Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Concerns Grow Over the Use of AI as Tech Rapidly Improves; Trump Says Harvard Should Have 15 Percent Cap on Foreign Students; Dr. Gupta Answers Your Questions About Bill Joel's Diagnosis. Aired 2:30- 3p ET

Aired May 28, 2025 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're witnessing the evolution of artificial intelligence. The latest example, Google's new AI video generator Veo 3, which can follow more difficult and detailed prompts to create realistic videos that appear to be made by human filmmakers and actors. Well, a congressional candidate in California is already taking advantage of this new tool.

She created her first campaign ad for television using Google's Veo 3. Here's a short snippet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a fake person made by AI prompts. I may look real and sound real, but there's nothing authentic about me in that way. I'm a lot like young Kim.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She pretends to be balanced, but she's almost as fake as I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, Democrat Esther Kim Varet posted the video online, trolling her Republican opponent saying, quote, We need real people representing us in Congress, not fake moderates like Rep Young Kim. So far, no response from Republican Congresswoman Young Kim -- Boris.

[14:35:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A lot of folks are worried about the use of artificial intelligence like that one use that Brianna just showed, and there are questions about the future of this technology.

For more on this let's turn to CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten at the Magic Wall. Harry, obviously we're still in the very early stages of AI. I just want to make sure, are you AI right now? Were you generated by artificial intelligence?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You stole my line. I was going to ask you, am I real? Oh my God.

SANCHEZ: I hope so. ENTEN: I hope so. I hope you're real too. I know our friendship is real. Look, let's sort of dig in here and sort of talk about AI and how Americans are feeling about it right now.

And I got to say, Americans are kind of skeptical of it. So AI impact on your day-to-day life. 38 percent will do more good than harm.

But look at this, 44 percent say it will do more harm than good. That's the plurality there. And there's a huge divide by education and by income.

We're having a situation here as the haves and the have-nots. What are we talking about? Let's take a look at that impact by income, right?

Think AI's impact will be good. Just 26 percent of those who make less than $50,000 think will be good. You jump to 50 to 100K, it's 36 percent.

100 to 200K, it's 49 percent. Then you look here, look at that, at 200K plus, the vast majority of those Americans think AI will do more good than harm. But when you go down to the bottom of that income bracket, there is a lot of skepticism of AI.

I think there are a lot of folks who might be worried that AI might take their jobs.

SANCHEZ: And some of that has to do with our understanding of AI. How well would you say that people understand the technology?

ENTEN: Yes, I would say that there's a lot of folks who don't feel that they understand it particularly well. Take a look here. How much do you know about AI?

Just 47 percent of Americans say a great or good deal. I will note there's a huge generational divide, 76 percent of Generation Z versus just 11 percent of the silent generation. Compare this to 51 percent who say that they understand AI just some or a little bit.

But there is one thing that pretty much all Americans can agree on, Boris, and it's not just that I am real. It is this. Should the government regulate AI more?

Look at this, 69 percent of Americans say yes. That is true across every single demographic group where a majority of Americans agree that the government should do more to regulate AI. And then we can once again ensure that Harry Joseph Strasburg-Enten is a real human being with real friends like Boris Sanchez.

SANCHEZ: I think we got to dig into those numbers on multiple fronts. Nevertheless, Harry, appreciate you. Thanks for joining us, Harry Enten.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

SANCHEZ: President Trump's education secretary says if universities want to keep their federal funding, they better toe the line. We'll explain her comments when we come back.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Right now, families of soon to be graduates are gathered at Harvard University for what's known as Class Day. It's a more casual ceremony that celebrates the class of 2025 ahead of tomorrow's formal commencement. But there is a shadow hanging over these festivities.

Tomorrow, Harvard and the Trump administration will be back in federal court. A judge will hear arguments about the administration's move to bar the university from enrolling international students. This week, the White House told federal agencies to cancel another $100 million in remaining contracts with the university.

And then earlier today, President Trump said he'd like to see a cap of the number of foreign-born students enrolled at the school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15 percent, not 31 percent. We have people want to go to Harvard and other schools. They can't get in because we have foreign students there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: With us now is Dhruv Patel. He is a senior reporter for the Harvard Crimson, the school newspaper there. Dhruv, tell us first off, what's the mood like among students at Harvard as the school year is coming to a close?

DHRUV PATEL, SENIOR REPORTER, HARVARD CRIMSON: Look, it's really a moment of anxiety and confusion for many students, especially international students who are questioning their future at the institution but also in the United States. When the DHS's directive came in last Thursday, the immediate question for many students was, how does this actually affect me, right? We know that Harvard's graduation ceremony, its big commencement ceremony, is set to happen tomorrow at the same time that a federal judge hears arguments.

And for those students, they're questioning what Harvard will do to protect their stay in the United States, but also what the future implications of this growing standoff between Harvard and the Trump administration may be. We've seen a number of protests on campus in the last few days. Just yesterday, there was a protest calling on Harvard to support international students and bring awareness to the issue.

In the advertisement for that protest, it was very clear, you know, bring yourself, but also bring your flags, your friends and your family. So we have seen record levels of turnout considering that families are also on campus right now.

KEILAR: Are international students banking on the judge sort of extending a stop to what the Trump administration is wanting to do here? Are they making plans logistically to deal with a potential ban?

PATEL: Right, look, international students had a moment of relief last Friday when Harvard decided to file a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. They did a temporary restraining order. At the same time, though, international students realize that this is not the only threat that has been levied upon them, right?

We know that President Trump would like to place a cap on the number of international students at Harvard. We know that we've seen visa revocations. We also know that the Department of Homeland Security and Marco Rubio have been placing pauses on student visa interviews.

[14:45:00]

And so for international students, they're banking on a positive outcome tomorrow when the judge hears arguments in this lawsuit. But they also realize that this is not the only threat that they're encountering and that the standoff between Harvard and the White House is only one that is set to grow.

KEILAR: Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was on CNBC earlier and was asked about the great things that come out of Harvard and if they were taken into account with some of the actions that have been taken against the university. Here's part of her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA MCMAHON, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Universities should continue to be able to do research as long as they're abiding by the laws and are in sync, I think, with the administration and what the administration is trying to accomplish but primarily abiding by the laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That idea of being in sync with the administration and what the administration wants to accomplish, probably some tension there with academic freedom. But how are folks at Harvard, students, faculty, viewing that? Are there different views on it?

PATEL: Right. Look, when we had the first set of demands and then the second set of demands that were a little bit more aggressive come in, Harvard administrators have been very clear. They've said that we acknowledge that there is antisemitism on our campus, that it is present, it is real, and that Harvard is not perfect.

But they're taking issue with the means that the Trump administration is using to correct allegations of antisemitism, to correct allegations of race-based discrimination. They're saying that, let us control this. We are committed to combating antisemitism, to combating racism, and that the form that you are taking of cutting off federal funding for research that's being conducted at the Harvard Medical School, at the Harvard School of Public Health, they're saying that that is not the way to take down this crisis.

And so what we're seeing as far as immediate implications go, research has been stopped. Stop work orders have been issued. And as we continue to see funding cuts roll in, students, faculty, administrators, and staff are wondering what the future of their research projects may be.

And so I think the question here is not of the end outcome. I think both the federal government and Harvard are both interested in a campus that's safe for all students. But the conflict here is on the specific means, whether it is a government-mandated demand that comes in, or Harvard agreeing to do it independently.

KEILAR: Dhruv, it is great to have you on. Dhruv Patel with The Harvard Crimson, thank you so much for sharing your reporting with us. We appreciate it.

President Trump's so-called Big, Beautiful Bill is already on the ropes in the Senate, and now President Trump's former right-hand man, Elon Musk, is taking swipes at it. We'll have that coming up.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: That rare neurological disorder that singer-songwriter Billy Joel is being treated for is raising many questions right now.

KEILAR: So we have CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us today to answer your questions about it, starting with Robert from Maine, who asks, what is the cause of hydrocephalus?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So guys, Robert is asking the most fundamental question here, really important question. Let me show you this because I think sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. These are images of the brain.

Over here, you can see normal brain matter. And then those black areas in between, those are normal fluid-filled spaces called ventricles. That's what it should look like.

And you can sort of see in someone who has normal pressure hydrocephalus, those spaces are much larger. So that's hydrocephalus. We typically think of this in babies, you know, water on the brain, but it can happen in adults as well.

Sometimes we don't know what causes it. It just sort of happens, again, specifically in older adults. Sometimes it's a result of an old brain injury or some sort of bleeding.

Fluid is constantly circulating around your brain into your spinal cord. If for some reason that fluid can't continue to circulate, it starts to build up like you see there.

Let's try to get to another question.

Patty in Bradenton, Florida says, my mom is 82 years old, recently diagnosed with NPH, normal pressure hydrocephalus. Next week, she's having a spinal tap. Can you tell me if it will make things better? Well, this is the question. I think there's a good chance it could make things better. When you think about hydrocephalus, normal pressure hydrocephalus, it's not common, but it is very treatable.

So again, imagine this fluid bathing the brain, bathing the spinal cord. What Patty's talking about is her mom having a lumbar puncture. So this is the spine over here.

This is a needle. And basically, you put that needle in between a few bones of the spine, and you can drain some of the fluid that's circulating around the spinal cord. That also drains some of the fluid here in this image that you see here.

So when you put that together, if that fluid, removing that fluid actually makes somebody better, their walking improves, their cognition improves, their bladder control improves. That's a good sign that doing a more permanent procedure could actually be helpful. And again, a lot of times it does work if that's the correct diagnosis.

Let's try and get to one more question here. Laura had a question also about her mother. She asks, what are the chances that my mother can get some or all of her mobility back with the brain shunt procedure?

OK, so this is sort of moving one story to the next. Lumbar tap. And then if that works, then the question is, can you do a more permanent procedure to drain the fluid regularly?

This is a shunt. This is actually a catheter that's inside the brain, inside those fluid-filled spaces I was just showing you. And it's draining fluid then into the abdominal cavity.

Let me show you here. So this is the brain. The fluid-filled spaces would be deep in there. You got to get through the skull. We do that, obviously, with a drill. You actually drill a little hole on top of the skull there.

You open up this area outside the brain and you put in this catheter that goes into one of those normal drill. You actually drill a little hole on top of the skull there. You open up this area outside the brain and you put in this catheter that goes into one of those normal fluid-filled spaces.

And then you attach that catheter to this little tubing here that drains fluid into the belly. So that often does work. I would say 60 percent to 70 percent of the time, people get benefit from this.

This might be the discussion that Billy Joe and his family are right now having with doctors, possibly to get a procedure like that, and hopefully working for him, just as I described.

SANCHEZ: Yes, hopefully so. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

Next, a sheriff convicted of bribery, a donor's son, and a pair of reality TV stars. We're going to take a closer look at President Trump's growing list of controversial pardons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END