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Quest Means Business
Iran Suspends Peace Talks Over Fighting In Lebanon; Semiconductor Stocks Giving Wall Street A Wartime Boost; Accor CEO: Super Jealous Of U.S. Market; CNN Goes Inside An Ebola Clinic In Democratic Republic Of The Congo; Race Against Time To Locate Two Missing Men; Bain: A.I. Cost-Savings Measures Fall Short Of Expectations; Florida Accuses OpenAI CEO Of Releasing Unsafe Product. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 01, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:10]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": The clapping is about to begin. I promise you, they will start applauding and they will
start getting themselves all excited as they head towards the closing bell, which is about to ring on Wall Street. Oh, it has been very muted from the
International Retail Forum. Normally, there is a lot more coming, anyway, the markets are -- we had a down session for most of the session and then
it all went positive towards the end. As a result, we are going to close the market after the gentleman is done there, one, and a two, and a one
two, three, four.
It is really rather sad when they all try and break the gavel and rarely succeed. We have records on the Dow, the S&P and the NASDAQ. The markets
are all at a record, which is all the more extraordinary as I tell you, the main events we are talking about.
Oil prices are actually soaring as talks between the U.S. and Iran appear to be breaking down, or at least cooling off.
The chief executive of Accor Hotels tells me, don't bet against the Middle East, hotel bookings there show resilience despite the conflict.
And Anthropic now files for what could be one of the biggest IPOs in history.
We are live in New York, Monday, June the 1st. I am Richard Quest and I mean business.
Good evening. Tonight, the fighting in Lebanon is threatening to derail peace talks between the United States and Iran. Iranian media is reporting
that Tehran has suspended the negotiations because of Israel's continuing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his military to strike Hezbollah's stronghold in Southern Beirut, and that prompted people
to flee the Lebanese capital.
President Trump now says on Truth Social that he has spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister and brokered a ceasefire in Lebanon. Mr. Trump also claims
that talks with Iran are continuing, he says, at a rapid pace.
Not surprisingly, in course of all of this, we had a very choppy session for oil on the commodity market. Brent now at $95.00, WTI at $92.00. They
were about nine percent up earlier. They have given back those gains and now just about even stevens to where we started the session.
It all shows a market that is in turmoil, chaos and confusion. Nic Robertson is with me. He joins me from London.
Not surprising. I am sorry, you've got a summer evening shower there or spring evening shower there, Nic. Not surprising, the markets are so
uncertain when the news on the talks is so confusing.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is, and that was one of the things that the Iranian Foreign Minister spokesperson had been
pointing out earlier on in the day, before Iran pulled the plug on the talks and had spoken about obstacles in the negotiations and spoken about
how the United States was putting China in certain positions and language, and then sort of being surprised when Iran would want to do the same thing,
and complaining and criticizing the United States for being confusing, for saying one thing one day and another thing another day.
Remembering just last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that these talks to get the Memorandum of Understanding would be just a couple
of days. It was a few words or a sentence, and I think everyone kind of bought into that idea. That idea, though, really seems to have been upended
today to the point, as you say, the sort of the heat in the kitchen, the steam has come out and its come out over this issue of Israel striking
Hezbollah deep inside Lebanon and the Iranians are saying, whoa, our ceasefire with the U.S., that's part of the same ceasefire. You can't
separate it out. We have to have that.
Now, is President Trump going to be able to get it back on track again? We don't know -- Richard.
QUEST: Why -- I mean, yes, Hezbollah is a proxy for the Iranians. But why are the Iranians asking their own security, in a sense, peace and security
in the ceasefire on that issue?
ROBERTSON: Yes, and look, I think for the Iranians, everyone sees Hezbollah as a proxy of the Iranians. The Iranians don't, they see them as a kindred
spirit, a Shia political party that has a military wing. That is not how Hezbollah plays out in the region. They play out as a military force that
has really unbuttoned and undone Lebanese politics or thwarted it, because they are the only armed political party, the sort of military group inside
of Lebanon.
[16:05:06]
That's the sort of crux of the problem in Lebanon that Hezbollah has armed the other political parties, the Lebanese Army isn't strong enough.
So Iran doesn't want to lose that strong proxy with all that leverage just over the border from Israel. So, this is why they will go to bat for them
and sort of up the ante over the talks. Iran doesn't just want a ceasefire there, from my understanding of the conversations that have been had over
the past month, Iran wants to make sure that Hezbollah is never disarmed, or at least not disarmed for at least three years, which is the next three
years of President Trump's administration, because they don't want to lose that powerful armed leverage they have on the border with Israel, which is
why Israel is, of course, going after Hezbollah. That's the conundrum, and that's one of the things that makes the whole talks about getting oil out
of the Gulf and through the Straits of Hormuz, so much more complicated.
QUEST: Nic, I am grateful. Thank you, sir. Nic Robertson in London. Thank you.
Wall Street is taking it all in its stride, the uncertainty, the S&P, as I told you, a look at the markets, they all closed up and they were all at
records for tonight. It is the records the Dow finished. It is a remarkable turnout from a couple of months ago when the major indices appeared to be
headed towards a correction.
The chip stocks have a lot to do with that. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has nearly tripled over the last year. It tracks companies that make
and design computer chips.
"The FT's" Robert Armstrong has noted that the broader market has become dependent on these companies. Robert Armstrong is the U.S. financial
commentator for "The Financial Times." He is with me now.
Robert, we've been here before, in a sense, in different shapes, different guises, with different sectors. It is the chips, if you will, chips with
everything, because I guess that whichever way this A.I. boom goes, however big it is, the chipmakers stand to gain regardless.
ROBERT ARMSTRONG, U.S. FINANCIAL COMMENTATOR, "THE FINANCIAL TIMES": I think that's right, and there are so many orders in the value chain now for
building these datacenters that not just chip companies, but a whole set of companies that help build, maintain, cool, wire, construct these data
centers, just have more orders than they know what to do with and that is going to continue for months and years, regardless of how big this data
center boom turns out to be, how big the A.I. technological revolution turns out to be, because the orders are sort of in already.
You know, the construction has already begun, so it is wild moment for Wall Street.
QUEST: If you're buying a chip fund, in a sense, you hedge your bets across all of them, the winners and the losers and those that might not do that
well. But if you are brave and decide to go individual, pick and choose, then you really are on your own in a sense, for who is going to have the
fastest super chip that is not going to be beaten by the next one when it comes out.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely right, and of course, some of the manufacturers of super chips are not chip companies at all. Companies like Google and Amazon
and other members of the Magnificent Seven are working on chips of their own because they don't want to be dependent on the likes of NVIDIA in their
own business, and they are spending untold hundreds of billions of dollars, and they would rather spend that on their own stuff.
I mean, one issue, Richard, is that we are all, in a certain sense, owners of chip funds now. The S&P 500 is coming to look increasingly like a chip
fund itself.
QUEST: Okay, but is it justified, bearing in mind the way we know economies are going and A.I. is going, is this trend valid in a sense? Or should we
be wary of it?
ARMSTRONG: The earnings of the companies that are doing well right now are very good. In other words, Micron, the memory chip maker has never made so
much revenue as it is making right now. So the stock price movements are backed up by earnings at the companies. The question is, how long can this
rapid growth last?
And, you know, the answer is definitely some months, a year or two years, but the prices now are forecasting three years, four years, five years of
prosperity into the future. And there is no way for any of us to know how - - you know, how right or wrong that is. All you can say is the prices are forecasting a very bright future indeed.
[16:10:05]
QUEST: And today is a good example of how we have two markets. We have the market on the left side of the wall, which is concerning itself with chips
and A.I. and all of this and we have the market on the right side of the wall concerning itself with growth, Middle East oil, slower growth, Strait
of Hormuz -- that right side of the equation is still not fully influencing the whole market, and the question I get asked repeatedly, and I don't
really have a very good answer because I am punting it to you is why is the rest of the market not more concerned by the geostrategic political stuff?
ARMSTRONG: I mean, it has been -- I think all of us are puzzled in the way that you are, that the market has persistently priced in the opening of the
Strait of Hormuz in short order. I mean, I think the thumbnail portrait of the situation is that if the Strait stays closed for several more months,
towards the end of the summer, we are going to have a real economic problem and the market has persistently said that is not going to happen.
QUEST: Do you wonder -- But do you believe, because this is the unknown, that if this does continue, the market does react or does it shrug it off?
I've got to sort of -- I can't justify --
ARMSTRONG: Eventually -- oh, absolutely. Absolutely, the answer to your question, Richard, is the market will have to react eventually. It is
absolutely unambiguous.
When global inventories of crude oil and refined products really reach a critical level, we are going to see economies slowing down. We are going to
see U.S. consumers making different choices about where they spend, where they drive, if they drive, and the market will respond. But we haven't
gotten there yet. We are several months away, and the market has continued to believe that we won't get to that point.
QUEST: And I am grateful for you, Robert, as always. I am so glad that you found time for us. Thank you very much, sir. Very kind.
ARMSTRONG: All right. Cheers! Talk soon.
QUEST: The chief executive of Accor Hotels says don't bet against the Middle East. Sebastien Bazin told me even though major gulf cities were
subject to attacks from Iran, people loved those cities before the war, and they will love them even more after.
I asked Sebastian, who joined me in the CEO Suite in the Sky, about the ripple effects. Just what we've been talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIEN BAZIN, CEO, ACCOR HOTELS: Not as big as we could have expected. We have half the customers we've been losing for the last four months in
the Middle East, we gained back in Egypt and North Africa and Morocco, which is super solid. So we are missing only half of it, and I am a true
optimist. That's going to end.
I think we are going to have a very nice fall and end of the year in the Middle East and I've been going there five times for the last four months.
Those guys are good. They have a plan. They have a vision. They have great leadership.
They want to rebound, and they have great destination. You and I know this. So --
QUEST: So how significant is that? This idea of they want to rebound. You know, they are not -- because essentially, they are single owner PLCs in a
sense.
BAZIN: Yes.
QUEST: They can.
BAZIN: This is a great advantage.
QUEST: Well, yes, pluses and minuses over there.
BAZIN: Well, there are not too many chefs in the kitchen though, it is one chef.
QUEST: Right, and as long as that chef says we are going to do this, then they do it and that's certainly a benefit at a time like this. There is no
debating. There are no committees, there are no long discussions about what to do.
BAZIN: And people loved it before the war. They are going to like it even better after the war. I mean, don't go bearish on Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha.
They have everything people can be dreaming of in terms of entertainment, shopping, access to water, hospitality, investment case, tax free
environment. I don't know of any other places. You know better than me, you travel as much as I do.
Think about another place in which you have those five or six things that travelers are looking for, and you have some of it in Singapore, some of it
in Phuket, but you don't have them all.
QUEST: So what do you make of the current market here in the United States?
BAZIN: I am super jealous. It is super resilient. It is still very strong.
QUEST: In spite of --
BAZIN: In spite of.
QUEST: I mean, that's the point, it is in spite of it, of course, but the numbers are down in terms of inward bookings. So people are --
BAZIN: They are up in Canada and Accor is very big in Canada with Fairmont. That's a blessing. No, it is just -- we actually have a great number here
in Washington, Philadelphia for Fairmont in New York, better than last year. So it is -- but it is one of the most robust markets and Accor is not
big enough in America. We are never going to be big enough.
QUEST: Really?
BAZIN: The place is taken by five big gorillas. They are going to eat my lunch. I am eating their lunch, actually, outside of America. That's fine.
It is a fair game, but it is -- but it is -- think about it, yes, we had Russia, we had Ukraine, we had Gaza, we had Israel, we have now Iran. And
every time, all of us, we are still fetching double digit growth, no matter what is happening geopolitically.
Why? Because population demography is going up. Emerging middle classes are going up. Infrastructure transport is going up, which means we have the
three cylinders to build upon the growth we had the last 20 years.
[16:15:28]
You and I talked about it, three to five percent growth in demand. It is going to be four to six percent in the next 20 years. It is going to be
even better than the last 20 years.
QUEST: Don't you sometimes stop and think how much better it would be if you hadn't had all those crises. If you're getting these numbers with those
crises, take them away.
BAZIN: If anything, you and I know, we are missing great leadership in this world. We are going to have crises every single year because people don't
know what they are doing. So despite all of this, you can bet on people willing to travel and you know, something which is extraordinary, people
are buying less goods. You know this -- less cars, less houses, and they spend more on travel.
QUEST: You're playing on that.
BAZIN: So are you.
QUEST: And it is true. Your entire campaign is on this idea.
BAZIN: It happens to be true and it happens to be confirmed every year passing and COVID, people said nobody is going to go back on a cruise ship.
Look at the occupancy of cruise ship.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Sebastien Bazin. You'll hear more from him over the next day or so.
Anthropic has taken a major step towards going public. The IPO could be one of the largest ever, and that's saying something in these markets. We will
discuss, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Anthropic has filed what is likely to be one of the largest IPOs in history. The company is known mostly for Claude, its A.I. model, and it has
enjoyed huge growth.
Anthropic raised $65 billion, extraordinary numbers, in the latest funding round. It brings the valuation close to $1 trillion, and now the proposed
IPO will depend on market conditions.
By filing, Anthropic has leapfrogged its rival OpenAI, which is also preparing to go public.
Lisa Eadicicco is in New York.
Do we have a vague idea of what an IPO of anthropic would raise?
LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So Anthropic has not said how many shares it plans to sell or what the price would be, so there is still
a lot of really important unanswered questions here, Richard.
But as you outlined earlier, just the sheer valuation of this company does set it up to potentially be a historically large IPO. But I think there is
actually a lot more to pay attention to here than just the raw numbers, which of course are very significant.
[16:20:07]
But I think what this really tells us is it will give us a window into the A.I. market, the A.I. industry that we haven't really had before.
A lot of these companies, when they file for an IPO, when they go public, of course, there is a lot of information in earnings reports that will dive
into business segments and show us exactly how much Anthropic would be making from products like Claude and it really just provides a lot of
information and also a bellwether potentially for where demand for A.I. really is, and I think that is something that you see with NVIDIA a lot
today.
And, you know, should Anthropic proceed, of course, with its IPO, if OpenAI IPO, the way it is expected to, I think we are going to get a lot more
market signals about what is actually happening in the A.I. industry, where all that money is going, where the demand really is, and where the business
opportunities are.
QUEST: Right. Can I just ask you, so being a -- sort of keeping it simple, I just asked, funnily enough, I asked one of the A.I.s you know, what does
Anthropic do? And of course it came back. It is about the LLM Claude. But then you sort of say, well, how does something like that just justify this
sort of valuation? What else does it do, Lisa?
EADICICCO: So I think what we are seeing here and what we've seen this year, especially, is this shift from A.I. apps being just an alternative to
Google search or a more advanced version of Google search to this belief that it is going to really shift the way people work and interact with
technology and do their job, and we are seeing that, of course, in the software engineering industry and finance. And I think that is really key
here because Claude has kind of been the favorite when it comes to enterprise A.I. usage.
There is a report recently from a Fintech firm that found that enterprise spending on Claude had surpassed OpenAI for the first time in April. And so
I think, you know, when I talk about these signals in the market, I think Anthropic's performance, if it does go public, will kind of serve as an
indication of how useful Claude really is.
And it is interesting because of course, you can't talk about this IPO without talking about it in the context of its rivalry with OpenAI, the two
of the biggest A.I. labs right now. But I think it is interesting because their product strategies are also fairly different. OpenAI, yes, they do
have a very strong enterprise product in their Codex agent, but they're also a general purpose app, whereas Anthropic has really, really leaned
into the enterprise element.
So I think this IPO will be a test for how strong that business really is.
QUEST: Right. Then we get to the really interesting question: Is there enough money to go around? I mean, I think the answer is yes, it is
slightly a false question, but you know, between SpaceX, between OpenAI, between Anthropic, the market is going to have to come -- it is going to
have to come up with trillions or certainly in the hundreds of billions and it is going to be who comes first.
EADICICCO: Exactly. And I think that's why a lot of people are viewing this as a really important step of who comes first, because there is a lot of
competition for funding out there as companies like Anthropic and OpenAI continue to build out their infrastructure and their computing needs, and
that is something that we've been hearing about for a really long time.
This scramble, this competition to secure computing power and, you know, capital to fund the future of A.I. and I think this kind of just takes that
one step further when there is already, as you mentioned, been a lot of concerns about where is that money coming from? Are we in a bubble? Is the
bubble going to burst? What happens when the bubble bursts?
QUEST: Sure.
EADICICCO: And this just kind of, you know, is an escalation of that story for sure.
QUEST: I am grateful. Thank you very much.
Coming up in a moment, CNN, our own Clarissa Ward is in a so-called Ebola red zone.
Clarissa is going to show us exactly what she must do before she can enter a clinic.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:27:11]
QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest. Together we will have more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
The state of Florida is suing OpenAI, accusing it of putting children at risk. We will tell you that story.
The media mogul, Barry Diller is making a play to own all of MGM Resorts. Those stories will follow after the news, because this is CNN, and on this
network, the news comes first.
President Trump says Israel and Hezbollah both agreed that all shooting will stop in Lebanon. The U.S. President says that the Israeli Prime
Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told him by phone the IDF will not go into Beirut.
He also claims the talks are continuing at a rapid pace with Iran.
The Trump administration is pausing efforts to create its so-called Anti- Weaponization Fund. The Justice Department now says it will follow the order made by a federal judge in Virginia last week.
The $1.8 billion fund was meant to compensate those who say they were targeted by previous administrations.
Serena Williams is returning to professional tennis. Queen's Club has confirmed she will play in the doubles competition at next week's HSBC
Championships. The 23-time grand slam singles champion never officially announced her retirement. However, Williams has not played professionally
in nearly four years.
To Kenya now, where hundreds of people have demonstrated against an Ebola quarantine center for Americans. Social media video is showing a plume of
smoke and a member of the military firing weapons. It comes after Kenya's High Court suspended the establishment of this center, citing Kenya's
fragile public health system.
At the same time, the World Health Organization now says four nurses have recovered from Ebola in the DRC, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Still,
the situation there remains extremely difficult. CNN's Clarissa Ward is in the so-called red zone in the DRC.
She went inside an Ebola clinic to see the conditions that healthcare workers are having to work under.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are now getting ready to go into the so-called red zone of this hospital. That is the area
where all suspected Ebola patients are put and there is a lot of protective gear, unsurprisingly, that one needs to wear to go inside.
One of the things that makes this so challenging for these healthcare workers is that it becomes unbearably hot to wear these for honestly, even
just 10 or 15 minutes. It is actually quite hard to breathe normally in these things.
(CLARISSA WARD speaking in foreign language.)
WARD: Another pair of gloves --
WARD (voice over): He tells me to pull the gloves over the sleeves of the suit.
WARD (on camera): Ebola is not actually airborne. Its contracted through fluids. But still, health care workers have to take absolutely every
precaution before they can treat the patients. Because, of course, to treat the patients, they need to touch them.
[16:30:37]
WARD (voice over): The doctors write our names on our backs, so they can recognize us. And then it's time to go in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: More reports from Clarissa in the days ahead.
In Laos, desperate race against time to find the two men still trapped in a flooded cave network. The focus has now shifted to a newly discovered cave
shaft, and amid possible signs of life. A rescuer is telling us they have heard knocking sounds in response to signals. Another member of the team
says the sounds could have been made by bats or the wind.
Five villages are recovering in hospital. They have made it out of the cave last week. CNN's Mike Valerio reports.
MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the day on Monday began with a healthy, cautious dose of optimism after rescuers started knocking
on the cave walls, hoping to hear a response in return, potentially from the two people who are still missing.
They heard something during some of those moments when they were knocking on the cave walls. But by nightfall on Monday, one member of the team told
CNN it was unclear what the sounds were, and it was absolutely not the case that they heard knocking.
Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH RICHARDS, CAVE DIVER: There has been a lot of reporting suggesting that we heard knocking back. That is absolutely not true. I had my ear to
that hole as best I could, listening, and it was definitely something unusual that I couldn't identify.
Now, that could have been bats, that could have been the wind coming in. A lot of these caves have fissures through them as well. There were very
unusual sounds coming down from below. They didn't necessarily sound rhythmic, they didn't sound like they were echoes or anything like that.
But there has been a lot of reporting saying, oh, we heard knocking. That is absolutely not the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So, what does the team now? Well, new reporting from our colleague Will Ripley, who is on the scene, is conveying that they will potentially
look at new tunnels that they have discovered. Not one before, where they could hopefully potentially get to the two men who still remain missing. It
is a very difficult enterprise to figure out where the two men are, because they didn't enter at the same time, as the other people who made it out of
the cave, so far.
They took a different route, and they went into the cave system earlier, before the men who have managed to make it out of that cave system.
Also, an air pocket where the two men could be, according to members of the rescue team. It is tighter and more unpleasant than the crevasses, than the
spaces that rescuers have had to move through so far. So, certainly, the operation is not over, but challenges certainly still remain.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.
QUEST: Florida is suing the maker of ChatGPT. The state's attorney general says it's not safe for children. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:06]
QUEST: Turning to one of our top stories. Anthropic has filed for its long- awaited IPO. The A.I. startups like Anthropic focus on the idea that automation amounts to savings, whether it's time, money, or jobs.
A new survey suggests the returns on these tools are falling far short. 40 percent of firms surveyed by Bain and Co. said their automation measures
yielded savings of less than 10 percent, yet 90 percent are increasing their budgets, adopting even more complex A.I. agents.
Michael Heric is the co-author of the survey, he is also senior partner at the global head of automation at Bain.
It reminds me of that famous line that they used to say about advertising, 50 percent of an advertising spend is worthwhile, 50 percent is wasted. The
problem is you don't know which 50 percent.
There is a sort of similarity here, isn't there?
MICHAEL HERIC, SENIOR PARTNER, BAIN AND COMPANY: Sure is. Thanks, Richard, first of all, for having me.
Couldn't agree more. I think, you know, people are very, very focused on the technology, which is absolutely critical. But to really make the
technology work, it actually takes people. And so, you know, what we have discovered is, you know, for many companies, it's not about the technology
itself, it's actually about business processes and how people work together, and that's really why they are falling short.
QUEST: It's the old problem, though. Everybody knows it's going to happen, and it's going to be good, but nobody's sure how and when.
For instance, today, we were talking to Sebastien Bazin at AccorHotels. He said they are spending more on A.I., but they're still working out the
parameters, by which the benefits will come.
Isn't that to be expected at this point in the revolution?
HERIC: It is. But I mean, I think we are further on than just, say, the first inning as an example. And when you are thinking about the sheer
amount of money that's being spent on A.I., you know, for many companies, many executives, it's sort of, where is that return on investment, right?
It's a little bit different than, say, previous, you know, technology -- technologies that have been adopted.
So, there is a lot of pressure not to just adopt these things, but also, like, where is the money, you know, where is that return on investment, and
what we see is, for in some cases, it's pretty substantial, but for many, you know, things fall short.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right. So, what should one do? I mean, you know it's going to be there, you know, there is a trial-and-error period.
(CROSSTALK)
HERIC: Yes.
QUEST: What does your survey say that the smart company does in these scenarios?
HERIC: Yes, a few things. As I mentioned, number one is not to just build a bunch of A.I. pilots and let them sort of, you know, operate, so to speak,
here, but actually really redesign your processes using sort of what we call a clean sheet methodology to really look at those processes from
scratch, and understand really how A.I. and automation fit into it. I would say that's the first thing.
I mean, a big piece is also around really the data, as you know. Huge amounts of money, probably hundreds of billions of dollars, have been spent
on data modernization, yet data and getting access to data to make A.I. work is still a major hurdle for many companies. And so, those are a couple
things that I would say.
QUEST: Right. But the core difficulty here is you say, go back to ground zero and design your clean sheet.
How many companies think they are actually doing it, but in reality, are fooling themselves?
HERIC: Probably, the majority. Really fooling themselves, Richard.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Really, really.
HERIC: In the sense that, you know, there is so much pressure, right, to implement A.I. For most companies, they sort of take their business
processes, you know, they put out there, you know, different A.I. or automation use cases, try to make that process just marginally better.
[16:40:09]
But at the end of the day, there isn't necessarily a breakthrough. There are some companies, though, that have created tremendous breakthroughs by
really redesigning their processes with A.I. inside, as opposed to just layering AI on top.
QUEST: You see, I'm not sure I fully understand what you then do in this scenario. Because, you know -- if you are the CEO and you know you've got
to be on board this bus or this train that's leaving the station, and you are doing the best you can to make it as useful to you as possible, and you
are basically saying you are tripping over your own shoelaces on the way to the -- to the train. So, I don't know what you do.
HERIC: Well, I mean, I think the way what you do is, I think there is tremendous excitement, obviously, around A.I., Richard. But in a sense,
this is good old business process transformation that's been around for a very long time. You know, we go through these technology cycles.
A.I. is incredibly exciting, faster and more transformative than we've ever seen. But at the same time, a lot of the lessons learned from those prior
cycles apply here, which is you still can't short circuit, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right.
HERIC: Looking at those business processes, redesigning it, and doing the right thing. When you do that, you basically just wind up spending a ton of
money on A.I. and not getting much back.
QUEST: Right. Good old-fashioned common sense is what you are talking about, Michael. Good old-fashioned code, which is what bring it -- bring it
back into a bit of A.I. Get rid of the hype.
Thank you, sir. Grateful that you joined us. Thank you.
HERIC: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: All right. We told you, Florida is suing OpenAI over concerns that ChatGPT isn't safe. The state attorney general says the platform poses
risks to children and lacks proper parental controls. He also says that the Chief Executive Sam Altman, has chosen profit over public safety. It's only
the latest state to sue Florida over OpenAI because of its danger -- alleged dangers.
Hadas Gold is in New York.
We've had this before in some shape or form in Canada. We've had it elsewhere in the U.S. What's different about this one?
HADAS GOLD, CNN AI CORRESPONDENT: What's different about this one is that Florida is now the first state to target OpenAI, and its CEO, Sam Altman
personally, over what they say are the dangers posed by ChatGPT, especially to children.
They accuse OpenAI of marketing ChatGPT as a safe, family-friendly product, but they claim that OpenAI knew about ChatGPT's dangers and instead
prioritized profits over safety.
They accuse OpenAI of deceptive, unfair trade practices, and negligence. And they go through a litany of accusations, pretty much everything bad you
have heard about a ChatGPT, they list in this lawsuit. Everything from helping -- from ChatGPT, allegedly helping mass shooters, allegedly helping
people and encouraging them to self-harm.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right.
GOLD: Getting minors addicted to a tool, and they specifically focus on minors, saying that the parental controls that they have in place are not
nearly enough.
And what's also interesting is that they are holding Sam Altman, personally liable. They are accusing him of being personally liable, and alleging that
he has a long pattern of deception, and says that OpenAI could owe billions.
Take a listen to the Florida attorney general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES UTHMEIER, ATTORNEY GENERAL, FLORIDA: We recently filed a monumental civil lawsuit against Sam Altman and ChatGPT, for endangering our kids and
deceiving parents into believing that this application is safe for use.
It's clearly not. People are getting hurt, parents are getting deceived, and they need to pay for it. They need to pay for it by opening up their
checkbook and changing the program to ensure that there are parental controls and that we are not endangering our kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, and Hadas, when, how, or where is this finally going to come to some trial? I don't just mean the Florida case. You've got all of them.
There is -- there is -- as you said at the beginning, there is new -- at some point, one of these is going to actually get before a judge and a jury
and come to trial. Do we know when and where? Who will be first?
GOLD: Yes. That's really interesting to think about. And it's really a question about whether the regulations will come from the government first
or whether we are going to see something from the courts first. And I would argue, actually, the courts are likely going to be first on this, in terms
of whether these companies can be held liable for this.
You know, this case also builds on Florida opening the first criminal investigation into an A.I. company. The same Attorney General accuses
OpenAI's ChatGPT of aiding and abetting the shooter accused of carrying out that mass shooting at Florida State University last year.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right.
GOLD: They said, if ChatGPT was a computer -- was a person instead of a computer, they would be charged with aiding and abetting. Richard, I do
want to get to OpenAI's, though, statement in response to this lawsuit by Florida.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: True. Of course.
GOLD: They say that they have built safety for minors directly into their products, including a more protective experience, specifically for minors.
They say they have an age prediction tool, defaulting users whose age. We are not confident into our more protective experience.
[16:45:02]
Giving parents tools to monitor their kids' use of AI, they say we know pointed to this work will not bring a child back, but they are committed to
getting this right.
Now, as you noted, lots of A.I. companies, ChatGPT as well, they have all been facing a litany of lawsuits over this. So, it will be really
interesting to see what the courts do. And, of course, we have got different levels, different states going on about how they handle whether
and how these tech companies are liable for what their chatbots do.
QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you. Hadass Gold, with that story in New York.
In a moment, Barry Diller is best known, of course, in the media mogul industry. He is going now all in to take over a casino operator.
(INAUDIBLE) in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: An iconic -- the fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas, of course. Now we could be seeing a shake-up in ownership, not just for that, but for all
that, for the group.
Barry Diller may soon take over MGM Resort, his holding company, people -- and -- or he has around a quarter of the casino operator, and now, he is
going to be going all in, trying to get all the chips he can.
People say it's made an offer to buy the rest of the company at around $18 billion. The deal diversifies still as empire on its properties like
people, travel, and leisure, and as Anna Cooban is with me.
One of his fascinating parties, that even later on in life, Barry Diller is determined to do deals and do deals of this magnitude.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: He is 84, Richard. I mean, by that point, I want to be slowing down, but he is wanting to
acquire this massive casino business.
Now, Diller, he is one of the world's richest people. He's got a long pedigree of basically buying up companies, turning them around, and then
spitting them out in lots of cases, and in lots of cases for lots of success.
But what the company is been doing recently, People Inc., is actually sort of refining what they do and doubling down, in a couple of core industries.
One is the publishing business, which they're very well known for. And the second is casinos.
So, People Inc. started buying up this stock during the pandemic, which was a very difficult time for casinos, and they have just been building it up
ever since. And now, they want over half.
Now, one of the reasons I find particularly interesting, for, you know, the reasons that Diller has given for wanting this takeover, is he thinks that
this is an A.I. proof business.
He said that this is a rare kind of business. It has real world assets that A.I. cannot easily replicate.
[16:50:03]
Now, we know that online betting is a huge industry, it had massive momentum since the pandemic. So, it's just interesting to hear this
business mogul come out to say that he thinks a lot of the future is actually in in-person gambling. Richard.
QUEST: Oh, I think he is -- I have no doubt, he is one of the cleverest, sharpest, most -- his acumen is extraordinary, and he may -- and he may --
and the time and again, he is been proven right on these sort of things. So, the question, of course, is the timescale and the amount of money that
he's got to raise to do it.
COOBAN: Of course, the details still need to be worked out, of course, it still needs to be sort of accepted by MGM.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Yes.
COOBAN: But as you mentioned there, this person has an enormous pedigree, I mean, he is 84. He has got a lot on his C.V. He was CEO of Paramount
Pictures during the 70s and 80s, responsible for some of the greatest films of all time being released. Also helped launch the Fox network. So, this
man's got a lot of experience, and so, we'll have to see how this potential takeover pans out.
But Richard, I hope there's a potential takeover on this side of the pond in London with EasyJet.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Yes.
COOBAN: I don't know if you know much about that.
QUEST: The EasyJet story, fascinating. So, Castle Lake of -- you know, Private Equity has made a multi-billion-dollar bid for EasyJet. That's what
you are talking about, isn't it?
COOBAN: Yes.
QUEST: And this is the one where EasyJet says it is highly opportunistic. I think, on this one, I think what's happened here is that EasyJet is now in
play. We have always known that EasyJet is going to be a -- of all the big -- of all the low-cost carriers, EasyJet was the one that people talked
about has been taken over.
And now, they are in play. They have been put in play, so, everybody else who might have an interest in not only wanting it, but to stopping somebody
else from getting it. It's going to be fascinating to see how this one.
Thank you for bringing that, reminding me about that today. We needed to mention that. Thank you very much. And, of course, (INAUDIBLE), EasyJet,
oh, there you go. Get it all.
Serena Williams is making her long-awaited return to the tennis court this week. The Queen's Club has confirmed she will play in the doubles
competition at next week's HSBC Championship. Williams teased her return on X earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Williams lost her last match in 2022 at the Open. She says she was evolving away from tennis. She never officially announced her retirement,
and it's dual speculation about her return ever since.
Don Riddell is with me. Don, right, let's not -- let's not worry too much of whether it's a return or not. The question is, is she tennis wise up to
it?
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Richard, I learned a long time ago in this business that you should never go on television and say I don't know, but
the answer is I don't know. I can't tell you why she is making a comeback. I can't tell you if indeed it is a comeback, because, as you say, she never
retired. We don't yet know who her doubles partner is even going to be next week, although, it's rumored to be Victoria Mboko.
What is for sure is that there is an awful lot of curiosity, intrigue, perhaps, even excitement that the greatest of all time is going to play
tennis again, but at the age of 44, it's hard to really know how much of a sort of future there is going to be.
It was interesting, she kind of, this announcement came out in a number of different ways, but one of them was a statement she made through the lawn
tennis association, where she said that Queens is the perfect place to begin this next chapter.
So, that doesn't sound like it's going to be a one off. That sounds like there's going to be more to come. Does that mean she's going to play
Wimbledon, which comes after Queens, where, of course, she is a seven-time singles champion? She won six doubles.
Is she going to play singles again, or is she just going to come back as a doubles player? There is so much we just don't know. But for sure, this has
been something that has kept tennis and sports writers very, very busy today, and there will be an awful lot of excitement and intrigue next week
when Queens gets underway.
She has never played there, by the way, because only the men have been playing there from the early 70s until what I think just last year. So, the
women haven't played there until recently. And Serena has never played at Queens. So, that in itself will be meaningful.
QUEST: Can I do the doubles? I mean, the doubles is often thought of as, to a certain extent, as not seemed irrelevant, you know what I mean. It's
always the second. People talk about the doubles after they have talked about the singles, and all the attention goes to the singles.
Is this a sort of nice way for her to get back into the game, have a bit of fun, which sounds like what she is also looking to do as well, enjoy
herself as she talks about the next stage. And this is -- the doubles is a perfect way of doing it, slightly under the radar, slightly less
significant, slightly less priority.
Well, so you are right that the doubles gets much less attention.
[16:55:03]
The box office format is singles for sure. But double tennis is highly entertaining.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Yes!
RIDDELL: And doubles the doubles gets much less attention. The box office format is singles for sure, but double tennis is highly entertaining, and
double players, I think, would wish they got a little bit more of the limelight. They are going to next --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: But that's, that's my point.
RIDDELL: They are going to next week, because Serena is going to be playing doubles, which probably means that will completely overshadow whatever else
is going on in the tournament, for as long as she is in it. But I think, in terms of just a pragmatic choice to return, it makes perfect sense for her
to return as a doubles player.
It's obviously much easier, you don't have to cover the whole court, because you get to split it with your teammate. It's just going to be easy
on her body, on her joints, on her stamina, on her fitness, on everything.
So, it's kind of -- it kind of makes sense that she would return as a doubles player, and she -- and we will see where it goes from there.
QUEST: Don, I was just thinking. So, you say she is 44.
We've had 44-year-old Serena, we have got 84-year-old Barry Diller, who --
(CROSSTALK)
RIDDELL: Yes.
QUEST: Puts me right in the middle. The 64. I'm not -- I'm not sure what point I'm making on that. But, I just like, you know, I'm neither too old
for the doubles, and I'm not a mogul that's about to buy in with -
RIDDELL: Richard, you will live forever. I don't know what you are worried about.
QUEST: Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.
Don Riddell, joining us there. We'll take a "PROFITABLE MOMENT" after the break. When I'm 64.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "PROFITABLE MOMENT". You are familiar with the old joke about economists have successfully predicted nine of the last five
recessions, and that's exactly the situation where we are with A.I., the market, and a potential crash, or it all falling over.
We all -- I don't know, anybody in the market, or it looks at this, it doesn't think that there will be a very, very serious bordering on eek,
correction at some point, maybe even a crash, of course, when?
Well, as Ronan, my producer, just said, it will happen the day after he is just invested in the stock market. I'll go one stage further: It will
happen the day after I've invested that Ronan's invested the day into the stock market, because I'm really good at taking portfolios and shrinking
them, because I invest at the wrong time.
[17:00:00]
Now, the truth of the matter is that we know something's going to happen, but the problem.is raw greed. Raw greed keeps us in the market, keeps us,
adding to portfolios, when we should be diversifying. Or even, taking a profit. There is a phrase you don't did too often. Learn to take a profits
and not be greedy.
END
