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Political Debate Over AI Intensifies Amid Warnings About "Catastrophic Risk"; Sweden's Center-Left Takes Narrow Election Lead; Oman Says Strait of Hormuz Talks With Iran, Gulf States Postponed; Iran Reports Commercial Vessel Struck In Strait Of Hormuz; India's PM Modi Holds Bilateral Talks with World Leaders; 78th Emmy Awards. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired September 14, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: It is so good to have you with me. Coming up on the show, the debate around AI heats up with some U.S. lawmakers warning against too much government regulation after a dire message from Anthropic CEO.

It is too close to call in Sweden's parliamentary elections. The center left opposition holds a slim lead, but anything could happen. We'll explore with an expert.

And the biggest night in TV is less than 24 hours away. We'll dive into who and what to watch out for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 AI developers in the world, called for an industry wide slowdown due to the safety risks surrounding AI.

Lawmakers are now weighing his words as they prepare to return to Capitol Hill for this week's session. Growing public scrutiny has prompted some Democrats to push for an emergency session to regulate the technology.

But, Republican leaders argue the concerns are overblown and that they remain secondary to winning the air race against China.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on board Air Force One earlier about the warnings made by leaders and how China's AI development impacts the US. Have a listen to this.

(B EGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I've said it from the beginning, whoever wins AI, and we're leading by a lot, whoever wins AI, wins.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever used it yourself or have you been, how do you use AI?

TRUMP: But I would say, you know, for the most part, you can use AI for a lot of things right away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is calling for a measured approach to AI regulation to get things right and avoid being bested by China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-KY) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, 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 at 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: Well, despite assurances from the speaker of the House and the president, the consensus among AI developers is that guardrail are now needed. CNN's Clare Duffy has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: It's been really fascinating to watch the industry sort of coalesce around this, this issue this weekend and really in agreement with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. These are leaders who are not necessarily all in agreement on a regular basis, but you've got xAI CEO Elon Musk saying Dario is right. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying, I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis saying Dario's essay points toward the right path forward.

So all of these leaders agreeing that there are really significant risks here, risks including the rogue AI hacks that we saw earlier this summer, the risk of AI being misused to create weapons or bioweapons, also a risk of AI that is increasingly improving itself. And there is a worry that these leaders could lose control of this technology if AI is able to continue this self-improvement.

However, I do think there is a question that we are seeing emerging, which is these -- these guys are the leaders of Frontier AI and they could if they chose to start to slow things down themselves. There is this conversation about the need for industry agreement on this work with lawmakers as you hear him talk about.

However, I do think there is this question of if there is such significant concern, if there really is existential risk here, why are we not seeing these leaders like Dario, like Sam Altman just deciding to sl. Slow down themselves? Of course there are competitive considerations here. They don't want to be the only one slowing down. They would like to see everybody in agreement.

But obviously especially with Washington divided on how to handle this, it does feel a bit far away from some sort of collective agreement on how to handle this issue. And then there is a question of an international agreement. Can we get company, countries, I should say, like China, on board with slowing down the development of this technology.

And I think there is a big question mark there. Dario Amodei talked about sort of working up towards those things. So maybe first you have these evaluators in an agreement with Congress, then you work towards international agreement. But again, I think you increasingly are hearing people who watch the industry say if these concerns are so significant, why not have these leaders take the first steps themselves rather than waiting on Congress, rather than waiting on the entire industry to follow them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: All right, let's bring in CNN senior China reporter Simone McCarthy for more on China's position on artificial intelligence. Good to see you again.

The U.S. is talking about slowing down the and putting more guardrails around development. Is China likely to follow that approach or would leaders there see an opportunity to sprint ahead?

[01:05:05]

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: Well, Ben, it's interesting because at the same time that we're seeing this real explosion of discussion about this in the United States, that conversation is also happening here in China. Now, the media ecosystems in the two different countries are obviously very different themselves, and so that's playing out in quite a different way here in China.

But what we are seeing are Chinese officials really elevating how they're speaking about these AI safety risks. I think a great example of that we just saw in an article that was published earlier this week is coming from China's top intelligence chief.

Let's take a look at what he had to say. This is Chen Yixin the Minister of State Security, and he said we must properly balance development and security, accelerate the formulation and improvement of relevant laws and regulations, establish systems for technology monitoring, regulation, risk, early warning and emergency response, to strengthen the assessment and prevention of potential risks arising from the development of AI.

Now, obviously that's bureaucratic speak, but what that's pointing to is that these same concerns that are being discussed in the United States are also being reflected in China and in China. That very much has a national security component in terms of the country being concerned about being the target of attacks from overseas AI. It also has the component of national security in the sense of information control misinformation here within China. So these conversations are very much happening. There was also another interesting comment which came from a cyberspace regulator which warned of the risks of extreme loss of control of AI.

Now, China for a long time has been calling for a global governance. This is something that Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself has spearheaded just as recently as yesterday in New Delhi when he joined a meeting of the emerging economies known as BRICS. He also called for this AI governance. And a lot of that is about sharing the benefits of AI, ensuring that there aren't technology controls, making sure that China has a leading role in dictating what the rules are for AI governance. But it does also absolutely talk about safety.

So, we can see from these various different aspects that there are areas of overlap between concerns in the U.S. and concerns in China. But the question is, how much are the two going to be able to work together on that? And that was something which was raised by Jacob Coxon, the former Anthropic employee who really kicked off this whole debate in the U.S. if we want to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB COXON, FORMER ANTHROPIC AND OPENAI RESEARCHER: So there's one thing missing, which is buying from China. It looks like it's a US Thing. And it looks like, yes, like you said, Sam Altman, Elon Musk have agreed that this is a great idea, but I think 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 that is the question whether or not the two countries can have the level of trust that would be required for them to reach some kind of agreement on what those guardrails are, how they're going to be monitored. But we're entering into a really interesting period right now where we're going to see those talks taking place. We're expecting to see the U.S. and China have AI talks in the coming days leading up to Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to the United States later this month.

And AI is obviously going to loom large over those conversations. So we'll be watching very closely whether these two leaders are able to find some common ground and some trust in this obviously very contentious issue.

HUNTE: All right, Simone McCarthy reporting live from Beijing for us. Thank you so much.

Here's a look at the financial markets in Asia in the wake of the warnings on the pace of AI development. As you can see there, the Nikkei and the Kospi are both down, while Shanghai and Hong Kong's markets are both showing slight gains. And let's take a live look at U.S. Futures ahead of the opening bell on Monday. All of them are trending down, especially the tech heavy NASDAQ.

In the last hour, I spoke of Ryan Patel. He's a senior fellow of the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Have a listen to his take on how this AI debate is impacting markets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AT CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: I think the markets are asking harder questions and that includes investors and individuals as well. I mean, listen, last few years, investors have rewarded the AI story based on potential and I think we're starting to hit that crossroads to where demand the evidence of I think three things.

One, you know, are companies actually getting enough productivity and revenue to justify those capital spending are what happens if a handful of AI related companies, you know, kind of representing an outsourced, outsized 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 and potentially the regulatory responses.

[01:10:06]

These are now all of a sudden -- these are not new questions people we've been talking about. It's now just coming to the head as of right now.

HUNTE: Saying all of that, we have seen several warnings about the financial risks from the 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 AI company. So 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 AI boom kind of creates this financial stability and risk. Right. If everybody goes up, everybody goes down. I think really what is going to be had is those companies that are infrastructure really tied to AI, are they producing? Right.

You know, I think those other companies that touch the economic ecosystem of AI, 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 AI.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: There's so much more to come. Here on CNN Newsroom, a narrow result is shaping up in Sweden's parliamentary elections. We'll bring you the latest picture so far as ballot counting continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:16:00]

HUNTE: In Sweden's parliamentary elections, the country's center-left opposition bloc currently holds a narrow lead with ballot counting still underway. Given the closeness of the 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.

Joining us now from Stockholm, Jonas Tallberg, Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University. Good to see you, sir. This election was expected to be close. How surprised are you by just how tight this result is looking now?

JONAS TALLBERG, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY: Well, I'm quite surprised. Swedish elections have traditionally been very close, but the polls for this one suggested for a long time that this would be a fairly easy win for the central-left opposition. And that is certainly not what we're seeing.

Just a few weeks ago we still had the central left in a clear lead. Now we have results showing that indeed there is a slight majority for the center-left opposition, but it's still too close to call.

HUNTE: The early numbers are put in the center left just ahead, but by a very narrow margin. So what happens now if that lead doesn't hold?

TALLBERG: Well, if the lead doesn't hold, then it will revert back to the main alternative being the center-right government coalition. Now with the Sweden Democrats in the government and they have a fairly tightly negotiated team of parties and could likely fairly easily move to a stage of government formation.

On the other hand, if the central left were to uphold its current majority and again too close to call, and then this is likely the beginning of a fairly challenging government formation process as at least two of the parties in the central left opposition have put down red lines in a sense with regard to needing to be in the government and not wanting to see another party in the government. So that's a bit challenging in terms of conditions. Those could of course also just be negotiating devices.

HUNTE: Immigration and crime have of course been major issues in this campaign and we have seen Sweden move significantly to the right on those questions in recent years. What does this result tell us so far, of course, about the impact of those issues?

TALLBERG: Well, so you might think that this could be a referendum on immigration. And I would say that that's not entirely correct in the sense that we saw immigration and crime further up on the agenda both in 2018 and in 2022. But now in 2026, we in fact see how that both immigration and crime have declined in terms of the priority called the voters. Other types of issues have risen to the top of the agenda, not least health care, elderly care, schools, pensions and so on.

So while immigration and crime remain important issues and remain issues that separate the center right from the center left in terms of how to deal with them, they are not as salient on the agenda of the voters these days.

HUNTE: How much do you expect Sweden's foreign and security policy to change depending on who ultimately forms this next government?

TALLBERG: Well, when it comes to issues of foreign policy, Sweden as a country has tended to have a fairly high level of consensus among the major parties, especially the mainstream parties. And given its geographic and economic situation, being a country with proximity to Russia, a small country, internationalized country, highly export dependent, and what we're seeing is basically a Swedish foreign policy position that is shared or backed up by all the major parties. It's one where E.U. membership defines the most important channel for exercising Swedish foreign policy. It's one where a tough stance against Russia and also building up the defense in order to deter Russian aggression.

[01:20:06]

It's a cornerstone. In addition, we're also seeing extensive support for continued support to Ukraine, which is an issue that is divisive in many other countries, but certainly not in Sweden.

HUNTE: So given how close this election now is, what should we be watching for over the next few hours and then days that will tell us who can actually form a government?

TALLBERG: Well, what everyone's talking about right now are the votes to be counted and reported no later than Wednesday. And those are late, early voting votes, but also international votes that are coming in and they compose about 3 percent of the overall number of votes. That might not sound like a lot, but historically there have been moments where those votes have actually flipped the majority from one side to the other. This happened in 1979, for instance.

And so this is really what everyone is watching at the moment. Just as, you know, I went to sleep for a few hours, we saw the center left pick up one more seat in Parliament. It now stands at 176 versus 173 for the government. But it remains to be seen whether those two separate seats will hold once Wednesday's votes are counted.

HUNTE: OK. Professor Jonas Tallberg, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us.

TALLBERG: Thank you for having me.

HUNTE: Still to come on CNN Newsroom, diplomacy over the Strait of Hormuz hit a setback after a planned meeting between Iran and Gulf Arab states in Oman was postponed. What it means for global oil prices and tensions in the region. Just ahead. See in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:26:23]

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 the critical waterway.

Meanwhile, Iran state media says an Iranian commercial vessel was struck in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one person and injuring four others. The U.S. has not yet commented on a reported attack. This comes as Iran-backed Houthis are stepping up attacks near another key waterway, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, leading to concerns it could cause global oil prices to rise even further.

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.

We have no reports of injuries at this time. Ukrainian railway 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 calling on Ukraine to stop targeting Russian diesel suppliers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Russia plants are being hit by Ukraine and I've asked President Zelenskyy not to hit the diesel plants refineries because that's what's driving it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: One Ukrainian lawmaker says the U.S. and Ukraine's other European allies aren't showing real intent to end Russia's war. And until that happens, there isn't a way Ukraine can realistically win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: You cannot negotiate under the bombs. And the one thing that we were trying to get from President Trump's administration is that famous promise of peace through strength. If it cannot stop the war, at least it should stop killings that are happening every single day. Unfortunately, we see that moving nowhere.

And until President Trump and our European partners will show the real intent to end the war, which would come from really working sanctions that would come with supplying Ukraine with additional weapons and pressuring Putin on all the other fronts, I do not see how that will be moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: And now to Indonesia, where rescue teams are racing to find dozens of people missing after a passenger ferry capsized in a Java seamless. Look at those images. 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 10 feet before issuing a distress call. We will keep you updated as we follow the latest developments there.

As the BRICS summit came to a close in New Delhi, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with some of the world leaders in attendance. India's Foreign Ministry says the talks focused on cooperation with the country's partners, as well as addressing regional and global issues of mutual interest.

BRICS is a group of emerging and developing economies that are working to raise their profile on the world stage.

[01:30:05]

Next on CNN NEWSROOM, it is television's biggest night, and we'll break down who the big winners are expected to be during the 78th Emmy awards.

See you in a moment.

[01:30:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back.

There are just hours left until the primetime ceremony of the 78th Emmy awards. The television academy has already handed out two nights' worth of trophies, but the biggest awards are still to come.

This year's nominations were dominated by medical drama, "The Pitt", produced in part by CNN's parent company, and the final season of the comedy "Hacks" too.

Joining me now is Sandro Monetti, editor-in-chief of the "Hollywood International Film Magazine". There he is. He's also a film producer, writer and director too. I love it.

So to kick off, good to see you. The Emmys are moving to Monday night this year. How big of a gamble is that and why has that happened?

SANDRO MONETTI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL FILM MAGAZINE": You know, it's almost as hard to pick the winners of the Emmys as it is to pick a night to put the ceremony on.

Award shows are traditionally on Sundays. But the reason it's moved to Monday this year is because they didn't want to go up against the Sunday night NFL game, New York Giants against Dallas Cowboys, which they thought would suck it in the ratings.

And so they're going on Monday instead. But I don't know if they've checked the listings. There's also Monday night football as well.

So you've got the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Denver Broncos. Maybe they think that's less competition.

Most -- over recent years award shows have generally been trending down. But last year's Emmys was the most watched in four years. So we will see how it -- how it all turns out.

HUNTE: So tell me, what are you most looking forward to about this big night then? Anything new to get excited about?

MONETTI: I am so looking forward to if Harrison Ford wins Best Comedy Supporting Actor for "Shrinking", because I love Harrison Ford. I've interviewed him several times. He's always incredibly grumpy, so it's kind of ironic that he's up for a comedy award.

But you know, that's part of his appeal and that's what makes him so funny in "Shrinking", of course. And you know, he's one of the great movie stars of all time, and he's been showing his quality on the small screen in this.

So, yes, I'll be rooting for Harrison. It's -- he's not the favorite in the category, but we'll see. I think it would be a great moment for the show if one of America's most loved actors could win on especially this award.

HUNTE: Exciting stuff.

"The Pitt" leads all shows with 25 nominations after winning four awards earlier in the (INAUDIBLE), how much hype does the show have going into this big night?

MONETTI: It is the hottest of hot favorites. I'm sure they're already building the trophy cabinet down at Warner Studios to accommodate all the Emmys it's going to win on Monday night.

Pluribus is its only challenger. Personally, I think "Slow Horses" and "Paradise" both deserve to win, but there you go. That's just me.

And, yes, the buzz around the Emmy parties is that "The Pitt" has got it in the bag. It's going to do it again for Best Drama Series.

HUNTE: Let's talk about "Hacks" as well. "Hacks" has a record 24 nominations, but "Widow's Bay" has already picked up eight awards. Is this now genuinely too close to call in the comedy categories?

MONETTI: Well, finally, we have some suspense in the Emmys because yes, you're right. This one could go either way. But I think, yes, "Hacks" comes in with the trophies, but "Widow's

Bay" comes in with the momentum. There's a great competition, you know, to get the hearts and minds of voters and influencers.

Yes, "Hacks" was the favorite until a few weeks ago. And then I went to the most amazing event for "Widow's Bay" here in Los Angeles, where they turned a hotel into a haunted hotel. They had all the actors there to meet voters and, influencers. They're really campaigning hard for it.

And Matthew Rhys, who you see on screen there, also nominated for "The Beast in Me", has got the most amazing record in television. Every show he picks is completely brilliant. You know, he's as much as you can guarantee, you know, a solid hit when you put him in a show.

So yes, I think it's going to be a good night for him. I think it's going to be a good night for "Widow's Bay" and the "Hacks" trophy haul, you know, could be over, but we'll see.

HUNTE: Award shows have struggled to turn big cultural moments into big television audiences. What does the Emmys need to do to make this feel like a must-watch TV again?

MONETTI: Well, yes. I mean, you've got a show which celebrates the best of television. But even when I said last year's ratings were, you know, the biggest in four years, we're only talking about 7.9 million viewers. You know, it's not a -- not a huge, massive event.

[01:39:45]

MONETTI: So what they're doing is they're relying on nostalgia. We are going to get a 50th anniversary of "Charlie's Angels" cast reunion. We're going to get a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" 30th anniversary cast reunion.

I love these little bits of award shows as well.

I hear that Reba McEntire might be doing a musical tribute to Dolly Parton. So yes, it's not about sort of who wins. It's about those signature award show moments.

And if they can get enough of those out there, you know, and make a couple of them go viral, you know, maybe the Emmys can be a big deal again. I certainly hope so. I love it.

HUNTE: Me, too. I can't wait for it.

Sandro Monetti, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks so much, sir.

MONETTI: Hurray for Hollywood.

HUNTE: That's all I got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team.

I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll see you in two weeks' time.

"WORLD SPORT" is coming up next. See you then. [01:40:37]

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[01:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)