Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
Ukraine Activates Air Raid Alarms after Massive Attack; Israeli Protesters Block Main Roads around Tel Aviv; Iranian American Pleads with Biden Administration to Free Him; Georgia's Ruling Party to Withdraw "Foreign Agents" Bill; China Opposes Netherlands' Chip Tech Curbs; AI Can Mimic Your Voice; Toni Morrison Honored with New Postage Stamp. Aired 10- 10:40a ET
Aired March 09, 2023 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): I'm Becky Anderson, live from Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
Coming up, Russia unleashes a wave of missile strikes across Ukraine.
Protesters block the roads to the airport as Lloyd Austin touches down in Israel.
Georgia's parliament withdraws a controversial bill but the people aren't satisfied.
And later in the show, PSG stars stumble in the Champions League.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: We begin this hour in Ukraine, where, right now, air raid alarms across the country are activated, following a massive Russian attack
overnight. At least 11 people were killed and more than 20 were injured after Russia showered Kyiv and other major cities with an unprecedented 81
missiles.
It is a clear escalation in Moscow's air assault, once again targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure. Just take a look at the damage caused by
a strike in a residential area of Lviv. It left five people dead.
Moscow calls the bombardment an act of retaliation after an alleged Ukraine attack on Russian soil last week. Ivan Watson has the very latest from
Ukraine's capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is just one of dozens of impact points of Russian missiles that were fired against Ukraine
overnight.
Fortunately, nobody was killed here and it was pretty frightening, considering the explosion took place at about 7:00 this morning, shattering
windows in this apartment block over here.
Despite the shock and the fear, residents here say they still went to work today. They still taught at schools, went and worked at their banks. But
the Ukrainian military says that the salvo of missiles was enormous.
At least 81 of different kinds that were fired from land, sea and air, also including Iranian Shahed so-called suicide drones. The Ukrainian air
defenses were able to shoot down dozens of these deadly projectiles.
But there were still impacts in the Western city of Lviv. Authorities say at least five people were killed by one of the blasts.
The Ukrainians say critical infrastructure was targeted -- power plants, the power to the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant cut off,
forcing the employees there to use diesel generators to try to power a nuclear power plant.
That's raising real worries; 15 percent of power knocked out here in Kyiv this morning, 150,000 people in the city of Zhytomyr (ph) are without power
as well.
There have been a number of these types of Russian missile barrages launched in past months, often targeting the electrical grid but it has not
succeeded in paralyzing the economy so far.
The Russian ministry of defense has claimed responsibility for this, saying it's retaliation for some kind of attack that took place in Russia's
Bryansk region on March 2nd but CNN has not been able to confirm that.
The Ukrainian government has denied any links to whatever did take place there. But let me just point, out there's a children's playground right
here next to the cars that have had their windshields shattered and so on.
And it just underscores the fact that, when Russia fires these missiles periodically at Ukraine, no one is safe. This is a threat that everybody in
this country has to live with -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Kyiv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Anti government protests forced a change in plans for the U.S. Defense Secretary's visit to Israel. Lloyd Austin's meetings with prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister that were scheduled to happen in Tel Aviv, instead took place outside the city near
the airport.
Now Austin's stop in Israel was already delayed a day due to concerns over ongoing anti government protests. Our Hadas Gold filed this report a little
earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the main road leading to the main terminal of Israel's biggest airport, Ben Gurion. But today,
the protesters who have been coming out for weeks now have decided to bring their day of disruption here.
[10:05:00]
GOLD: Their goal is to essentially try and almost shut down the airport, not only to disrupt the passengers, to make them aware of why they're
protesting but also because today is the day that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is suppose to be landing here to meet with officials.
But also Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is supposed to take off from here after meeting with Austin to fly for an official trip to Italy.
So the protesters here are essentially trying to prevent that from happening.
Benjamin Netanyahu may instead be arriving to the airport by helicopter. These protesters though, amongst them, we have talked to former military
pilots, former fighter jet pilots, who say that they feel as though they would no longer fight for a country if they don't believe it is any longer
a democracy.
Now the traffic is still moving, albeit slowly. We've spoken to some passengers who have had to get out of their cars, to take their suitcases
by hand and walk all the way up to the terminal in order to make their flight.
But some of them are receptive to the demonstrators here, saying they understand what they're fighting for, they support it. Of course, all of
this related to the judicial reforms that the Netanyahu government is trying to undertake.
They want to make it possible for the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to overturn supreme court decisions with a simple majority. But these
protesters say they will continue coming out to the streets. They will continue these days of disruption until they stop these reforms from going
through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Hadas Gold, connecting us this hour from Tel Aviv.
We also have Oren Liebermann, who is at the Pentagon for.
Let's start with you, Hadas, clearly these protests are continuing and they clearly continue to be disruptive.
What are people telling you at this point, any sense that these demonstrators will run out of steam anytime soon?
GOLD: I mean, Becky, from what we saw today, we started at the airport as you saw, then we made our way to Tel Aviv, where we saw protesters
completely shut down the main highway that runs through Tel Aviv.
At one, point we saw what, must have been thousands of protesters blocking both the north and south lanes of this massive highway. Completely stopping
traffic for at least an hour.
At some point while police were able to get some of them off, they would come back down. At one point police ended up having to essentially use
dozens of officers, as well as mountain police, to essentially squeeze these protesters off of the street.
The protests have been continuing all day across Tel Aviv, as well as across the entire country. This is just another day of disruption for
what's been about 10 weeks straight now of regular protests. Some days seeing more than 150,000 Israelis take to the streets against these
judicial reforms.
Becky, I don't see them running out of steam anytime soon. In fact what we're seeing now is more and more people joining the protest. Today we
actually spoke, as you heard there, to some former fighter jet pilots, who said they simply wouldn't serve for a country that they don't believe is
any longer a democracy.
And actually, the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin just had his press conference with the Israeli defense minister and even he addressed these
protesters and these judicial reforms.
He quoted what President Biden has already said, essentially saying that the genius of Israeli and American democracy is checks and balances, as
well as he called it an independent judiciary.
That is a clear message, Becky, from the Americans, not just now, from the president, from the secretary of state but now from the U.S. secretary of
Defense, wading in and essentially calling on the Israeli government to speak to the other side, to come to some sort of consensus, because,
clearly, not the entire population is on board.
And these protesters say that they will keep going. They will keep taking to the streets. They plan to keep disrupting the Israeli way of life until
they see these judicial reforms change. Becky.
ANDERSON: Oren, we, as Hadas just pointed out, just heard from Lloyd Austin, take a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Today focused on the threats posed by Iran. Iran remains the primary driver of instability in the
region.
And we remain deeply concerned by Iran's support for terrorism, its dangerous proxies, its nuclear advances, its aggression at sea, its cyber
threats and its proliferation of attack drones and advanced conventional weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Part of his speech, which didn't allude to these protests or to what is going on in the West Bank. You listened to that entire press
conference.
What do you make of what Lloyd Austin said today, Oren?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Becky, it's no surprise where Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin began his comments, talking about the U.S.'
ironclad commitment to Israel's security and its right to defend itself against terrorism and against regional adversaries; that is Iran.
[10:10:00]
LIEBERMANN: He then went on to talk about Iran as you just pointed out there, no surprise there. Austin was the former commander of U.S. Central
Command. He worked with Israel, he had a good relationship with the former chief of staff and is now building a good relationship with the current
defense minister.
It's where he went from there, that, as you pointed, out and as Hadas pointed out, was very interesting. He did take a swipe at prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to do judicial overhaul. I'll read the quote in full, because it's so significant, that Austin even chose to go in this
direction and say, as the U.S. Defense Secretary, that, essentially, Israel should find some other way to work around it.
He said, "As President Biden has said, the genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they're both built on strong institutions, on
checks and balances and not an independent judiciary."
And the president also noted that building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them, so
they can be sustained.
It was quite a surprise to hear Austin go in this direction, to clearly talk right there about some other alternative to what we're currently
seeing happening in Israel's government. He then went on to continue talking about aid to Ukraine, as Russia's war reaches the one year mark,
pushing Israel to do more.
He noted Israel has given nonlethal aid but essentially called on Israel to cross that line and to provide more aid than what they've already done. He
then talked about the West Bank, maintaining the position the U.S. has had in the past, which is calling on the Palestinians to prevent incitement and
to condemn terrorism.
Then he called on Israel not to take any steps that could inflame tensions. He opposed settlement expansion and he also said he was significantly
worried by settler attacks against Palestinians.
So he really did go down a list of the concerns, not only from Iran, where, of course, you have cooperation between the U.S. and Israel but then also
the other topics that the U.S. has been watching, as Israel has had the protests unfolding, violence in the West Bank and so on and so forth.
ANDERSON: Yes. I think what you are pointing out is very significant.
To both of you, thank you very much indeed.
To a CNN world exclusive now, an unprecedented phone interview from behind bars. An American citizen being held in Iran's notorious Evin Prison has
spoken to my colleague, Christiane Amanpour. Siamak Namazi has been in custody there since 2015 and claims he has been left behind by the U.S.
government. Christiane joins us now with more on that conversation.
Namazi had a heartfelt plea for the Biden administration.
What did he tell you, Christiane?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly right, Becky. I've known him as a journalist since the early '20s -
- sorry; early 2000s.
When I interviewed him in Iran, during what was then a reform period, where there were efforts by people like him, a businessman, an analyst, to try to
make better relations between Iran and the West through business.
And he was somebody who would talk to journalists. Fast forward now to a very different Iran and he's been arrested and convicted and sentenced and
put into prison on charges that he strenuously denies and refuses; essentially, cooperating with a hostile power.
What does that mean?
Because he's actually an American. In any event, we spoke overnight. He has chosen to take this step because he feels abandoned. He feels out of
options. So he has taken this step now to directly appeal to President Biden. Here is some of what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIAMAK NAMAZI, AMERICAN IRANIAN PRISONER: The very fact that I've chosen to take this risk and appear on CNN from Evin Prison, it should just tell
you how dire my situation has become by this point. I've been hostage for 7.5 years now. That is six times the duration of the hostage crisis.
I keep getting told that I'm going to be rescued. And deals fall apart, where I get left abandoned. Honestly, the other hostages and I desperately
need President Biden to finally hear us out, to finally hear our cry for help and bring us home. And I suppose desperate times call for desperate
measures. So this is a desperate measure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: A desperate measure indeed. And of course, what he's referring to is this sort of system that Iran has been engaging in over the last
several years, where many dual nationals from America, from the U.K., from France and other areas, have been imprisoned and sentenced on what they
claim to be spurious charges.
And then released in these political releases, prisoner swaps. So what Siamak is saying is that, since 2016, there have been three such prisoner
swaps between the United States and Iran. And he has never been included and he can't figure out why and what he's being held back for.
[10:15:00]
AMANPOUR: And he wants President Biden to at least meet with his family and to really do what he says he will do, which is use every means possible
to negotiate and get the release of their nationals back home.
So it is Siamak Namazi and two other U.S.-Iranian hostages who are in jail in Iran now. Iran says they have been convicted. Of course, we are seeking
response from both Iran and the U.S. administration -- Becky.
ANDERSON: And regular viewers of our show, Christiane, will know that we have covered the case of these dual nationals now for years. Siamak talks
there about desperate times call for desperate measures. I have two questions for you.
What sort of risk has he taken in making that call to you?
And what sort of efforts, if any, are being made at this point by the Biden administration to get him freed?
AMANPOUR: Well, he thinks not enough, obviously, and I'm not privy to the efforts. They do have a so-called hostage task force team in the U.S.
government.
We also know, because he spoke to our program in the summer, that Rob Malley, the administration's point person on Iran, mostly for the nuclear
talks, which have come to a screeching halt, as you know, he said, yes, we need to get him home.
We need to do everything it takes. They view it as these nationals being used as pawns in a cynical political and often economic gain. In the past,
for instance in the U.K., we have seen the release of Nazanin Zaghari- Ratcliffe, who was held for many years, both inside prison and then under house arrest.
And finally, after the U.K. government agreed to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to Iran, of money that was actually Iran's money that had never
been repaid, then she was released.
So that might be an avenue to bring back the remaining Americans, because there is apparently still money out there that Iranians claim as their own.
But this happens within the context of the protests and the crackdown on human rights in Iran, which has scared away the West from doing any other
business. So what many say is that you should be able to compartmentalize, to continue the protests and the sanctions or whatever it takes to get Iran
to comply with human rights regulations.
But also bring back your nationals and enter, for humanitarian reasons, and enter a security agreement on nuclear talks so that there can be a safer
world by reenacting and reimposing the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement, with Iran.
So two things are necessary and, at the moment, only one of them are being done; that is criticism over the human rights violations in Iran.
ANDERSON: Difficult times. Christiane, thank you.
And you can see Christiane's full interview, full exclusive interview with Siamak Namazi coming up at 6 pm London time. Thank you.
Just ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, the Georgian government taking steps to end days of angry demonstrations. But protest leaders say they are not
stopping.
Plus, how artificial voice mimicking is changing conversations. That is up after this.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:20:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: Georgia's ruling party says it will withdraw a controversial piece of legislation that has sparked days of protests. But opposition
leaders say they plan to continue those demonstrations.
They say the foreign agent bill is a threat to the country's democracy and stifle press freedoms. Salma Abdelaziz is tracking this.
Why wasn't the decision to withdraw this bill up enough?
Why are protest leaders saying they will continue to demonstrate, Salma?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think this is really a reflection, Becky, of the distrust within the politics of Germany (sic), the opposition
party saying they simply don't believe the ruling Georgian Dream Party.
They believe that they just don't want to see the bill withdrawn from parliament; they want to see it completely canceled. And they have called
for more demonstrations. I want you to hear directly from the representative of those opposition lawmakers. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIGA LEMONJALA, DROA OPPOSITION PARTY: We are ready to go on with the protests because it's not about particular organizations. It is about
Georgian, European and Europe (ph) Atlantic aspiration.
And we are not going to put that -- the issue under question. It is irreversible way of Georgia. It is a choice of Georgian people. Georgia
should have been a member of the European Union and NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: You heard there the call for more demonstrations and more protests already over the last several days. We have seen tens of thousands
of people taking to the streets of Tbilisi. We understand dozens of people have been arrested.
I know you are playing some of the dramatic footage out there of the fires that were being started, the water cannons being used on some of those
protesters. Again, we are hearing dozens of people were arrested.
That is one of the calls from these opposition lawmakers, who say they want to see protesters released. This is so controversial on the ground in
Georgia, Becky, because there are concerns that this bill could essentially weaken civil society, that it would stigmatize independent groups and
threaten the democracy of Georgia.
We are also hearing from the E.U. and the United States just in the last hour. We got a statement from the U.S. State Department, saying that it
sides with the people of Georgia. They go on to say that this bill could stigmatize and silence rights groups, civil society groups.
We have also heard from the European Union. It's important to remember that Georgia has applied for E.U. membership and the E.U. says this bill could
violate norms and standards.
So, yes, a victory for those many, many tens of thousands of demonstrators that took to streets in the last couple of days with this bill being
withdrawn from parliament. But for the opposition, this is simply not enough. They need more guarantees. They want to see the bill canceled and
completely gone outright, Becky.
ANDERSON: Salma Abdelaziz is on the story for us. Salma, always a pleasure. Thank you.
Europe's largest tech firm, Dutch based ASML, could be impacted by the Dutch plan to restrict exports of microchip tools to China. Let me explain.
The country says it's all about national security.
The Netherlands' overseas essential chip making technology and now it appears to be adopting rules urged by Washington to hobble China's
semiconductor industry and slow Beijing's military advances. Let's get some background on this. CNN's Anna Stewart joins us now.
The context of this, if you will, and the significance, how big of an impact will this have on both China and Dutch chip tech companies like
ASML?
And then the wider story here also.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, isn't it?
China was not even mentioned in this letter to parliament in the Netherlands. But of course, China is very much the target when you look at
international and national security concerns. And China itself has actually already responded to this and they are taking a pretty dim view of it.
Here's the spokesperson for the Chinese government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAO NING, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): We firmly oppose the Dutch side's administrative restrictions on normal
economic and trade exchanges between Chinese and Dutch companies. We have made representations to the Dutch side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Now in terms of ASML, which is not just the biggest chip technology in the Netherlands, it's the biggest in Europe. In fact, it's
the biggest tech company in Europe.
[10:25:00]
STEWART: You would expect them to have quite a bit of impact looking at these restrictions, particularly if they're anything like what we saw from
the U.S. in October. However, interestingly, the company has actually released a statement, saying they don't expect the measures to have a
material impact on their financial outlook for this year or really on their longer term scenarios.
That's interesting if you consider that ASML has sold some $8 billion worth of products to China since 2014. Samsung is a major customer. And they, of
course, have lots of manufacturing facilities in China.
So then you start to wonder, how big a restriction is this actually in reality?
Looking at the statement from ASML, it may be pretty niche (ph) and only impact the second most advanced chip making machinery. They already do not
sell their most advanced machinery to China.
But China's response suggests that China is worried about this. It might not just be what we are seeing from the Netherlands, Becky, but when we add
it to the global picture of what we have already seen from the U.S., what happens next?
ANDERSON: Yes. And I think you really hit the nail on the head there. I'm just looking at the stock price. It's OK today. It's just up. But over the
last six months it has been on a real rip against what has been a pretty dodgy tech market, it has to be said.
Is there any sense that other nations will join the Netherlands and the U.S. in this?
STEWART: It's interesting because the U.S. is a huge driving force behind this. The announcements they made in October really hit their own American
chip makers and technology companies extremely hard, a really broad sweeping ban and restrictions exporting to China.
They are putting pressure on other major players in this, like the Netherlands. Japan is another big player. We actually expect to hear maybe
some similar measures from them on this in terms of an export ban or restrictions with China.
What about the other players?
What about South Korea?
They put a statement out, not just not supporting the U.S. measures and probably not the Dutch measures today, either, but actually opposing them.
For this to be effective, for it to be worth the U.S. actually hurting their own companies that make chips and all the technology around them,
they really need to have coordination across the board.
So at this stage, they don't have that but we will see what happens in the coming weeks.
ANDERSON: Anna Stewart on the story. Thank you, Anna.
Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories on our radar right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Credit Suisse delaying its annual report. That is after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions about
the Swiss bank's earlier financial statements. And it's not clear when the 2022 report will be released.
An Indonesian court has sentenced two football officials for up to 18 months in prison after the deadly stadium crush last year in East Java.
More than 130 people were killed after local police fired tear gas into a packed stadium, triggering a crush. Victims' relatives say they are
disappointed with the short length of those sentences.
Nigeria is postponing elections to choose new governors by a week. The polls were planned for this weekend but Nigeria's electoral commission now
says it needs more time to reset voting machines after allegations of vote rigging in the presidential vote last month.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AI ANDERSON COOPER: We have come here to UC Berkeley today to talk to Hany Farid, a digital forensic expert, about just how easy it is to put words
into other people's mouths.
ANDERSON (voice-over): No, you are not seeing or hearing things. That may sound like Anderson Cooper but it is definitely not Anderson Cooper. How
voice mimicking is upping the AI game. That is after this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON (voice-over): I'm Becky Anderson. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Welcome back. Here are your headlines this hour.
Ukraine's president is calling it a difficult night for his country after Russia fired in unprecedented 81 missiles at Kyiv and other major cities.
At least 11 people were killed, five of them in this strike on a residential area in Lviv. Moscow says it was in retaliation for an alleged
Ukrainian attack on Russian soil last week.
Israeli border police killed three suspected Palestinian militants in a raid near the West Bank city of Jenin. Police say undercover officers were
trying to arrest two of the men for shooting attacks against Israeli military forces in the area and returned fire when the suspects shot at
them.
This latest Israeli operation in the West Bank happening just hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met the Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Israel's defense minister. Those meetings were delayed by a day and move to a location near the Tel Aviv airport due to ongoing anti
government protests.
Austin says talks mainly focused on threats posed by Iran.
ANDERSON: Let's say you get a phone call from your brother or your mom and you start talking about your week, how work is going, what is for dinner,
how do you really know who you are talking to?
Are you really talking to them?
A rise in the fairly new technology allows a computer to mimic your voice. Let me tell you, it's a lot easier than you think. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan
shows us how it all works.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOREEN O'SULLIVAN, DONIE'S MOTHER: Hello?
AI DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Hi, Mom.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Hi, Donie. How are you?
AI: Does my voice sound different to you?
N. O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I just said that to Sinead. I said Donie sounds so American.
AI: This is not actually me. This is a voice made by computer.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Oh my God. Are you serious?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Mom. I'm sorry.
There has been an explosion in fake audio and voices being generated through artificial intelligence technology.
AI WALTER WHITE: This is an AI-cloned version of Walter White's voice.
AI LEONARDO DICAPRIO: This is an AI-cloned version of Leonardo DiCaprio's voice.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: All you need is a couple of minutes recording of anyone's voice and you can make it seem like they have said just about
anything -- even --
AI COOPER: Anderson Cooper. We've come here to UC Berkeley today to talk to Hany Farid, a digital forensic expert about just how easy it is to put
words into other people's mouths.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: It's a lot of fun.
HANY FARID, DIGITAL FORENSIC EXPERT AND PROFESSOR, UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF INFORMATION: Sure.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: But it's also really scary.
FARID: I think once you put aside that gee-whiz factor I don't think it takes a long time to look at the risks.
AI WOLF BLITZER: This is Wolf Blitzer. Hany Farid, you are in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: That's something.
FARID: That's good.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Yes, that sounds pretty good.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): By uploading just a few minutes of me and some of my colleague's voices to an AI audio service I was able to create
some convincing fakes, including this one of Anderson Cooper.
AI COOPER: Donie O'Sullivan is a real piece of (INAUDIBLE).
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: That's AI.
FARID: Is it really?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: That's AI.
FARID: That's good.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Yes. Anderson's is really good --
FARID: Man.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: -- because Anderson doesn't have a stupid Irish accent.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): The technology did struggle with my Irish accent but we decided to put it to the ultimate test with my parents.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: I am about to try to call my mom back in Ireland and see if I can trick her with this voice.
FARID: Yes.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Do you think I'm going to be successful?
FARID: I'm nervous. I'm like -- my hands are.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: All right.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Hello?
AI O'SULLIVAN: Hi, mom.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Hi, Donie. How are you?
[10:35:00]
AI O'SULLIVAN: Just finished shooting our story here. I'm going to the airport in a while.
N. O'SULLIVAN: There seems to be a delay in the phone, Donie.
AI O'SULLIVAN: Can I say a quick hello to dad?
N. O'SULLIVAN: Yep.
DONAL TOMMY O'SULLIVAN, DONIE'S FATHER: Hi, Donie.
AI DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Hi, dad.
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: How are you doing?
AI DONIE O'SULLIVAN: How are you?
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: Good. Yourself?
AI DONIE O'SULLIVAN: I just finished shooting our story here. I'm going to the airport in a while.
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: (INAUDIBLE). Oh, you're going back -- going back to New York?
AI DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Are Kerry playing this weekend?
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: They're playing Tyrone Sunday.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): My dad went on to have a conversation with the AI Donie about how Kerry, our home football team, had a game that
weekend. Eventually, I had to come clean.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Dad, I'll give you a call better later on. Can you just put me back on to mom for a second?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): My parents knew something was off but ultimately, they still fell for it.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Oh, yes. Some of it don't be bad but it was like -- it was like your voice was a little tone lower and it sounded very serious.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Yes.
N. O'SULLIVAN: Like you had something serious to say. Because I went oh, jeez, my heart was hopping first.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Oh, I'm sorry.
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: I thought the voice was very funny. I thought the voice was very funny -- yes, I did.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: All right.
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: I heard on it (PH).
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: I'll call you later, dad.
DONAL O'SULLIVAN: OK. Bye-bye.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Bye-bye.
FARID: Is this not classic?
The mom's like something is wrong with my son. The dad's like everything's fine.
(LAUGHTER)
AI-GENERATED JOE BIDEN: I'd like to close out today's ceremony with a question. If you were given a choice, would you choose to have unlimited
bacon but no more video games or would you rather --
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): With fake Biden and Trump recordings going viral online, Farid says this could be something to be wary of going into
the 2024 election.
FARID: When we enter this world where anything can be fake -- any image, any audio, any video, any piece of text -- nothing has to be real. We have
what's called the liar's dividend, which is anybody can deny reality.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): With a flood of new AI tools releasing online, he says companies developing this powerful technology need to think
of its potential negative effects.
FARID: There is no online and offline world. There's one world and it's fully integrated. When things happen on the internet they have real
implications for individuals, for communities, for societies, for democracies. And I don't think we as a field have fully come to grips with
our responsibility here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: We've got Donie O'Sullivan with us.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Hey, Becky. It is the real me.
ANDERSON: Oh, for real?
Have I got you for real, sir?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Well, you know, that is what a AI bot would say isn't it?
But there's the real me.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: As you saw there, my poor, longsuffering parents suffering further. We had a lot of fun. But look, there is a serious side
to all this. And it's not farfetched to imagine just how bad this could all go.
The consequences, whether it's from scams and fraud all the way to election campaigns like, disinformation campaigns, just think about the role
audiotapes have played in political scandals, like Watergate to the "Access Hollywood" tape in the Trump 2016 election.
This is really powerful and convincing stuff. I should mention, Hany Farid, our expert in the piece there, he pointed out that even two, three, four
years ago, to make deepfake audio to sound that realistic, you would have needed hours of Anderson Cooper's voice.
Now we only had to upload about a minute or two and it instantly were able to start creating these fakes.
ANDERSON: Donie, this is absolutely fascinating. I was having a chat with some AI experts the other day and we were talking about its application in
higher education, for example. And it has amazed me just how far the technology has come.
And when I said, what do we do about this?
They said, it's going to be tough, because the genie is out of the bottle. You just brought up some of the issues that we may face.
The issue is, how do we face those?
Because they are challenges and someone has got to take those on because, as I said, the genie is out of the bottle. AI technology is here to stay,
isn't it?
It's always good having you on, mate. And regards to your mom and dad.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN: Thank you, Becky. Yes, I have to go restore that relationship now, I think.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON: Good stuff.
Still to come, a squad full of stars wasn't enough. The story of the football superpower that crashed out of the Champions League. That is after
this.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(VIDEO CLIP, "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF)
ANDERSON: Israeli actor Chaim Topol has died. Topol rocketed to fame playing the leading role in "Fiddler on the Roof." He performed on stage
and was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, paid tribute, saying, "The strings of the
fiddle have fallen silent." Topol was 87 years old.
The late writer Toni Morrison is being immortalized in a new U.S. postage stamp. The forever stamp was unveiled in a ceremony at Princeton
University, where Morrison taught for 20 years.
A letter from former U.S. President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama was read at the event, praising Morrison's literary
achievements. In 1993, Morrison became the first African American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She died in 2019 at the age of
88.
(SPORTS)
[11:00:00]
END
