Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Dismisses A.I. Concerns as CEOs Call for Slowdown; Iran- Gulf Talks on Reopening of Hormuz Postponed; 100+ Missing after Indonesian Ferry Capsizes in Rough Seas; A.I. Infrastructure a Key Issue for Midterm Voters; Zverev Wins U.S. Open Men's Singles; South Korean Corals Worry Divers. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 14, 2026 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta, and it is so good to have you with me.
[00:00:42]
Coming up on the show, the debate on how to regulate A.I. is raging as top tech leaders warn the technology is growing so quickly it could soon escape human control.
President Trump suggesting the war with Iran could be over in the coming months, even as talks pause in the Middle East.
Rescuers are desperately searching for more than 100 people missing at sea in Indonesia after a passenger ferry capsized.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome. We begin this hour with the growing U.S. political debate over artificial intelligence.
Over the weekend, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the leading A.I. developers in the world, called for an industry-wide slowdown due to the safety risks surrounding A.I.
Lawmakers are now weighing his words as they prepare to return to Capitol Hill for this week's session. Many Democrats have begun voicing their concerns on the potential dangers posed by A.I. Some are even pushing for an emergency session to regulate the technology.
But Republican leaders, including President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, argue the concerns are overblown and that they remain secondary to winning the A.I. race against China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down, as the CEOs have recently acknowledged, slow down the pace of development, in order to protect the American people and ensure that A.I. is proceeding safely.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The problem is they all have a different prescription on what they say the regulation is supposed to be.
The problem is they're all competitors. Each one of them wants to maintain an edge over the others. And Congress is obviously less qualified than the people who are pushing this frontier to know all the ins and outs of it.
If we overstep it, I'm telling you again, Jake, it could be a national security threat for every American.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: U.S. President Donald Trump, while in Ireland this weekend, dismissed concerns raised by A.I. leaders. CNN's Julia Benbrook has the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump spent his weekend here in Ireland, but he is going to have a lot to deal with as he returns home.
BENBROOK (voice-over): This was a two-day trip, and there was a mixture of official meetings, as well as more personal endeavors like attending the Irish Open, which took place at one of his properties here.
But while he was on this trip, there have been growing concerns about artificial intelligence and the lack of regulations on it. A number of lawmakers, former A.I. employees, and even A.I. executives are raising concerns about the rapid growth of this industry.
Some companies, like Anthropic and OpenAI, are even calling on Congress to put into place federal safety regulations to intentionally slow the pace of development.
Trump was asked about all of this as he walked the golf course on Sunday. Take a listen.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're leading China in A.I. We're the most sophisticated country in the world. And frankly, I want to keep it that way. Because whoever wins A.I., wins.
And we can put guardrails, we can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up. And they're bringing up things that won't happen.
But whoever wins with A.I., wins. You know, it's an expression that I came up with, and it's true.
BENBROOK: So, some strong words from Trump on this. He is making it very clear where he stands. He said not once but twice, "Whoever wins A.I., wins."
He has said that he wants the United States to be a leader on this.
While speaking over the weekend to CNN --
BENBROOK (voice-over): -- House Speaker Mike Johnson said that they need to be able to find a balance between national security and the immediate security of making models safe.
He has said that he is open to a meeting with tech leaders in Washington to discuss this.
BENBROOK: He said one potential issue he sees is that they may want different things when looking for those regulations. Johnson says he has spoken about this topic overall with Trump.
Reporting in Dublin, Ireland, Julia Benbrook, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Let's bring in CNN senior China reporter Simone McCarthy for more on China's position on artificial intelligence.
Good to see you.
The U.S. is talking about slowing down the A.I. race and putting more guardrails around development. But is China likely to follow that approach, or would leaders there see an opportunity to sprint ahead?
[00:05:09]
SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: Well, Ben, it's really interesting that, at the same time that we're seeing these kinds of conversations really taking shape in the United States, that there's also been an uptick in those same kinds of concerns here in China's.
Now, of course, the media ecosystem here is very different than back in the U.S. And so, that's taking a different form. What we're largely seeing is government officials who are coming forward and talking about -- talking about these same kinds of concerns about A.I. safety risks.
The most prominent example of that in an article that was published just this week, comes from China's chief intelligence officer. Let's take a look at what he had to say.
Basically, this is China's minister of state security, Chen Yixin, and he's saying that it's important to "properly balance development and security, accelerate the formulation of relevant laws and regulations, and establish systems for technology monitoring risk, early warning, and emergency response to strengthen the assessment and prevention of potential risks arising from A.I."
Now, obviously, that's very bureaucratic speak, but reading between the lines there, we can see that a lot of the same concerns.
We also had another Chinese official from the -- the cyberspace administration talking about the risks of extreme loss of control from A.I. models.
And so, in China, the conversation is very much shaped around concerns around national security, concerns around misinformation, and those uses of A.I.
But we can see that there's certainly overlap in some of these themes that are being discussed.
Now, obviously, as you alluded to, the key question is whether or not the U.S. and China can get on the same page in terms of reaching some kind of agreement about these guardrails. We saw Jacob Coxon talk about that, if we -- if we want to take a listen to what he had to say. This is the former Anthropic employee who really sparked much of this conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB COXON, FORMER ANTHROPIC RESEARCHER: So, there's one thing missing, which is buy-in from China. It looks like it's a U.S. thing. And it looks like yes, like you said, Sam Altman and Elon Musk have agreed that this is a great idea.
But I think, yes, there'll need to be some sort of coordinated slowdown with China, if we're going to avoid a race at an international scale. And I guess we'll see if this sort of thing happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCCARTHY: So, it's interesting, because China's leadership has really, since last year, had a concerted campaign calling for A.I. global governance. And what that really means is that they want to see China taking a lead in shaping the kinds of norms and rules of the road that countries take when it -- when it comes to the development of A.I., when it comes to how the benefits of A.I. are shared globally.
Now, a lot of the messaging on that has been pitched towards countries of the global South, but it also very much pertains to these questions of safety.
And we saw Chinese leader Xi Jinping raising that need for A.I. global governance just yesterday at a meeting of the BRICS emerging economies in New Delhi.
So, there's a lot of common ground here between the two countries. And China is very much, at the same time, calling for guardrails, calling for emergency mechanisms, risk assessments.
But the question really comes down to trust, Ben. Do the two countries trust each other enough in order to reach this kind of agreement? And what kinds of checks will they need to put in place in order to establish that trust and maintain it going forward?
Now, we are expecting, I'll just add, that there's going to be A.I. talks between the U.S. and China ahead of the summit, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping goes to the U.S. later this month. So really, it will be all eyes on what kind of progress is made there, and then how these two leaders are able to discuss this clearly very urgent issue.
HUNTE: Let's talk a bit more about this. Are you seeing the same level of public concern in China about the risks of A.I. that we are seeing in the U.S. right now, or is the public generally much more positive about it all?
MCCARTHY: Well, of course, it's a little bit hard to compare these two, because the media ecosystems are so different. And we have here in China, state media dominating the kind of discourse, as well as on social media.
But what I will say is that so much of the conversation about A.I. here in China's is about its application. It's about how is this going to help people?
For example, we have a rising elderly population here. How can A.I. be applied into these kinds of elderly care? How can it be applied into manufacturing to make the country more efficient?
So, the conversation is really about application, not this race to the frontier, which I think does create a lot of questions for people about what does that mean?
So, part of it is how A.I. is talked about. And I think that that gives this sense that A.I. is going to be incorporated into our lives in a way that can make our lives better. And that does dictate a lot of the conversation here.
[00:10:01]
That said, I mean, it's not all roses. Certainly, there's concern about A.I. taking jobs here in China. This is a manufacturing powerhouse. So, there's a lot of wrinkles.
But I would say that the level of public discourse around the future of those existential risks around A.I. is happening at a much different level than were seeing play out right now in the United States.
HUNTE: OK. Simone McCarthy, reporting live from Beijing. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Here is a look at the financial markets in Asia in the wake of the warnings on the pace of A.I. development. As you're seeing there, the Nikkei and the KOSPI are both down, while Shanghai and Hong Kong's markets are both showing slight gains.
And here is a live look at U.S. futures ahead of the opening bell on Monday. Yes, all of them are trending down, especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Yikes.
Joining us now to discuss the economic impact of this A.I. debate is Ryan Patel. He is a senior fellow with the Drucker School of management at Claremont Graduate University.
Good to see you, sir. It's been a while. It seems like we are seeing A.I. move from the hype phase into the
proof phase. Are companies actually generating enough revenue and productivity gains to justify the huge amount of money being poured into A.I. right now?
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: I mean, here's the thing. I don't think this is necessarily an end of an A.I. rally. I think the markets are asking harder questions, and that includes investors and individuals, as well.
I mean, listen, the last few years, investors have rewarded the A.I. story based on potential. And I think we're starting to hit that crossroads to where -- demand that evidence of, I think, three things.
One, you know, are companies actually getting enough productivity and revenue to justify those capital spending? What happens if a handful of A.I.-related companies, you know, kind of representing the outside share of the markets, kind of reassess their trade, right? That affects the market.
And then who pays for the disruption? And we, you know, really important that this -- why this is coming up to fruition is the cybersecurity risks, the energy demand, the labor displacement, the -- and potentially the regulatory responses.
These are now, all of a sudden -- these are not new questions, Ben. People -- we've been talking about it. It's now just coming to the head as of right now.
HUNTE: So, you know about, we have seen several warnings about the financial risks from the A.I. boom and potential bubble. So, at this point, how worried should investors genuinely be?
PATEL: Well, you got to take a step back, because at this point, every company says that they're an A.I. company. So, like you --
HUNTE: Real. Real.
PATEL: -- you've got to put that to the side. I think you've got the companies that are actually -- yes. I mean, you've got to -- you know, the A.I. boom kind of creates this financial stability and risk, right? Everybody goes up, everybody goes down.
I think really what is going to be had is those companies that are infrastructure really tied to A.I., are they producing? Right?
You know, I think those other companies that touch the economic ecosystem of A.I., they're kind of a bilateral collateral to this situation.
But, you know, for me, I think the market's really asking, you know, what is it actually going to do? Am I getting the ROI behind?
So, I think obviously, certain companies, if you think of the ones that are on top of it, Nvidia and AMD and Qualcomm and, you know, obviously Anthropic, OpenAI, they're leading these kinds of conversations. But in the ecosystem, not everyone can keep up to that pace or wants to pay that valuation for -- for A.I.
HUNTE: Anthropic's CEO is now calling for A.I. development to slow down, while other tech leaders are backing greater safety rules. What does that actually mean for the massive investment that is flowing into this industry?
PATEL: I mean, do you think they're going to slow down? Do you think the whole industry is going to completely slow down?
HUNTE: Unh-uh.
PATEL: I mean yes, I think -- I think it's really important. I mean, we as, you know, consumers, business leaders, and governments, to really have a real conversation. I think this is what I think this is trying to provide.
But if you think that certain companies are going to slow down the innovation, I don't think so. There's too much, you know, investment through there.
But do we have to have a dialog? Absolutely. The question is who's leading it and how are you going to do it? I'm just trying to be very realistic with you, Ben.
Like, I agree. I think we need to talk about how A.I. is -- continue to talk about the governance, the ability of where the data is coming from, the biases. And these are all great things, but we really need to have an actual conversation versus saying, well, one company is going to slow down, but how does that relate to the rest of the society?
HUNTE: Well, speaking about who's leading on all of this, there is another big money question here, because if A.I. increases productivity but also replaces workers and widens the gap between companies and countries, who actually captures the financial gain here?
PATEL: That's a great question. I mean, you think about what GDP growth means to jobs that are losing and the productivity to the ROI. I think we haven't seen anything like this.
I think it's -- the ones who actually win at the end of this, I believe, is if there is those jobs displacements, how can you get the rest of that society, of that community back into the workforce and reskill it?
[00:15:05]
Because at the end of the day, if you think of the U.S., two-thirds of spending is consumer spending. So, you've got to have -- you've got to have some money to be able to spend and contribute and also to that degree.
So, I think the long-term view is, yes, A.I. and innovation continues to, you know, disrupting jobs and widening the gap between these companies and countries. But how do you capitalize on this technology that it doesn't widen that?
How do you distribute the gains? That means meaningful productivity, not just productivity in general. I think whoever answers that in the long-term wins, because they're providing an overall benefit to society and to their communities, not just in the short-term view.
HUNTE: Looking ahead a little bit, what is the one thing you'll be watching for that will tell you A.I. is delivering the economic transformation that investors are genuinely betting on right now?
PATEL: Hit the valuations. Just hit the valuations. Hit your numbers. That -- I mean -- and the hard part why that's hard to do is that the potential is so high on all these companies.
So, the technology is clearly real. But can it -- can it be the right valuation, meaning the value of the company? Nobody knows. Because just like the dot com boom, did everybody know what the valuation would be at that moment? And where does it stop?
And I think to me, what makes it really hard, you know, really great for some of these companies to hit these targets. Build a better infrastructure. Talk about the energy in data centers. Talk about the long-term views.
I think those are the things there's one, saying it, two actually doing it. And to me, I'd love to see we start to make progress on some of these meaty topics that have been more buzzwords and being able to actually achieve it.
HUNTE: It is exciting. Ryan Patel, live from Los Angeles. Thank you for being with us again. See you again soon, sir. Appreciate it.
PATEL: See you.
HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. Diplomacy over the Straits of Hormuz hit a setback after a planned meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab states was postponed. What it means for global oil prices and tensions in the region, just ahead.
And also, rescue teams are still looking for more than 100 people missing after an Indonesian ferry capsized in the Java Sea. We'll bring you the latest details on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:42]
HUNTE: Welcome back.
A Ukrainian railway company reports a passenger train was struck by Russian drones near the country's border with Poland. The railway company says the train left the station earlier than expected. The company also says that two different trains at the station carried
various security officials and former world leaders. They include former CIA director David Petraeus and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. We have no reports of injuries at this time.
Ukrainian Railways says it is, quote, "quite likely" that Russia may have deliberately targeted the trains carrying diplomats.
That attack prompted a response from U.S. President Donald Trump. But perhaps an unexpected one. Instead of calling out Russia, the president instead called on Ukraine to stop targeting Russian diesel suppliers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia. Let him go after targets, but not diesel fuel, because he's causing a shortage of diesel. This isn't done by the Middle East. This is done by what's happening with Russia and Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: A major diplomatic push in the Gulf is now on hold. Gulf diplomats and Iranian officials were supposed to meet on Monday in Oman, without the U.S. at the table, to discuss a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But that meeting has now been postponed indefinitely, with Oman saying more consensus is needed. This comes after months of private talks over a possible legal framework that could allow Iran and Oman to collect fees for vessels to pass through that critical waterway.
President Trump, meanwhile, still believes that the war could end by November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look, it could end before the midterms, but it will end after the midterms. And Iran -- Iran, I will tell you this. Iran wants to make a deal so badly. They are calling constantly. They want to make a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President --
TRUMP: They've got to make the right deal. I'm not going to make a deal that's no good.
We'll ultimately get out; unless we decide to stay and keep the oil like Venezuela.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Joining us now is Alex Plitsas, CNN national security analyst and director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council. It's good to see you.
So, the meeting in Oman has now been postponed. How significant is that setback and why did it happen?
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, the expectations for this meeting were already incredibly low before it was postponed. And that's due to Iran maintaining maximalist language as it relates to control over the Strait of Hormuz.
So, the purpose for the meeting was to try to work out some sort of agreement between Iran and Oman for how this was going to work: final shipping lanes, and then work out some language, as you correctly noted in the intro here about what fees would look like.
And it sounds like, to date, what the -- the Gulf allies were talking about was something like the Straits of Malacca, where there's a consortium, where you have voluntary fees that people pay, but no mandatory fees.
But Iran was still looking for mandatory fees or also commonly referred to as tolls, still wanting to control the Strait of Hormuz.
And my understanding, after speaking to regional officials is that Saudi Arabia, amongst several other countries, expressed concerns about the language that was still there, fearing that this was going to go nowhere and be a waste of time. The meeting was asked to be postponed.
HUNTE: Bahrain had already said it wouldn't attend unless Iran stopped its strikes, and now Saudi Arabia has raised concerns about the proposed agreement, as well. How divided are the Gulf states right now?
[00:25:11]
PLITSAS: So, my understanding is the Gulf states are fairly unified at this point, and that is that they all believe in freedom of navigation for the Strait of Hormuz.
And in general, they do not believe that any one country should control the waterway. They do not believe in mandatory tolls or fees.
And there is a recognition, as you know -- as I just mentioned previously, that perhaps, you know, a voluntary consortium, again, like the Straits of Malacca, where if you're providing search and rescue or navigation services, et cetera, that there could be some voluntary fee.
That's -- again, there's a model for that globally. But there is no support anywhere within the Gulf or, quite frankly, within the world for this type of model that Iran was still pushing for, which regional mediators referred to me as, quote, "maximalist language" still being pushed by Iran.
HUNTE: Kind of on that, Iran wants to have a say in how shipping through Hormuz is managed, while the U.S. has been blocking Iranian ports. What does Tehran actually want from future talks?
PLITSAS: So, from future talks, I believe both Iran and the United States would like to see this end in some sort of diplomatic agreement.
But there's two problems. One, neither side really understands the other one well. They've been talking past each other.
And there's also a serious deficit of trust from the Iranian perspective. The U.S. has engaged in two separate sets of strikes, one last summer with Midnight Hammer and then one, you know, leading up to this conflict when it kicked off earlier this year, both when there were diplomatic negotiations that were going on.
So, they fear that diplomatic negotiations are a cover for action.
From the United States' perspective, there's been agreements in place where there was supposed to be freedom of movement through the strait, and then Iran was firing on ships.
So, neither side really trusts the other one.
So, the goal at this point is to try to get the straits reopened. For Iran, they want the sanctions lifted. They want their frozen funds unblocked. They want those back. And they would like to see commerce moving again.
The United States, they would like to see, you know, freedom of movement and navigation there.
Only at that point can we then return back to a negotiation based on that 14-point memorandum of understanding. This is still a disagreement over 0.5 out of 14 points. So, there is still a long way to go after this.
HUNTE: We have, of course, seen Iranian cargo ships hit in the strait. How dangerous is the situation for commercial shipping right now?
PLITSAS: It's still fairly dangerous in the sense that Iran, you know, still possesses some capability to strike ships. You're never going to get every missile. You're never going to get every drone.
The U.S. Military has successfully, you know, cleared most of the mines, if not all, out of the Strait of Hormuz. The lanes aren't physically blocked. They're passable at this point. And the U.S. is providing navigational support to the commercial ships.
About 40 percent of normal traffic flow, somewhere between 7 and 8 million barrels a day, are getting out of the strait. It was about 21 million pre -- pre-conflict levels.
And they're using smaller ships, and then they're doing ship-to-ship transfers off the coast to get the oil out. You still can't get the entire volume that you had pre-war, but there is oil and gas that is moving out as a result of that.
However, just not Iranian oil and gas. And so, what we saw over the last week, I think, which is Iran finally pushing back. They're under some pressure as a result of the blockade. They sustained serious economic damage as a result of the war, and then they have legacy sanctions.
And then on top of that, the U.S. was still managing to get oil out. And so, Iran wanted to raise the price of oil and goods in addition to, you know, maximizing casualties, attacking Gulf states to get put pressure on the U.S. But the oil prices weren't really going up as high as they wanted.
So, Iran did a couple of things, right? So, they attacked the pipeline off the coast -- inside Saudi Arabia, the East-West pipeline that's got millions of barrels per day going through there. That's now been disrupted.
And the Houthis also have been activated and given support to create a second strategic choke point in the Bab al-Mandeb, or the entrance of the Red Sea, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula.
So, Iran is feeling the pressure, and now they're putting the pressure back on the United States.
HUNTE: Mm-hm. All of that being said, is there still a realistic diplomatic path to fully reopening Hormuz, or are we just moving towards a much longer-term confrontation?
PLITSAS: I think both at the same time, which just to explain, to be clear, is the only real way out of this is a diplomatic solution.
If you talk to any of the major shipping companies, they'll tell you that the red line for them is crew casualties. And the only way you guarantee there'll be no attacks on ships is through diplomatic agreement.
Because you'll never get every missile. You'll never get every drone. And even if you're under naval escort and support, that still means that you're under attack, and something can slip through. The enemy only has to be right once in that particular case.
There's also an insufficient number of ships willing to transit to really get back to pre-war levels of 21 million barrels a day. So, you have to get there at some point.
The question then becomes, how soon can you get there? For the Iranians, do they want to give the president a win in the six-week run-up to the midterm elections? They've been looking to punish him over that. They think that's a way to, you know, to cause their own version of regime change, as they call it, by changing the control of Congress in Washington.
And how much longer can they realistically hold on? The CIA was said to have assessed that they could hang on under a full blockade for 4 to 6 months.
But I have to tell you, it's one of the most difficult things to assess when a government is going to collapse or when they're -- when they're under pressure. And the intelligence communities globally have done a terrible job at predicting that, because it is so difficult.
[00:30:10]
So, it's really unclear at this point when that will happen. We know that there's severe food inflation inside of Iran. But if you talk to people inside the country, as I do from time to time, they're still managed to get by, and they're saying it's close to what it was in 2018.
People are still going to work. People are still going to school. They're not at a breaking point yet. So, it's unclear where that point is.
HUNTE: Mm-hm. OK. Alex Plitsas, appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
PLITSAS: Thank you for having me.
HUNTE: In Sweden's parliamentary elections, the country's center-left opposition bloc currently holds a narrow lead, with ballot counting still underway.
A partial count of Sweden's election districts has the bloc on course for a slim one-seat majority. Given the closeness of that vote, the overall winner may not be known for several days.
The current prime minister and head of the right-wing governing bloc says it remains an open question as to who will govern in the coming years.
A victory for the center-left would mark a pause in Sweden's drift away from its liberal heritage.
And now to Indonesia, where rescue teams are racing to find dozens of people missing after a passenger ferry capsized in the Java Sea. Look at those pictures.
The ship set sail on Sunday with 243 people on board, including 30 crew members. One hundred and eight survivors were rescued, but at least six bodies were also recovered.
Authorities say the captain had reported rough seas with waves up to ten feet before issuing a distress call.
Joining us now is CNN's Mike Valerio, live in Beijing. Mr. Valerio, what is the latest on this absolutely awful tragedy? How are the rescue efforts going? Tell me everything.
MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Benny, they're progressing. And it's an effort, an all-out effort, to find more than 100 people who have not been accounted for.
But control room, we want to toss to the video that is just coming into our NEWSROOM here. This is recorded video from late Sunday night that we're just seeing right now, with the miraculous rescue of dozens of people from that capsized vessel, just seeing the underbelly of it in the introduction to the story.
I mean, just still so arresting. And to know that these people made it out.
So, this is the latest video that we're getting of people who are being treated.
But I want to share a soundbite with you. This is a woman completely calm and collected. She's waiting to hear from a family member, and she was on the phone with him moments before this very large ferry capsized in the middle of the night.
Let's listen to what she says, and we'll talk more on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PUTRI, RELATIVE OF A MISSING FERRY PASSENGER (through translator): Our last contact was 5 p.m. in the afternoon yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And he was already at sea by then?
PUTRI (through translator): He was on his way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And what did he say in that last contact?
PUTRI (through translator): He said the signal wasn't very good. It kept going down. Then after that, there was no more contact. We couldn't reach him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): But did he report anything on the weather conditions?
PUTRI (through translator): He said it was bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And then nothing after?
PUTRI (through translator): No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: And she didn't hear from him again. She did not hear from him again after that phone call.
We want to also share with you some other survivor testimony that we're just getting in with our friends from the Associated Press.
One man telling reporters on the scene that after the ship was starting to tilt, people panicked and ran to the upper deck. Eventually, the ship capsized, turning upside-down.
Another survivor telling the Associated Press that women specifically staying in the economy class cabins likely did not survive as the ship tilted rapidly, and there were no alarms and no announcements.
Ferry disasters have happened before in Indonesia, if you're watching this story and thinking, you know, this -- this sounds familiar. Of course, each disaster is different. But the unpredictability of the weather in the Java Sea is certainly, you know, it's looking like this was a factor in this disaster, in addition to safety standards, as well.
We do want to mention before we go, Benny, this is an overnight ferry from the Southern end of the Java Sea to the Northern side of the Java Sea, going to the island of Borneo.
So, if you can imagine looking at these pictures and looking at the red hull of that ship overturned, and thinking about getting people to respond to this impending disaster in the middle of the night, since this was an overnight ferry, or at least after the sun had set, it's an extraordinary effort.
So, our reporting target is certainly to figure out how many people have been recovered from the scene, as there are rescue boats around that red hull that are trying to rescue as many people as possible -- Benny.
HUNTE: Awful, awful stuff. Mike Valerio, live for us in Beijing. Thank you very much, Mr. Valerio. Appreciate it.
VALERIO: Thanks, Benny.
HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. Voters in the upcoming midterm elections might be united on one issue, and that's opposing A.I. data centers.
[00:35:07]
CNN's Harry Enten will break down recent polling, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNTE: Welcome back. As questions mount over the risks posed by artificial intelligence, the debate over how Washington should respond is intensifying.
[00:40:03]
With Congress returning from its summer recess, the A.I. issue is suddenly a top priority on their packed agenda. But House Speaker Mike Johnson is warning against moving too quickly, arguing that new A.I. restrictions could put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate A.I., we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American.
So, we've got to have balance. We've got to have steady hands on the wheel. I'm one of the ones calling for the summoning of this meeting, and I will be pushing that myself, because it is a top priority. But we don't need everybody to panic right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: Former President Barack Obama is urging Democrats to take a different approach, making A.I. regulation a central part of their agenda as the party looks ahead to the midterms.
In a speech on Thursday, Obama said, quote, "This is something that is moving very fast in private hands. And if we don't get on top of it, I think it can be dangerous. If we do get on top of it, I do think it's beneficial. I would talk about this and I would say, here's our plan for safety. Here's our plan for making sure our kids are not corrupted by this."
The development of A.I. infrastructure is becoming an even bigger issue for voters ahead of the November midterms. CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, looks at the latest polling on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there. You know, one of the big debates that seemingly came out of nowhere developing before the midterm elections, which are now a little bit -- well, according to my fake watch, a little bit under two months from now here in the states, is the debate over A.I. and data centers.
President Trump, a big proponent of both. But the American people, simply put, are not with him when it comes to this issue. You can see it clearly in the numbers.
I mean, just look at this. Look at these numbers. OK. Trump's approval rating on A.I., his net approval rating. Look at this: -34 points. That is, his disapproval rating is 34 points higher than his approval rating or a comparable metric. I mean, that's terrible.
And somehow, that's even worse than it was back in March when he wasn't too hot to trot either, when he was, according to my little note -- I like to leave myself little notes on the bottom of the screen -- about 25 points underwater on this issue.
Now, you think that this net approval rating, approval minus disapproval, is bad. Why don't you look at it among independents?
Look at it among independents. Because if you think there's -- 34 points is bad, how about 61 points underwater with independents? I don't care if you combine Jacques Cousteau and the Little Mermaid. You could not get that far underwater. I mean, my goodness gracious.
Independents, 61 points more likely to disapprove than approve of the job that President Trump is doing when it comes to the issue of A.I.
Now, President Trump not on the ballot come these midterm elections, but there're going to be a lot of Republicans running for Congress. And we've seen a lot of flip-flops from different politicians, from both parties when it comes to data centers.
And you want to know why there have been flip-flops? Because the ones that were pro are becoming con, because they're looking at polling data like this. I mean, there's a reason why Trump's net approval rating on A.I. is so
low. It's because take a look at this. Local data centers prefer candidates for Congress to oppose or support. Look at the opposition here. Fifty-four percent overall say oppose, oppose, oppose. They oppose. They want their candidates to oppose data centers.
Compare this to the support. You know, when I can do it like this, ten, five, you know it's a low number. Just 15 percent say they want local candidates to support. They want candidates to support local data centers.
You think that this 15 percent is low? How about this: 8 percent among independents? I can do that really easily. Look at that. Eight, eight. Eight percent support among independents. Or say that they want candidates to support them.
Look at this: 62 percent say they want those candidates to oppose, oppose, oppose. Independents say oppose the data centers. That's a ratio of nearly 8 to 1, nearly a ratio of 8 to 1.
Now, why? One of the big reasons why folks in the electorate are so opposed to data centers and A.I. Well, it's almost always about the economy. And I think this final data point will kind of give the game away. I mean, look at this.
What will A.I. do to jobs in America? Will it reduce them, increase them? Well, overall, 64 percent of voters say that, in fact, A.I. will reduce jobs in America, compared to just 19 percent who say that A.I. will increase jobs in America.
But again, you think this 64 percent is high? How about among independents? It's 72 percent. Seventy-two percent of independents say that A.I. will, in fact, reduce jobs in America, compared to a very lonely 14 percent. That's ten. And the final four to get you to 14 percent.
[00:45:04]
You just look at these numbers, and you go, you know what? If I'm supporting A.I., I'm supporting data centers, and I am running in this midterm election, I am running really, really scared.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: All right. There's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including an exciting end to the U.S. Open men's singles final and the crowning of a Grand Slam champion. See you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:50:10]
HUNTE: Germany's Alexander Zverev has won the U.S. Open Men's Singles championship, capping his breakthrough year with a second Grand Slam title.
The top seed defeated American Ben Shelton in four sets, regaining control after Shelton rallied to take the third.
Zverev then dominated the fourth, denying Shelton a comeback in his first Grand Slam final appearance.
Shelton's loss disappointed a home crowd hoping to see an American man win a Grand Slam title for the first time in 23 years.
The match marked a full-circle moment for Zverev, who let a two-set lead slip away during his first U.S. Open final six years ago.
CNN WORLD SPORT's Patrick Snell caught up with Alexander Zverev courtside after his big win.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, many congratulations. You are holding a magnificent piece of silverware. But let's start with the moment you clinched it. You appeared to not initially realize you'd won the title. What was going through your mind at that moment?
ALEXANDER ZVEREV, U.S. OPEN MEN'S SINGLES CHAMPION: I felt -- I thought it was five-one. I thought it was five-one instead of six-two. So, I thought, I have one more game left. So, I was quite focused. I was quite calm.
But then I was luckily on the side of my team, and they were all screaming that it's over. So, I'm very happy that it was.
SNELL: They confirmed it for you.
ZVEREV: Yes, they confirmed it for me.
SNELL: What a moment that was. What a year it's been for you, Sascha. You win the French Open; now, the U.S. Open. At the start of the year, though, would you ever have dreamt it possible that you would go on to win not just one, but two Grand Slam singles titles?
ZVEREV: Yes, of course, that's what you work for. But definitely, if you would have given me a paper at the beginning of the season for one Grand Slam title, I would have signed it. That's for sure. But standing here with two is absolutely amazing, and I couldn't be happier.
SNELL: You've spoken before about the scar tissue over the years, the doubts that creep in. Would you ever win a Grand Slam singles title, a major? How do you reflect back on that now, and how high is the bar moving forward?
ZVEREV: Yes, it's funny. The scar tissue started here six years ago, but, yes, I mean, I definitely had tough moments, especially, I think, in Paris. I had a lot of stress in me.
But here, I was just enjoying my time on the court, because -- because I won in Paris already. So, it was a much more enjoyable, a lot of fun on the court and definitely happy with how I played.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including how extreme weather is threatening the life of South Korea's soft corals. See you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNTE: Welcome back. Extreme weather due to the El Nino weather pattern is hitting a South Korean soft coral habitat. Many corals are slumping over and dying.
CNN's Gage Goulding takes us beneath the waves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As divers explore along a South Korean island, they're alarmed at what they see below the water: slumping coral.
A group of divers say many corals are collapsing as climate change pushes up water temperatures and contributes to intense weather events.
KO MYEONG-HYO, SOUTH KOREAN "HAENYEO" FREE-DIVER & PARAN OCEAN CITIZEN SCIENCE CENTER ACTIVIST (through translator): Today, the outdoor air temperature is a bit high, and when I went underwater, even in the deep area, so many corals are lying collapsed.
[00:55:01]
GOULDING (voice-over): Off the coast of Jeju Island, the UNESCO-listed habitat is made up of soft coral. Unlike hard corals, which have stony skeletons and form reefs, soft corals are bendable and flow with the currents. They stay upright through fluid pressure.
But if the environment changes, they can sag or collapse. This puts clusters of coral at risk of dying.
YOON SANGHOON, ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT ADVISER AT PARAN OCEAN CITIZEN SCIENCE CENTER (through translator): If a super El Nino comes, it will naturally raise water temperatures in the seas around Jeju. And we're witnessing these high temperatures now having a nearly devastating impact on the coral ecosystem there.
GOULDING (voice-over): A record heat wave hit the Korean Peninsula this summer. While the South suffered heavy rains, researchers say weather conditions such as these are potential triggers for soft coral slumping. The researchers say the dying coral has widespread effects.
YOON (through translator): If this foundational ecosystem collapses, there is a very high possibility that the entire marine ecosystem could collapse, as well.
GOULDING (voice-over): The warmer waters have also caused fishers' catch to decline. A local fisher says the water has become too hot for species to spawn, and here typical five-hour workday has dwindled to just three hours, partially because there's less to catch.
KO (through translator): That place, the coral habitat in Jeju Sea, is so beautiful and has been a source of comfort in my life. Watching it collapse like that, turning white, I was so bewildered and felt afraid, wondering, is the sea now completely collapsing?
GOULDING (voice-over): Gage Goulding, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: All right. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll be right back with more of today's headlines on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNTE: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, the debate around A.I. heats up with some U.S. lawmakers warning against too much government regulation.
