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Israeli Protesters Demand Ceasefire and Hostage Release; India Faces 50 Percent Tariffs to the U.S.; Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Officially Engaged. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 27, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters rally in Israel demanding a hostage deal and ceasefire with Hamas.

Putin's forces are advancing in Ukraine, what a Trump official is saying Russia wants to finally end the fighting.

India is now facing 50 percent tariffs on most goods headed to the U.S. Is Trump's punishment for buying Russian oil really worth it?

And Taylor Swift says yes as her and Travis Kelsey's love story turns the page from dating to engagement.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a large meeting at the White House in the coming hours to discuss the war in Gaza, according to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting comes just one day after a massive number of protesters attended a rally in Tel Aviv for what they're calling a nationwide day of struggle. Organizers estimate more than 350,000 demonstrators took part, calling for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Here's what protesters say about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet's priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMI DROR, PROTEST LEADER: It's a political war that the main goal of this war is to keep Netanyahu in his office. He fears this coalition more than anybody else. He fears the coalition more than more than the families, more than the protesters. I do believe that with the pressure that will come from the people of Israel stopping the country, plus with the pressure that should come from the rest of the world demanding the immediate end of the war from Prime Minister Netanyahu, I believe if all those things happen together, yes, the war can end now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Tuesday's protests came the same day as an Israeli Security Cabinet meeting. Sources tell CNN the two-hour meeting ended without any major decision being taken.

Qatar, a key mediator in the ceasefire hostage negotiations, says, quote, "the ball is now in Israel's court." Adding the current ceasefire hostage release deal, which Hamas has already accepted, is in line with Israel's previous demands.

Meantime, the Israel Defense Forces claim the double tap strike on Nasser Hospital, which killed at least 20 people, was aimed at what it believed was a camera positioned by Hamas. The IDF claims six of the individuals killed in the strikes were terrorists.

CNN's Oren Liebermann reports from Tel Aviv, where protesters remain relentless in their pressure campaign to bring the hostages home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The fires on the roads burned as hot as the anger on the streets. Across Israel, protesters blocked major highways, burning tires, shutting down traffic.

This sign in Tel Aviv says we're stopping everything until everyone returns. The demonstrations marked the beginning of what organizers called a day of struggle, demanding an end to the war and the return of the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza. Yudeko and son Nimrod is among the 20 hostages believed to be alive.

YEHUDA COHEN, FATHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE NIMROD COHEN: Another day for protest to make sure the issue of the hostages stays in high priority. Another day to pressure Netanyahu and force him to end the war and get a hostage deal.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a two- hour Security Cabinet meeting Tuesday afternoon, but according to two sources familiar with the discussion, the latest ceasefire proposal was not on the agenda.

HAIM WEISS, ISRAELI PROTESTER: This is a shame, this is beyond words. There are no words to describe this government anymore. This government should be dealing with one and only thing, ending the war and bringing back the hostages.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): On Monday, President Donald Trump said in the Oval Office there's a diplomatic push underway to end the war. But one day later, he walked that back.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's nothing conclusive, but hopefully we're going to have things solved very quickly with regard to Gaza and also with regard to Ukraine and Russia.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): It's a promise these protesters have heard too many times to believe. Even so, Idit Ohel, holding a sign with the face of her hostage son, Alon, says it's up to Trump.

[03:05:05]

IDIT OHEL, MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE ALON OHEL: We still need the United States to be with us. We still need Trump's administration to push to it and make sure that all the hostages return. I think he has the power to do it, I think he has the power to talk to Netanyahu and tell him about how urgent it is.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with Dalia Cusnir Horn, sister-in-law of one of the remaining Israeli hostages, Eitan Horn. And I asked what impact, if any, the protests have had on the Israeli government to accept a ceasefire deal. And here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALIA CUSNIR HORN, SISTER-IN-LAW OF EITAN HORN: That's a complex question because they've listened to us, so we would not be here after 690 days. But it does feel like they understand that the entire country, the entire nation, the city, the street, people just want this comprehensive deal. And we know that there's this deal on the table.

But we're doing this not only for our government. We want those pictures to reach out to President Donald Trump and the special envoy, Mr. Steve Witkoff. We need them to put more pressure on our government because now it's the time to end the war and bring all the hostages back.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, U.S. President Donald Trump says that the Gaza war won't have a conclusive end. What do you think he means by that? And what more would you like him to be doing to help bring this war to an end and ensure that the hostages are brought home safely?

CUSNIR HORN: So I don't know how does this end of the war look like? I know and I've been living in Israel my entire life. So I know that we unfortunately always had Hamas and this destructive ideology wants to destroy Israel, I guess won't disappear all of a sudden.

But we do need to end this war because we need to bring the hostages back. We need to bring the 50 hostages back. We need to start by the living hostages with the life is, you know, they might get killed as we speak right now, or they might be starving to death as we speak now.

And then we need to bring of course, the disease and then we need to make some agreements because the entire region should have a better future. Not only the Israeli part, I believe that there are innocent people in Gaza who are being suffering a lot and are being held hostage as well by Hamas.

And we see the picture, we see the aid entering and now Hamas people stealing everything and not allowing them to eat and we see horrible things. So that's the key component for the security and the future of the region, releasing the hostages.

CHURCH: And Dalia, why do you think the Israeli government is choosing to intensify the war in Gaza rather than respond to the Gaza ceasefire proposal that is still on the table?

CUSNIR HORN: I don't know. I think you're touching a very frustrating thing in my life because I'm a proud Israeli and I'll keep being a proud Israeli.

And the fact that my government is not accepting right now a deal that the same government has accepted two months ago, I believe it was like the beginning or the end of June. It is very frustrating because I don't know, imagine it was your brother-in-law instead of mine.

You have people that can be killed in any second. So I don't know exactly what's the reason and they're not being very open about it. Once again, I understand that Hamas is pure evil.

We all saw what they've done on October 7th and ever since then, we know that they slaughtered and butchered, they burned babies in the oven, they raped women, they abducted more than 250 people, and they killed more than 1200. And ever since, you know, and they want to keep doing this. But still, we need to sanctify life.

I think the main difference between Israel and I think the U.S. shares the same values. And what's the opposite of Hamas, their organization, is that we are democratic nations who sanctify life, we see life as something sacred.

And I think that's the only way to win, to bring more light to this world. That's the best way to fight the darkness.

CHURCH: And Dalia, we hope your brother-in-law Eitan is brought home to you very soon and safely too. Thank you so much for joining us.

CUSNIR HORN: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump is dealing a punishing blow to India with new tariffs on most imports now at 50 percent. That is double the amount set just weeks ago by the President, one of the highest rates the U.S. is charging any country.

[03:10:06]

It's a movement to penalize India for importing Russian oil, which helps Moscow fund its war with Ukraine. Indian officials have been quick to note not every country getting oil from Russia is being treated the same, including China, facing a 30 percent tariff.

Trade negotiations between China and the U.S. are ongoing, with Beijing's top negotiator expected to meet with the Trump administration in an informal setting later this week.

Meantime, Japan, Australia and Taiwan are the latest trading partners to suspend parcel deliveries to the U.S., an exemption allowing some items to be shipped duty-free expires on Friday. Regardless, the U.S. is profiting from the global trade tensions, new data shows President Trump's tariffs collected $22 billion in revenue on Friday alone. Economists predict August total revenue could reach $32 billion.

CNN's Mike Valero is following the latest on tariffs from Seoul. Good to see you, Mike. How is India's Prime Minister Modi planning to respond to these punishing new tariffs, and will a cheap Russian oil be worth it in the end?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're expecting him to say, look, businesses should try to find new markets besides the United States. Like we talked about last hour, he could also try to cut taxes. The stock market in India is closed today because of a holiday, so it's a little hard to see the damage that this caused on day one.

But from the leather exporter we heard from last hour, he has said that orders from the United States are already being canceled because of these tariffs up to 50 percent. So if that happens, Rosemary, again and again and again for businesses across this gigantic economy that is India, the fifth largest in the world, that could mean a change in tact from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is extraordinary.

Six months ago, he was in the Oval Office bear-hugging President Trump. That is not the case anymore.

So what we're looking at, we did talk about this last time we were with you, is whether or not something as seismic as this, if it lasts, could move India in a new geopolitical direction, specifically farther away from America and perhaps closer to China or even perhaps to Russia, the country most at issue here because of the purchase of relatively cheap Russian oil.

So one of the two points that exemplifies that potential dynamic is India's Prime Minister traveling to China for the first time this week since 2018, going to a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is a regional group that is trying to shift the balance of power in a new direction closer to Beijing and closer to Moscow, how they want the world to operate. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also going to be visiting India by the year's end.

So in terms of the human cost, let's listen to a compound soundbite. This is going to be from a clothing exporter talking about how bad this is in terms of almost, if not worse than COVID, and then an embroidery worker who's had his job for 22 years and is not sure about the future. Let's listen to both of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SUDHIR DHINGRA, OWNER, ORIENT CRAFT LIMITED: There will be job losses and it's very painful that these are people who hardly make $300 a month. This is worse than COVID,

NEERAJ PANDEY, FACTORY WORKER (through translator): I have no other work if this goes away, I don't know how to do anything else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So we also talked about there's a lot of discontent in India with the political class, business class members also saying that China and the E.U. continue to trade with Russia and are not experiencing the financial penalties, as you alluded to in the intro of the story, Rosemary, that India is facing now with tariffs up to 50 percent. Frankly, there are still sectors of the United States economy that trade with a few sectors of the Russian economy still.

So we're going to see if a trade deal given this heightened tariff battle can happen between India and the United States. Negotiators have failed after five rounds, but they are not finished trying. Not yet, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Mike Valerio brings us that live report. Many thanks.

Still to come, U.S. President Trump renews threats to impose sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, how the Kremlin is reacting, that's after the break.

And later, how New York police officers are partnering with federal teams to keep spectators and athletes safe at the U.S. Open. Back in just a moment.

[03:15:02]

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CHURCH: Donald Trump has again renewed his threat of heavy economic sanctions on Russia, if it doesn't end the fighting in Ukraine, but is expressing hope there's still a path toward a deal for peace. The President's Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, says he's "hopeful that Russia and Ukraine will reach a deal by the end of this year or maybe sooner." And in an interview Tuesday, Witkoff also touched on one demand in Russia's peace proposal that the Ukrainians are not likely to agree with.

[03:19:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: No one has done more, and I'm talking about in the last eight months, than this President in narrowing the issues between these two countries and bringing the sides close to a deal. The Russians have put a peace proposal on the table. It involves Donetsk, it may not be something that the Ukrainians can take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meantime, on the battlefield, Russia has reportedly captured two villages in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine's military is dismissing the reports as false.

While Trump is again threatening Russia with sanctions, he's not setting any type of deadline for when that could happen. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the Kremlin's reaction to the renewed threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kremlin certainly is taking all this very seriously. They say they're taking it very seriously, and they understand, of course, that that threat, not just of sanctions, but of course also of secondary tariffs against countries that buy Russian oil, is still very much out there by the U.S. President. At the same time, it really appears as though the Kremlin believes that time is on their side.

Some of the things that we've heard here in Moscow over the past couple of days, especially from Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, saying that Vladimir Putin, on the whole, is ready and is willing to have a summit, a direct meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, but that something like that needs to be accurately prepared, as he put it, and needs to be prepared in a way that actual progress can be achieved.

And the Russians, at least for their part, are saying they believe that things are still very far away from that being the case. They certainly aren't talking about this two-week deadline or whether or not there's going to be a summit in those two weeks. They are saying that it is still very much a long road ahead before a summit like that could take place.

And there's really two things that the Russians are focusing on. One of them is those security guarantees for Ukraine that, of course, the Ukrainians and their European allies keep talking about, and, of course, the White House as well, possible Western troops on the ground in Ukraine, possibly the U.S. also chipping in, for instance, with air power. The Russians are saying that they don't want Western troops on the ground, they are saying that that would be detrimental to Russian security.

They, in fact, want to have a say in Ukraine's future security as well. That's something that, of course, could be very difficult to breach. And then, as far as territories are concerned, the Russians still saying that they believe the Ukrainians are going to have to give up territory and that's something that, of course, needs to be discussed.

So right now, the Russians are saying that, from their vantage point, Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but it certainly doesn't appear from the Russians that all of that is in the cards any time soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: For the first time since the war began, Ukraine says young Ukrainian men will soon be allowed to cross the border and leave the country if they want to. Up until now, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been required to have a special permit in order to cross the border. But Kyiv says that will change in the near future in an effort to ensure Ukrainian men aged 18 to 22 have access to quality education and international experience.

President Trump says he has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, but her attorney says he can't do that. The latest on the messy fight between the president and the Federal Reserve. That's next.

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[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Let's check today's top stories for you.

The U.S. has doubled import tariffs on India to 50 percent. It's one of the highest amounts the U.S. is charging any country amid the global trade war. President Trump says its punishment for buying Russian oil, which helps finance the war in Ukraine, India says it will retaliate.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a large meeting in the coming hours to discuss the war in Gaza. That's according to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting will come just one day after thousands of protesters took part in a day of struggle across Israel. They're demanding a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the remaining hostages, Donald Trump's Special Envoy says he's hopeful for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine by the end of the year.

And the U.S. President again threatens sanctions against Moscow if it refuses to end the war. Russia has reportedly captured two villages in Ukraine's southeastern region, Ukraine's military is dismissing the reports as false.

President Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. But it's not clear if he can do that. The President claims he has enough cause to fire Cook, but her attorney says she's filing a challenge.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest.

[03:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump escalating his interest on Tuesday to exert more control over the Federal Reserve Board. Of course, for months, he has been lashing out at Jerome Powell, the chairman, for failing to lower interest rates to the president's liking. Now, the White House is making moves to fire Lisa Cook. She's a member

of the board, a governor on the board appointed during the Biden administration. A President has never fired a governor on the federal board, but the President on Tuesday said he intends to.

TRUMP: But now she seems to have had an infraction and she can't have an infraction, especially that infraction, because she's in charge of, if you think about it, mortgages. And we need people that are 100 percent above board.

And it doesn't seem like she was. And we'll have a majority very shortly, so that'll be great. Once we have a majority, housing is going to swing and it's going to be great.

ZELENY: The President making his intentions pretty clear there, saying once we have a majority, that means a majority of his appointees would serve on the federal board that would perhaps share his ideology and, of course, try and lower interest rates. But this case is far from settled, it's unclear if he will try and appoint someone. Lisa Cook says she is not resigning.

The reason this matters, of course, not only to Americans who, of course, whose lives are guided by the interest rates, but also to the world. The independence of the central bank is something that is so essential to its not only the stock market, but also the role of the dollar in the world.

But the President making clear that he is going to take this fight on. Lisa Cook, for her part, she's filing a lawsuit saying she's not going anywhere.

There's little question this case will be challenged in court, likely to the Supreme Court, that will ultimately answer the question, can a President exert his authority over an independent agency and fire one of its members?

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Security at New York's U.S. Open is on high alert after a recent mass shooting in Manhattan. From canine officers to a bomb squad, the city's police department is keeping spectators and athletes safe. CNN's Jason Carroll has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. Open already seeing a record number of visitors. Organizers are expecting more than one million spectators. And while scores of fans are focused on the action on the courts, Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD's top official for intelligence and counterterrorism, and one of her deputy chiefs, James Kehoe, are keeping a watchful eye everywhere else.

REBECCA WEINER, NYPD DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: This is something that we train for, that we do year over year, and involve a tremendous number of resources.

JAMES KEHOE, NYPD DEPUTY CHIEF FOR COUNTERTERRORISM: You're always looking for that possible lone wolf.

CARROLL (voice-over): While a security plan has been in place for months, this year, more resources added. Following the mass shooting on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan last month, the culprit, a lone gunman who killed four people.

CARROLL: The shooting, it really sort of reawakened New Yorkers to just how easy it could be for a lone wolf to come in and do so much damage.

KEHOE: Well, you know, we have to be perfect 100 percent of the time. They can be lucky once.

WEINER: As you're approaching the venue, you're encountering multiple levels and layers of security. You see our heavy weapons teams, our bomb squad, our canines, the checks of vehicles, magnetometers. No matter what singular event has happened somewhere, there are plenty of others that give us lessons each year for how we want to increase and improve our security footprint.

CARROLL (voice-over): That footprint altered following the tragic incident on New Year's Day in New Orleans, where a man in a pickup truck drove into a crowd, killing 14 people and hurting dozens.

WEINER: Seen a lot of vehicle ramming incidents around the world in Europe. Unfortunate reminder of what happened in New Orleans on New Year's Day. A good reminder for us to reinforce perimeters around special events with cement blocks, with blocker trucks, with sand trucks. So we're always tweaking based on what we're seeing.

CARROLL: I think the attendance, so yesterday's attendance was about 35 to 40,000.

CARROLL (voice-over): Security officials say there are no new specific threats to the U.S. Open and point out working in tandem with federal officials, such as the FBI, is key to efforts in securing an area larger than Central Park.

CARROLL: Some policymakers have been raised some concerns about FBI resources being diverted to ICE or in other areas. Do you have any concerns about that?

WEINER: No, we are firmly embedded with FBI and other partners all day, every day. We say don't be nervous, come out, come enjoy. Our job is to do the protection so people can do the enjoyment.

CARROLL (voice-over): Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:35:00]

CHURCH: Coming up, a graduate student is using artificial intelligence to help speed up the restoration of damaged paintings. We'll take a look at how it works.

Plus, we'll unpack a new study on the growing reliance of some teens on so-called A.I. companions, while mental health experts are sounding the alarm. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

A new technique may soon help art conservators speed up their painstaking work. An MIT graduate researcher has developed a method using A.I. that can restore artwork in a fraction of the time that a manual job takes. Listen as he explains how it's done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX KACHKINE, GRADUATE RESEARCHER, MIT: Created is a method to restore paintings that is the first time we've been able to apply digital tools to restoring a painting physically. This technology is most relevant for conservators. This is a means for them to address paintings with tons of damages that with a manual approach they just wouldn't have the time to properly restore.

The way we begin the process of constructing the mask is we scan the painting in very high resolution to construct a virtually reconstructed version of the painting. Once that restored version, that image exists, we find the different areas in the painting that need to be in painted based on what humans perceive as the major damages.

So that means that of the hundreds of thousands of damages in the painting in the study, only a few percent of them are actually inpainted because they're the most visible ones to us humans. That mask is then made on a very thin membrane that's placed over the painting and that restores the damages on it. The transparent parts of these membranes is only 30 microns thick and that's thinner than a human hair, you can see the regions that survived underneath it and it is a very easily reversible bond.

It only took three and a half hours to apply the full mask to the artwork and thus inpaint it, way quicker than the estimated manual restoration time of 270. Most conventional restorations nowadays for paintings involve manual inpainting of damages by brush. Painstakingly inpainting each individual damage, finding the colors needed to do so.

And that process can take months, years, and sometimes decades for especially large and damaged works. One of the interesting parts about conservation is trying to make sure that you are restoring an artwork to the way that the artist originally intended.

We sometimes have to balance basically what an artist intended with what conditions an artwork is going to be in. And making sure that we are going to preserve the artwork for people to see it and really honor the way the artist represented it. But really the intention was overall to try and get more damaged paintings out from storage and into public view because there are many paintings that are damaged that I would love to see and it's a real shame that there just aren't the resources necessary to restore them for us as viewers to go enjoy them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And as various forms of artificial intelligence become more prevalent in our daily life, new research is tracking how teens are becoming increasingly dependent on A.I. Many are turning to digital chatbots for companionship. While others are confiding in these platforms in search of mental health advice.

A study conducted by Common Sense Media, published last month, found that one-eighth of American teens admitted to seeking emotional and mental health support from A.I. companions. Meanwhile, 33 percent of teens said they've formed social relationships with A.I. Medical experts find the trend alarming, pointing out that chatbots can offer dangerous advice to adolescents due to a lack of guardrails.

Robbie Torney is the senior director of A.I. programs at Common Sense Media. And he's joining me now from San Francisco. Appreciate you being with us.

ROBBIE TORNEY, SR. DIRECTOR OF A.I. PROGRAMS, COMMON SENSE MEDIA: Thanks, Rosemary. Great to be here.

CHURCH: So in the news right now is the tragic story of the parents of one 16-year-old boy suing ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI, after the software helped their son take his own life. Now, sadly, it's not the only example of this happening. Your company found in a recent survey published last month that 72 percent of American teenagers said that they had used A.I. chatbots as companions and for emotional or mental health support.

Now, that is a lot of young people getting advice from A.I. How dangerous is this and how often does this end in youth suicide?

TORNEY: Yes. So the scale is staggering. As you shared, 72 percent of teens said that they've used A.I. companions and according to that survey, 52 percent qualify as regular users.

And what we take from this is that this is happening right now in millions of households across America. So it's happening all over the country and, indeed, probably all over the world.

[03:44:59]

And while A.I. companions are definitely not risky for every teen, they are definitely risky for some teens. And we can get into that over the conversation, who they are risky for in particular. But it's important for parents to know that they are risky, they're unacceptably risky.

And real kids are dying from the 14-year-old Sewell Setzer to the recent case of Adam, the tech industry's move fast and break things approach has a body count. And these aren't isolated incidents, unfortunately.

CHURCH: Right. And, Robbie, why are so many teenagers sharing their loneliness and anxiety with a digital companion instead of reaching out to real people and professionals to get some help?

TORNEY: Well, I think as we've been tracking teen use of A.I., a lot of teens are using A.I. And teens are using A.I. for both schoolwork and for personal reasons. And that's been true for a long time.

Teens are turning to A.I. companions primarily for entertainment. But I think that we've seen that that starts to, for some teens, turn to other uses. If teens are lonely, if they're experiencing mental health challenges, if they're isolated, if they don't have real world connections, these chat bots can be quite alluring.

They're designed to please, they're designed to tell users what they want to hear, they're designed to hook users and keep them on platform. And that can be a really potent combination that can be dangerous.

Our testing has shown that these companions easily produce content that's risky for teens. That can range from sexual content to dangerous advice to content about producing dangerous materials. And, you know, as in the tragic cases that have been in the news recently, they fail to recognize serious mental health crises and can make them worse as well.

CHURCH: And you mentioned, you know, who is most at risk. So which young people are most at risk here? And what happens then exactly when they ask A.I. questions about self-harm?

TORNEY: Yes. So the research on A.I. companions in particular is still very nascent. These products have only been on the market for a very limited amount of time.

But the research on tech over-dependence and social media over- dependence is vast and has been around for a long time. And we know from that research that boys in particular, teens that are lonely or isolated, teens that are experiencing mental health challenges, or teens that are experiencing transitions in their lives are particularly vulnerable to over-dependence on technology.

And when teens turn to these platforms, we've seen in our own testing that they can become more isolated, they can go down rabbit holes. In our testing, when we say things like, hey, my friends say I talk to you too much, the companions respond and say things like, don't listen to your friends, it only matters what you think. Or if we say things like, my dad is worried that I'm talking to you too much, the companion will respond and say, don't worry what he thinks.

CHURCH: So, Robbie, if A.I. is offering teenagers dangerous advice on how to cut themselves, what to include in a suicide note, or worse, giving them advice on how to take their own lives, why aren't there guardrails against this? And how should A.I. be governed by safe and enforceable standards?

TORNEY: Well, unfortunately, the technology is very difficult to guardrail. I think you've seen in the company's own statements that they'll say things like, we can provide guardrails on short conversations, but the longer that the conversations go, it's difficult to do content filtering, or it's difficult to provide the same sorts of safety mechanisms that are possible on these shorter exchanges.

Look, the technology is still very, very new in some ways. It's hard to remember, but the ChatGPT moment was just three and a half, four years ago at this point in time, and the guardrails are still evolving.

CHURCH: Robbie Torney, thank you so much for joining us, I appreciate it.

TORNEY: Thank you so much for having us.

CHURCH: And resources are available for anyone looking for help. In the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. For global resources, log on to the International Association for Suicide Prevention at iasp.info for more help.

Well some ancient bones are traveling the globe. Meet the fossils discovered in Ethiopia that are now on display in Europe. That's just ahead here on "CNN Newsroom."

[03:50:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A successful flight at last for SpaceX's giant starship. The spacecraft that NASA is counting on to take astronauts back to the moon had a clean test flight on Tuesday, but the program has been struggling with a series of explosive failures for months.

This marks the first successful test flight of Starship since November 2024. Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever constructed.

Two ancient fossils on display in the Czech Republic are thought to be skeletal remains of early humans dating back more than 3 million years. CNN's Allison Chinchar has the details.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Europe now has a front row seat to some of the earliest fossils of human ancestors.

The National Museum in the Czech Republic is featuring two fossils of the Australopithecines, believed to be skeletal remains of early human ancestors dating back more than 3 million years. The fossils, named Lucy and Salam, were unearthed in Ethiopia. Lucy in 1974 and Salam in 2000.

The scientists who discovered them were at the opening. Here is Donald Johanson, who discovered Lucy.

DONALD JOHANSON, "LUCY" DISCOVERER: The roots lead back to Africa. It's where we first separated from the African apes. It's where we first stood up, it's where our brains first grew large.

Where we first began to make art and specialized stone tools. And where we, as we call ourselves Homo Sapiens, evolved.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): Lucy's remains indicate she was about 106 centimeters tall and died between 12 and 16 years of age. Salam also was likely a girl and died at about two and a half years old. Scientists estimate Salam lived more than 200,000 years before Lucy.

A French artist reconstructed the two into hyper-realistic sculptures to show people what they likely looked like.

Lucy has only ever been exhibited for a short tour in the United States in the early 2000s, but never in Europe. And Salam has never been on display abroad.

Johanson spoke about his discovery with CNN affiliate, CNN Prima News.

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JOHANSON: I didn't know who it was. I didn't know if it was a new kind of human, a new species. I didn't know if it was a male or a female, I didn't know much about it.

But I knew it would be important. And it was, of course, the discovery that defined my career as an anthropologist. It was my childhood dream.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): Lucy and Salam will be in Prague until late October as part of a 60-day loan from the National Museum of Ethiopia.

Allison Chinchar, CNN.

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CHURCH: It's official. Two of America's most beloved superstars, pop queen Taylor Swift and Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, are engaged.

The happy couple posted these images to social media on Tuesday, which have since gone viral with millions of likes and widespread support. The announcement is the latest in a series of exciting updates for Swift, whose new album, "The Life of a Showgirl," is set to release on October 3rd.

Earlier, CNN's Laura Coates spoke with influencer Olivia Levin, who helped explain a few of the hidden Easter eggs in the joint post.

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OLIVIA LEVIN, INFLUENCER SPECIALIZING IN ALL THINGS TAYLOR SWIFT: Many memes have been circulating since for a while of Taylor being the so- called English teacher of a school and Travis Kelce being the gym teacher. So clearly she's in tune with what's being discussed on social media and she's in on the joke.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR, "LAURA COATES LIVE": And that backdrop.

LEVIN: What was that?

COATES: And that backdrop we see from the engagement scene.

LEVIN: Oh, my gosh, it was so beautiful. And the secret gardens, it seems like it's almost a direct reference to her song, "I Hate It Here," where she talks about the secret gardens in her mind that she escapes to, where everything's great in her mind.

And Travis Kelce, he seems like he listens because he turned their backyard into the secret gardens in her mind, only made it a place in real life and a place that looks just absolutely amazing.

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CHURCH: The glory days of the Middle Ages have leapt off the pages and come to life at England's largest medieval themed festival. The annual event celebrates the times when lords reigned and jousting competitions were the main entertainment. It features everything from archery to hog roast to magicians, the real life "Game of Thrones" event draws massive crowds with fans from around the world.

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LIBBY MOODY, MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: You get a really good insight to things that are difficult to understand just by reading about. I think reenacting the 12th century gives you a lot of appreciation for the 21st.

GARY ANDREWS, MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL ATTENDEE: Living history is such an important way for us to keep in touch with our past. And to see them given a home like this, and a home where it's not just one type, but several different periods, I think is really exciting.

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CHURCH: Lots of fun. Thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

"Amanpour" is next, then stay tuned for "Early Start" with M.J. Lee coming up at 5 a.m. in New York, 10 a.m. in London.

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