NEWTON: Not bad to follow David Goldman Brian, listen, you've got to break this down for us. So many are so intrigued. Now remember this is Rupert
Murdoch's son. Perhaps this is a mini me deal, but completely different in terms of outlook.
STELTER: Yes, absolutely. This is another example of James Murdoch breaking away from his family, from Rupert Murdoch and his brother Lachlan.
Rupert and Lachlan, they control "The New York Post," the top tabloid in New York City, a conservative tabloid. In some ways, "New York" Magazine is
the opposite. It is more about long form journalism. Yes, a kind of some gossip and interesting features and cultural stories, but much more for
liberal New York City versus "The New York Post."
It is also much more of a print magazine coming out a couple times a month. And again, much more about long form and in-depth journalism. But here you
have James Murdoch trying to make a bold statement, buying into the American news media market.
He has been taking steps for years to separate from the Murdoch family business. He has very publicly, and in some cases, painfully broken with
that right-wing media empire and he is trying to build up his own media holding company.
He owns part of the Tribeca Film Festival. He has big holdings in India, but this is his first big purchase in the American news media marketplace.
So he is getting "New York" Magazine. He is also getting the Vox Media podcast network, shows with Kara Swisher and others, and he is getting
vox.com.
So he says he wants to build these up. He says he wants to support what he says is traditional and polished journalism and figure out a way forward in
the A.I. age where he sees a lot of slop out there. He wants to go the opposite direction with very human-made, human-centered content.
NEWTON: And what are the odds in terms of him succeeding? I mean, this really -- his brother and his father's empire really now dwarfs this. I
mean, where do you think this is going in terms of really molding that media landscape?
STELTER: Yes, this is --
NEWTON: Go ahead --
STELTER: It is a full circle moment, by the way, because Rupert Murdoch, his dad, once owned the "New York" Magazine, you know, back in a previous
lifetime. So now, you know, obviously very challenging environment for print magazines.
The challenge for James Murdoch is to convert readers into digital subscribers, and with the podcasts, figure out a way to continue to grow
that podcast network.
You know, he says something interesting in "The New York Times" today. He said the brands he is buying, he believes they have scarcity value. So, in
an environment of infinite content, mostly A.I. generated, he believes these titles will still be unique and differentiated. That's the bet he is
making, and I do expect him to continue to make other acquisitions or look to do so.
He has more than $1 billion from his breakup with the family business, so he has money to spend, and that's a rarity in the media business these
days.
NEWTON: Yes, and he can certainly take that inheritance and leverage it against other things. We didn't get into the family politics. This is a
business show, but certainly that will be intriguing to see in the months to come as well.
Brian Stelter, thanks so much.
STELTER: Yes, yes.
NEWTON: Appreciate it.
STELTER: Thanks.
NEWTON: Now, songwriters and composers are preparing to hit the red carpet in London. Some will be recognized for their work at the Ivor Novello
Awards on Thursday. A.I. is changing the landscape for these creatives.
The CEO of the Ivor Academy tells our Anna Cooban. Its threatening their livelihoods.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT NERI, CEO, IVORS ACADEMY: A.I. has been forced on the music industry as a new thing that's happening, it has come and it is going to take away
jobs.
I am very concerned about our media composers who write for film, for T.V., you know, the underscores, they are the ones I am really worried about.
I think the Rosalia's, the Raye's, the Libertines are going to fight back and actually be seen more. If you look at the live industry, it is bigger
than ever. People want to go.
On the back of COVID, a few years ago, people are seeing more and more live gigs now, and I think there will only increase. A.I. is an absolute threat
for part of our community. We have to be concerned. We are in touch with governments and bodies around the world to ensure we are protecting the
interests of songwriters and composers.
But these ones that can perform and actually interact with the public, I think they are only going to get bigger.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: So are you saying then, that artists have a personality, people know what they look like. They know
their voice, they are more safe than composers whose music is sort of background music to a film, for example. People don't know their names.
NERI: Exactly, so they're the other unsung heroes. Unless you're Hans Zimmer or John Williams, you know, there are -- again --
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Most people, they could walk past them on the street, they wouldn't even know what they look like.
COOBAN: So I was on Spotify a few weeks ago and a song got recommended to me, which is absolutely in the sweet spot of the kind of music that I like
to listen to and I was like, who is this artist? I Google it, it is A.I.
Now is A.I. just giving people what they want to listen to?
NERI: A big part of all of the A.I. debate really is, we've got authorization. Are the creators, the music makers allowing their works to
be trained in the first place? The answer currently is no. Then you've obviously got, if it is happening, is there a remuneration going to them
for someone that's basically stolen their I.P.? And then lastly is transparency, and this is where it kind of leans into what you're saying.
There is no transparency. You've had to look up or you've had to do some work to find out actually, that what you thought you liked was a piece of
A.I. generated content.
So these services need to do better to either label it appropriately or actually push it out from being there in the first place.
We, our board, our senate want human creators to be respected and to be the point of value on these services. You pay 12 pounds a month, whatever you
pay, you're not paying that for A.I. You didn't ask for A.I. content. Why is that being pushed on us?
COOBAN: And you used the word stolen there. Does this feel like it is theft?
NERI: This is theft on the on the grand scale that's been going on.
COOBAN: Now, Rosalia, she is going to be awarded the International Songwriter of the Year Award. Tell me about her, her craft, and what makes
her, in your view, someone that deserves this award.
NERI: She is exceptional, as I said earlier, you know, her performance is exceptional, but her songwriting ability, that album has something for
everyone. People say it is a classical album. You need to dig in deep and actually listen to every track. She is mixing up the genres within that
album, and she sings in 13 different languages. Its audacious.
It is amazing to kind of penetrate the U.S., the U.K., for us to kind of take a Spanish speaking artist in the way we have, testament to her to kind
of breakthrough in that way.
She is a global icon. She has four albums in, again, so this hasn't happened overnight for her. You know, she has been working on her craft for
years. She has worked with many other incredible people, the James Blakes, The Weeknd, et cetera.
So to finally have this moment and to know how much work she put into the album, from a songwriting perspective, that's why she is picking up the
Oscar equivalent, which is the Ivor Novello tomorrow.
COOBAN: And you've mentioned this a few times. You know, the craft that goes into this. Do you think that what differentiates or makes, you know,
human-made music special is the sort of blood, sweat and tears of it all?
NERI: It does, like to make a motion picture, to kind of look at the picture and integrate that sensibility, that kind of moment, that feeling
that makes you, you know, gives you the goosebumps or makes you cry, that's the hard craft, you know? And same with songwriting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Okay. NVIDIA's quarterly earnings are in. We will have those after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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[16:31:26]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: All right. Just in the last few minutes, Nvidia announced its first quarter results. We want to see how
shares are doing after hours. As you can see they're up better than 1 percent. The chip maker expects its current quarter revenue to come in at
$91 billion. That was a bit more than analysts had been expecting. Now the company also announced an $80 billion share repurchase program.
Clare Duffy is with us in New York.
And look, Clare, I know we still have to wait for the call at 5:00 p.m., but what was surprising, if anything, in these results, because the
expectations were already so high?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Paula, that's the challenge for Nvidia at this point is that shareholders expect that it is going to be
printing money. And it has done that once again here. You've got sales up 85 percent year on year. Profits up 139 percent year on year to more than
$58 billion. Nvidia is continuing this growth trajectory, but shareholders have started to ask questions about whether that trajectory can and will
continue. In particular, the tens of billions of dollars that we've seen, the big hyperscaler compute companies like Google and Meta and Amazon, will
they continue the billions of dollars of infrastructure spending that we've been seeing over the past few years?
And what is it going to mean for Nvidia that it is facing increasing competition from the likes of AMD and also Google and Amazon that are
building their own chips? And so that is what Nvidia had to address in this earnings report today. We will wait to hear what more they say about it on
the call. But certainly these results look good. And I think that $80 billion share repurchase program is also probably designed to help ease
some of those shareholder jitters -- Paula.
NEWTON: In terms of what this is going to look like, though, going forward, we had discussed the expectations. And now it seems that Nvidia isn't the
whole ball game anymore. And as you were saying, that does present more challenges for Nvidia itself. Also to just try and keep ahead of A.I..
Where is all of this going?
DUFFY: That's exactly right. And that's why you see Nvidia leaning into a couple of not new but increased focus directions. On the one hand, the
company is working very closely with companies like OpenAI that are building A.I. models to try to sort of co-develop products so that they get
in, in Nvidia ecosystem and then are sort of set there for life. But that's the idea at least.
And the other is that Nvidia is trying to make it clear to investors that it is not just a chip company, it is building networking and software
services on top of its chips. Again, to create this ecosystem that customers can come in and build A.I. services on top of, almost sort of
like this walled garden model that we've seen Apple and others in the tech industry take to try to maintain this business growth in the long term.
NEWTON: Yes. Again, a pivot that would have taken two years previously. These companies are now doing within a quarter or two.
Clare Duffy, really grateful for you to getting on top of the earnings. Appreciate it.
DUFFY: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, as you were just saying, Nvidia's earnings are now just one indication of how A.I. is being integrated into the workplace. Ambiance
Healthcare uses it to help clinicians with administrative tasks like summarizing patient records. One of its tools even listens to conversations
with patients and turns them into structured notes.
This type of technology is becoming prevalent enough to appear, get this, in HBO's medical drama "The Pitt."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOAH WYLE, ACTOR: Dr. Al-Hashimi.
SEPIDEH MOAFI, ACTOR: Yes.
WYLE: Dr. Santos was just using A.I. tool for her charting, and it hallucinated a history of appendicitis.
MOAFI: As I mentioned to Dr. Santos, generative A.I. is not perfect. We still need to proofread every chart it creates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Nikhil Buduma is the CEO of Ambiance Healthcare.
[16:35:03]
I'm not sure if your company has clarified the hallucinations yet. I know that it isn't something that happens all that often. That was fictional.
This is real life. So I do want to get to what's going on in your company. A.I., you say, uniquely poised to be the best solution because you're
saying it fills this critical expertise gap between the entire -- in the entire health care spectrum. But I guess as patients, we all want to know
how will it benefit us and how quickly will we start to see that benefit?
NIKHIL BUDUMA, CEO, AMBIENCE HEALTHCARE: That's such a great question, and thank you so much for having me. You think about the experience of a
patient today, you probably remember the last time you went to the doctor's office. You traveled 30 minutes. You sit in a waiting room. You find
yourself asking and answering the same questions over and over again. And when you're finally in that room with the doctor, oftentimes they're
distracted.
Their back is facing towards you. They're deep in their computer multitasking. And the reality is that's just the tip of the iceberg. The
average doctor today is spending hours and hours and hours of their time searching through the electronic medical record, looking up guidelines,
writing notes, navigating all the complexities of the insurance companies they work with. And the result is they don't get to spend the time and the
attention they want with patients and their families.
And so the opportunity that we're very excited about is how we use A.I., add it as a member of every care team to alleviate that burden off of our
caregivers so they can focus on what they do best, which is taking care of the patient and the family in front of them.
NEWTON: And what has been the feedback that you've gotten in clinics?
BUDUMA: You know, I think for the average physician, they went into the practice of medicine to take care of people. And what's happened over the
last decade of technology is that it's inserted itself in between the person and the patient and the family member on the other side. And so when
you get to experience what it's like to look your patient in the eye and have a conversation with them and build a relationship with them, it brings
back a joy and restores a sort of like fulfillment.
That is the reason why clinicians went into the practice of medicine in the first place. And for a lot of patients, it's the first time in their entire
lives they actually feel really heard in that room. And so, you know, we're deployed across several of the major academic medical centers in the
country, like Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic and Penn Medicine, and patients and clinicians feel like a lot of that joy in medicine is coming
back for the first time ever since the implementation of the electronic medical record.
NEWTON: The other thing that may be significant here is the potential that you say this has to accelerate clinical research. How soon could we be
seeing that?
BUDUMA: I think what's really exciting about many of the researchers working inside of these academic medical institutions is that they're
studying some of the hardest cases. And just as we're seeing A.I. accelerate our ability to produce software, these capabilities are also
beginning to accelerate. These clinician researchers to ask and answer the right questions.
There are many complex diseases like long COVID and fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, where we just don't know the answers to these
questions. And we're already seeing these technologies accelerate our understanding of what exactly is going on with these conditions and opening
up entirely new ways of treating these conditions. I think in the next 18 months, we're going to start to see new therapeutics and new ways of
treating these complex diseases arrive and touch patients. And I think it's only going to get faster and faster from there on out.
NEWTON: 18 months. OK, Nikhil, you have seen the backlash against some iterations of A.I.. And you know people are growing more and more
skeptical. Do you believe this application into the healthcare realm will really be redeeming for artificial intelligence and really show people what
it can do? Having said that, it has to live up to the expectation.
BUDUMA: I think you're right. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with the opportunity ahead. But I think our healthcare system is at a
breaking point. We've got 10,000 seniors aging into Medicare every single day. We spend $4 trillion as a country on healthcare. About one quarter of
that is on administrative waste. And yet you think about the fraction of the population that actually has access to the very best medicine in the
world.
It's far and few between. And so I think this capability has a pretty incredible opportunity, which is, how do we take the very best medicine in
the entire world and scale it to the entirety of the country in a way that's affordable and accessible to everybody? And I think that's the --
that's the call to action that makes us want to show up to work every single day here at Ambiance.
NEWTON: And when we talk about timelines, again, I know I was hearing you in about 18 months. I mean, how rapidly do you believe patients will see
this with their doctors? Because it isn't everywhere right now.
[16:40:06]
BUDUMA: You know, we're already -- we're already deployed across 80 percent, for instance, of all the clinicians at Cleveland Clinic. And so if
you get care at Cleveland Clinic today, chances are your doctor is using Ambiance and talking to you about Ambiance every single day. We're seeing
that trend continue at a pretty exciting rate. And so I don't think it's long before every clinician is using a technology like this.
NEWTON: OK. Nikhil Buduma, Thanks so much for bringing us some of those insights about how A.I. can be applied to our healthcare. Appreciate it.
BUDUMA: Appreciate it.
NEWTON: Now we go to France. About seven million people visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris each year. And for almost a century, many people, including
me, used a spiral staircase to climb to the top. No joke. Now, a part of the original steps is hitting the auction block.
CNN's Melissa Bell takes a walk through history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the very staircase that the man who created the Eiffel Tower, Gustave Eiffel, used
to use every day to get up to his office at the very top of the tower.
Now, this little piece of that very staircase is being sold at auction. But at 1.4 tons in weight, whoever acquires it is going to need a pretty big
apartment and a pretty sturdy floor.
Ever since 1983, the staircase has given way to these elevators that take you all the way up to 280 meters above the ground, so less exercise but a
lot easier to get to the very top.
SABRINA DOLLA, DIRECTOR OF THE ART DECO DESIGN DEPARTMENT, ARTCURIAL: We will start at 100,000 euro and we will try to obtain the best price.
BELL: This is such an iconic monument and such a draw towards Paris. And yet whoever ends up acquiring this little piece of Parisian history will
never get this view.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Good point from our Melissa Bell.
Now, tomorrow night, a very special edition of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Richard will be broadcasting live from the Estonian capital, Tallinn. He'll
be joined by the prime minister and some of the country's top tech executives.
All right. Wall Street closed higher on signals that the U.S. and Iran are still engaged in some kind of diplomacy. All three indices gained more than
one percentage point.
We want to look at some of those Dow components. Goldman Sachs is up nearly 6 percent on reports that it will be the main underwriter for SpaceX's IPO.
We'll have more on that on the show. Nike is up 4 percent one day after announcing a new A.I. powered shopping tool. Chevron down 3 percent as oil
prices retreat.
And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Up next, "MARKETPLACE EUROPE."
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