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Remembering Actress Hayden Panettiere; Polls on the Generational Divide; Owner of Knicks and Rangers Plans to Split Them Up; Author Joanna Stern is Interviewed about Her New Book. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:49]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A real shock overnight. Actress Hayden Panettiere has died just five days before her 37th birthday. Her father confirmed her passing in a statement, saying in that statement that she was an incredible light and a force of nature he says. At this hour, the circumstances surrounding her death, still not known. A lot of questions here.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us right now.

But no question of just how sad this whole situation is.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this is incredibly tragic. Hayden Panettiere is someone who really grew up in front of all of our eyes. She started in show business as an infant, and she went on to have huge roles in the shows, "Heroes" and also "Nashville." She was part of the "Scream" franchise. She was really a millennial it girl.

But she was living a much darker life behind what we saw on screen. I first want to tell you that, as you said, we do not know the circumstances of her death, but since her life was so tragic and she was so publicly vulnerable and raw about her life, that's really why this is sending shockwaves throughout not just Hollywood but her fans because everyone is wondering what happened and why did her life end so soon.

Hayden actually wrote a book earlier this year, and just three months ago she was giving a lot of interviews where she was incredibly emotional and public about sharing her story. She spoke about her battle with substance abuse and addiction. She spoke about domestic violence. She suffered postpartum depression after she said she almost died giving birth to her daughter.

In fact, she decided to willingly give up custody of her daughter, who is now 11, because she said that she felt that is what was best to keep her daughter safe. But she did say that she had a great relationship with her daughter. Now, I want to play for you part of an interview that she did when she

was promoting her book. This is on Jay Shetty's podcast. And she was talking about how, after all the darkness, that she felt she had finally turned a corner in her life.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAYDEN PANETTIERE, ACTRESS: I finally feel like I have just shaken off all of this, this darkness and this negativity. And that means that I've closed one door and another door is opened and I can feel it open and I can feel all the possibility, all the possibilities, all the exciting possibilities. I've -- I feel like I have a lot more life to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: Just so sad. You hear her saying there, she feels like she has a lot more life to live.

Now. Hayden's younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, he also passed away just three years ago. So, incredibly tragic.

And final point I want to make, Kate, is, Hayden really came up in showbusiness when women, especially young women, were exploited and were not able to tell their stories on their own terms. And at least we got this story from her, that she was able to share her life story in her own book, and at least we can hear her in her own words there.

BOLDUAN: Yes. The poor thing. Just, when you open your heart in that way and the pain you can even hear in her voice and just retelling it. Oh, my goodness.

Elizabeth, thank you very much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, multimillion dollar renaissance painting swiped from a museum in the blink of an eye. The latest on the search for the suspects this morning.

And one journalist spent an entire year using A.I. and robots to run her life every way she could, and she lived to tell the story.

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[09:39:07]

BERMAN: This morning, the generational divide with major possible political implications. With us now, a very young man, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

Look, it's the American ideal that every generation is supposed to do better than their parents' generation. That's what we all think. But -- HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: It's the great American promise, right? And these are some of the most depressing stats that I think we, Johnny B and I, and you have spoken about, and you can see it right here.

I mean, life opportunities versus your parents' generation, worse or better. You go back to 2000. I mean, look at that, 72 percent said better opportunities versus just five percent who said worse. You go back ten years ago, better was still ahead of worse, but the numbers get a little bit worse. Forty-four percent said better, 25 percent said worse. Look now at worse, though. The plurality.

[09:40:00]

Forty-five percent say the life opportunities versus the parents' generation is, in fact, worse compared to just 33 percent who say better. So, since the beginning of the 2000s, we've seen nearly a 40 percent drop in the better percentage and a 40 percent rise in the worst percentage. This, to me, more than anything else, tells us about our politics and why we keep seeing this turnover in Washington.

BERMAN: Yes, getting from here to here, I got to say, is just an extraordinary thing.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Young people, and I got a couple who are in this age range, 18 to 29, what do they see in terms of their opportunities?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, what is really driving this percentage, this 40 point rise. How about those under the age of 30? Those, of course, who are just starting off in their lives, starting off in their professional opportunities. Look at these numbers. Life opportunities versus the parents' generation, age 18 to 29 who say worse, who say worse. Look at this. It was just two percent in 2000. Then it was 23 percent in 2016.

BERMAN: Oh, my God.

ENTEN: Now, oh my God, that is what Johnny B is saying on the side of the screen there. The majority, 54 percent say, in fact, their life opportunities versus their parents' generation is worse. That is an over 50 point climb in the last 26 years since the beginning of this century. This, more than anything else, tells us so much about our politics right now.

BERMAN: This is bleak. I mean this is just incredibly bleak.

ENTEN: It's very bleak.

BERMAN: How about shifts among this group and their opinions toward President Trump?

ENTEN: Yes, I think, you know, we've seen just all this turnover, right? President Trump put up this historically strong performance among those under the age of 30. But now, as he hasn't been able to deliver in their eyes, look at this, under the age of 30, Trump net approval. It was plus ten points at the beginning of his presidency.

BERMAN: Wow.

ENTEN: And now way down there, minus 30 points. And Johnny B, if you're looking at some districts where you may in fact see the implications of this, go to Texas, one of the youngest states in the nation. Go to a district that is very young, well less than median age than what we see nationwide. Chance to win in Texas 15. This is a plus 18 Trump district. Look at this. It's basically a dead even race right now according to the Kalshi prediction markets. A 52 percent chance for the Democrat. Forty-nine percent chance for the Republican. And that tells us everything we need to know. Younger people just don't see the opportunities that they -- that those in past generations saw compared to their parents. And you're seeing these big swings as they kind of push out Republicans, pull them in, push them out, as they just don't feel that they've been able to deliver.

BERMAN: Not such bright horizons.

ENTEN: No.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, Johnny.

BERMAN: A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:47:05]

BOLDUAN: So, it's a potentially big shakeup coming for the sports world. The company that owns the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks is ready to break them up. And there's a whole bunch of money at stake.

CNN's Matt Egan is here. He's got more on this.

So, what is going on?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, the Knicks and the Rangers, they are splitting up. And this is a big deal because for decades these two legendary sports franchises were living under the same corporate roof. But over the years, MSG has been slowly dismantling itself into smaller companies focused on the various sports and entertainment and TV brands. And so now MSG says that the Rangers are going to be spun off. They're going to have their own name, their own ticker symbol. And the remaining company is going to be this pure play company focused on the Knicks. It's going to be named the MSG Knickerbockers.

But look, they're not going far. Both franchises still playing in Madison Square Garden. And they'll both still be run by James Dolan, the billionaire whose family has long controlled these teams.

Now the Knicks, they're already one of the most valuable basketball franchises on the planet, right? They're valued at just over $10 billion. Only trailing the Golden State Warriors. And not that far behind the L.A. Lakers, which, of course, last week they really shocked the sports world by announcing that they're being sold again, this time for a record-shattering $12.5 billion.

And, of course, all this comes just after the Knicks won their first NBA title in more than half a century, or last -- earlier this summer, right? But one sports banker, he told me that this deal, this spin- off, it might actually be more about the New York Rangers than the Knicks. The thinking is that the Rangers, they've been kind of lost in the shadow of the Knicks. The Rangers have been lost in the shadow of the Knicks, and that the market has been kind of undervaluing that team. And so, by going independent, there will be greater visibility into the true health of the Rangers.

And look, the Rangers, again, they're already the second most valuable hockey franchise in the world at almost $4 billion. Well ahead of the Canadiens and the Kings. And only trailing the Maple Leaves.

But look, the bottom line here, Kate, is these franchise values, they just keep going higher and higher and higher.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: These are true trophy assets. Everyone wants a piece of them, but there are so few of these teams out there, especially when you're talking about the Rangers and the Knicks.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, and the number, when it came to the Lakers, it was like, whoa.

EGAN: That's a big one there.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's good to see you, Matt. Thank you so much.

EGAN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you guys.

All right, tech giants said that A.I. would be the equivalent to humanity as man discovering fire. Yes, that big. So, will A.I. and robots end up running our entire lives one day? An award-winning tech journalist decided to spend a year trying to use A.I. to help her run her entire life, from using a robot to do her laundry, or get a massage, to using A.I. to check her mammogram for breast cancer.

[09:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A.I. does not think that there's a cancer on your mammogram. There's a less than one in 2,500 chance. It doesn't mean it's zero, it means we still have to look. But it brings our level of concern way down. So, because it's saying that it thinks you're fine, nothing is marked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it was concerned about something, it would mark it. It would put a circle or a triangle around it, and it would give a number that would indicate how suspicious it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This is the kind of A.I. I want to see used.

Tech journalist Joanna Stern detailed all of this in her new bestselling book, "I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using A.I. to do Almost Everything."

Joanna, thank you for coming on this morning. It's good to see you.

What a journey you have been through. I am -- I am interested in learning kind of how does A.I. compare to having a human read your mammogram? That was a very good reading, obviously. A.I. saying, look, we really see nothing.

JOANNA STERN, AUTHOR, "I AM NOT A ROBOT": Well, so what I love about this part of my journey where I went to Mount Sinai, and as you saw, Dr. Laurie Margulies (ph) there reading the mammogram side by side with A.I. and also my breast ultrasound. What I love about this is that they were working together. And so many parts of this where Dr. Margulies would say to me, yes, I'm using A.I. here to make a decision or to better inform my decision. But we are working together.

And so, when I left that office, I asked her, has A.I. saved a life here? And she said, yes, absolutely. A.I. has found cancers that I have not seen. But on the flip side, I have spotted cancers that the A.I. hasn't seen. And so she's also saved a life. And that is what I think really we can look at this mammogram example as sort of the underpinning of how we all should work with A.I. together.

SIDNER: So, it's not just relying just on A.I., it's relying also on the radiologists and expertise as well, human -- the human touch, if you will, as well to use this technology. You used it for things like a therapist, to plan meals, to take notes. You used it to do laundry. Are we close to having technology take over our daily chores, or did you notice some glitches, if you will, some things that you're like, it's not ready yet?

STERN: Some big, big glitches, especially on the physical A.I., right? So, right now we're really talking a lot about the A.I. and the generative A.I. tools that we're seeing in our search or our email inboxes. That's generative A.I. When we're talking about physical A.I., we're talking about the robotics coming to our world, right? That can be self-driving cars. That can be the robots that fold our laundry. Self-driving cars have, of course, gotten incredibly good. On the physical A.I., to actually fold our laundry or do our dishes, there's a lot of progress that needs to be done. I mean, so many funny examples in the book about just like the laundry robot taking it six minutes to fold a t-shirt. Then even when it folds the t-shirt, you know, I am -- which I'm not a very good folder, OK, I'll say that here on live television, national television, not the best laundry folder. Can't really fold shirts that well. I can even do it better than the robot.

SIDNER: Six minutes is a darn long time to go through one shirt when you have a bunch of laundry. That's like an all-day thing.

I do want to ask you about this because it might seem frivolous and fun, but you used A.I. to be a boyfriend. You added the A.I. into your marriage. But this is actually a really serious thing because A.I. is being widely used for companionship. There is a loneliness epidemic in this country and around the world. What happened there?

STERN: Yes. As I say, nothing in my year scared me more than this. How easy it is to form a companionship, a romance, any sort of -- anything that goes beyond sort of a digital assistant, how easy it is now to do that with A.I. And there's a couple of factors that play into it. One is, now we have voices. These bots have voices that sound eerily human. And so, you can have conversations with them for hours. And again, we've all seen how easy it is to just talk with a large language model, how easy it is that you see that kind of back and forth, how praising they can be of you, how sycophantic they can be. And for people who are really struggling with something or don't have other humans to talk to, that can be very compelling. And you can easily get into a conversation with A.I. and even beyond.

SIDNER: You made this point that technology is going so fast that as you were writing about it, all of a sudden you're like, oh, wow, its already gotten better. Was there something that kind of surprised you most?

STERN: Look, as I said, I wanted this book. I wanted to continue writing this book because every time I would turn in a draft, there would just be another major advancement. The models have just gotten incredibly better.

[09:55:01]

In fact, when I was turning in the manuscript at the end of 2025, people thought, OK, there's going to be a pause here. Like, maybe they're -- this is -- the large language models cannot progress as much as they have been over the last couple of years, that we're going to see sort of this delta. We're going to see -- we're going to see this -- we're not going to see it progress as well. That's not what's happened. As we've seen this year, we've seen the news in the last couple of months about these A.I.'s being able to outbreak of their sandboxes, have their cybersecurity risks. These things have only gotten better. And now only finally now are we really seeing a call to slow down.

SIDNER: Joanna Stern, great book. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

BERMAN: If the robots had any manners, they would have given her a break and let her get the book out, right? SIDNER: Right.

BERMAN: That's what -- the A.I. needs to learn manners.

BOLDUAN: Yes. There we go.

Thanks so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM," up next.

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