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Connect the World

Rubio: U.S. & Russia Agree on Four Principles after Talks; U.S. Secretary of State Rubio Meets Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov; U.S. and Russia Hold Ukraine Talks in Saudi Arabia; Israel: Will Begin Talks on Phase Two of Gaza Ceasefire Deal; Elon Musk Unveils Chatbots he calls "The Smartest AI on Earth". Aired 9-10a ET

Aired February 18, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: We're going for the top of the hour. Well, hello and welcome. You are watching "Connect the World" with

me, Becky Anderson. And we start there in Saudi Arabia, where Russia and indeed the U.S. have concluded their first face to face talks about their

relationship and ending the war in Ukraine.

You've been listening there to the Russian Foreign Minister. Just before that, we heard from the U.S. delegation, U.S. Secretary of State Marco

Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met alongside those delegations. Lavrov says Russia hoped to end what he called an abnormal

period in relations between Moscow and Washington, which he calls the two great powers.

Well, Riyadh, acting as mediator, potentially positioning itself to play a similar role in other international conflicts, including Israels war in

Gaza. Well, Ukraine was not at this table. President Zelenskyy is in Turkey meeting with his counterpart there to discuss strengthening their

cooperation.

The Ukrainian President, set to have his own conversation with Saudi officials there in Riyadh on Wednesday. Well, CNN's Clare Sebastian has

been listening in to what we have just heard from Riyadh and starting with what we've just heard from the Russian Foreign Minister, Clare, what did

you make of what you heard?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, I think it's clear that Russia has the wind in its sails now, that it is extremely emboldened, not

only by the extraordinary optics that would have been unthinkable a month. Perhaps even ago, of sitting down with a high-level U.S. delegation, but

also hearing language from that delegation that we just heard in the last hour from Marco Rubio suggesting Russia is indispensable in forging ahead

with these talks.

Talking about the incredible opportunity, as he called it, of working with Russia after the war, geopolitically and economically. And I think that was

reflected in Sergey Lavrov's comments. He said that the meeting was very useful. I think that is certainly a loaded statement for Russia, which is

really banking this PR coup of being welcomed back into the international fold.

It's clear that sanctions relief is high on the minds of Russians. He said that that was something that was talked about. But I think for Russia, they

are really getting to dictate terms here. We don't know yet, of course, if the U.S. will accept them, but they are getting to state their position

before Ukraine does.

He says that he made it clear to the U.S. side that any peacekeepers, be it under the NATO flag or the EU flag, or individual country flags on

Ukrainian soil, would be unacceptable. And he suggested that he had got reassurance from the U.S. side that NATO was off the table for Ukraine.

He said that his interlocutors, I, the U.S. side, had had sort of assured him that Trump had said, or reminded him that Trump had said, on multiple

occasions, that one of the reasons for the conflict happening in the first place was the Ukrainian desire, the dragging, as they put it of Ukraine

into NATO.

So, this is something that Russia really stands to benefit from, both politically, perhaps economically, if the statements about the end of the

war are to be believed, and certainly in terms of optics and symbolism here, this is something that they can really bring back as a message to

their domestic audience that all of their efforts in Ukraine are working.

ANDERSON: We are just shy of three years since the beginning of this conflict, of course. Clare, thank you. The U.S. delegation, Secretary of

State, Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and the Mid East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff spoke with CNN's Jennifer Hansler for what was

the first de brief after today's 4.5 hour talks with the Russians. Have a listen to some of what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've agreed on four principles that I think are important. The first is that we are going to work we're going

to appoint our teams respectively, have worked very quickly to reestablish the functionality of our respective missions in Washington and in Moscow.

For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally. The

second point is that we're going to appoint a high-level team from our end to help negotiate and walk work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine

in a way that's enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged.

The third point is to begin to work at a high level as well, to begin to discuss and think about and examine both the geopolitical and economic

cooperation that could result from an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Obviously, we'd have to see that conflict come to a successful and enduring

end in order for that to be possible.

And the last thing we agreed to is that while our teams are going to be working on all of this, the four of us who were here today, the five of us

that were here today, are going to remain engaged in this process to make sure that it's moving along in a productive way.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: What does an enduring and successful end look like? Did you present any proposals to the Russians

today?

MICHAEL WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, there are some underlying principles. This needs to be a permanent

end to the war and not a temporary end, as we've seen in the past. We know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of

territory and there's going to be discussion of security guarantees.

Those are just fundamental basics that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion. But I think the most important part is the president has

stated his desire, his determination, to end this war, to end the killing that is going on, the death and destruction that is happening as this war,

you know, goes on and on, month after month after month and the killing fields of eastern and southern Ukraine is unacceptable.

It is not in the interest of either country. It's not in the interest of the world, and certainly not in the interest of the United States and

Europe. So, all of those things will drive the negotiations going forward.

[09:05:00]

And as you can see, the President Trump is determined to move very quickly. We just had a head of state phone call, the first in years, and here we are

less than a week later, at the highest level of the U.S. and Russian government. And we expect to continue to drive that pace to not only end

the war, but then to unlock what could be very productive and stabilizing relationships going forward.

HANSLER: You mentioned territory. Is it acceptable to the U.S. for Russia to retain any territory that it's annex since the beginning of the war in

February 2022?

WALTZ: Well, I think those are things that -- those are to be discussed, and those are things that will start and do the tough work ahead. But the

important thing is that we've started that process. And what the president did not find acceptable was an endless war in Europe that was literally

turning into -- has turned into a meat grinder of people on both sides.

So that, if you just think about just in a few months, President Trump has shifted the entire global conversation from not if the war is going to end,

but just how it's going to end. And only President Trump can do that and, in the Oval Office, less than a week ago, both President Putin and

President Zelenskyy both said to him, only you President Trump, could drive this war to a conclusion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: And you heard the voice there asking questions was CNN's Jennifer Hansler. And she also asked the officials what it was like inside that

meeting room.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. MIDDLE EASE ENVOY: It was positive, upbeat, constructive. Everybody there to get to the right outcome, solution based.

We discussed it afterwards. We couldn't have imagined a better result after this session, it was very, very solid.

HANSLER: So, you -- travel to Russia --

WITKOFF: I'm not sure, but we'll make that determination in the next couple of weeks.

HANSLER: The European -- minister has said the U.S. needs to back any sort of European solution to the war. Is this something that you are willing to

commit to?

WALTZ: Well, I think that's something that we'll continue to discuss. We have, certainly again as a first principle, a European led security

guarantee we have the president, many of us, as members of -- prior members of Congress ourselves, have called for the Europeans to continue to

contribute to our common defense, to continue to share the burden of NATO defense.

Will continue to point out, that while things have improved, starting with President Trump's first term. The fact that a third of our NATO allies

still do not contribute the minimum of 2 percent of their GDP to defense, a decade after. That, we all collectively made that agreement, isn't

acceptable.

We have the NATO Summit coming up this June, and we would expect, with the type of conflict, the type of warfare and destruction we've seen in Europe,

sadly, the last several years, that we have 100 percent at the minimum, and in fact, are exceeding that. So, look, this is a common effort.

This isn't just about what the United States is going to continue to contribute and what we are going to continue to ask of the American

taxpayer. We all have to make those tough decisions. We all have to contribute to our common defense. And we expect that -- to this to be a

two-way street for our European allies.

And the fact that both the United Kingdom, France and others are talking about contributing more forcefully to Ukraine's security, we think is a

good thing.

HANSLER: Did you walk away from this meeting -- the Russians want peace? You said it might take some time to be convinced --

RUBIO: I mean, I don't view diplomacy that way. I think diplomacy ultimately is based on actions. It's based on commitments that are kept.

So, I think they, I came away today, convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how and how quickly and

through what mechanism can -- end be brought to this war.

Whether we can ultimately reach that outcome will obviously depend on every side in these conflicts, willingness to agree to certain things. So, I

think it's important to have this meeting, because we haven't really had much engagement with the Russians for almost three years, and it sets the

table for future conversations. How that turns out, will be up to the parties and their willingness not just to make commitments, but to live by

them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: We're getting key information out of what was 4.5-hour meeting between U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh.

[09:10:00]

Key to this an agreement we are told to restore embassy staffing and create a high-level team to negotiate peace in Ukraine and promote economic

cooperation. And key and you heard Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, there, speaking about Europe's involvement in any talks going

forward.

He said that ending Russia's war in Ukraine will require concessions from all sides, and that Europe will be part of these talks. Let's get you --

our team, both on the ground there in Riyadh and in London. CNN's Clare Sebastian is in the London bureau. Alex Marquardt is in Riyadh.

Let me start with you, Alex. What are the key take outs at this point? These are important talks, the first time in years, mediated by the

Saudi's. You are in Russia. What do you see as the key take outs, as we understand?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, generally, Becky, I think the atmosphere was quite positive. We heard the American

side saying that the meeting was very solid, a bit more of a measured response from the Russians, who said that it was not bad and that it was

useful.

But I think what is clear here, Becky, is no one is walking away with any kind of solutions or conclusions about what the end of the war in Ukraine

looks like. This was to get the conversation going again. This essentially was a follow on to the conversation between President Trump and President

Putin last week on the phone.

This is to get the ball rolling. Essentially, talks about talks when so when you look, when you ask about the sort of the pledges that either side

made, or the deliverables, as they often call it in diplomatic speak, essentially, they have agreed to continue talking about the embassies that

you just mentioned.

Each side is going to name a delegation for to continue discussing that war in Ukraine. I thought very interestingly, Becky, that was the second point

in the American statement following the meeting, and it was the very last point in the Russian statement. So, I think there's a clear difference of

priority there.

Both sides wanting to look past this war and what kind of cooperation -- what cooperation could look like, if and when a war ends in Ukraine.

Interestingly, in the American side, talking about the potential for historic economic and investment opportunities. And there are lots of

questions, of course, about sanctions, lifting sanctions on Russia, the Americans saying that nothing like that was decided today.

So, they emerged from this meeting 4.5 hours at a palace here in Riyadh with commitments to continue these discussions. Of course, major questions

about when the two presidents might meet. That's something that we've heard President Trump talking about. There was some speculation that it could

happen as soon as next week, right here in Saudi Arabia.

Both sides making clear today, it is unlikely that will happen next week. We are told by the Americans that no date has been set for that meeting,

Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and they've said that the goal of this meeting today was to establish lines of communication. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State,

saying, very specifically, the only leader in the world who can make this happen, this being the end to the conflict, he said is Donald Trump.

I guess the next very important question is the following, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was here in Abu Dhabi yesterday, flew to

Turkey, is on his way to Riyadh tomorrow. Who will he be speaking to there?

MARQUARDT: Well, I would imagine that he's going to be sitting down with the Crown Prince. Certainly, the Saudis are not taking a back seat role in

this. They were not just the hosts of today's meeting. They were also the mediators. We saw the Saudi Foreign Minister and National Security Advisor

at the head of that table.

So, they were playing a very active role. This country is seen as more neutral territory, versus, say, a meeting in Europe, where -- which, where

it might be a bit more pro Ukrainian, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy already had a trip planned here. I mean, certainly be very curious to hear what happened

in that meeting.

He certainly has a sense that he is being left out in the cold as these conversations continue. The conversations had been planned around economic

issues, similar to what was being discussed in the Emirates. But of course, in the past few days, particularly following that conference in Munich,

there is a whole new facet to this, and that's this notion that conversations are happening without Ukrainians.

We heard President Zelenskyy yesterday angrily saying that he did not know about this U.S.-Russia meeting, and that nothing would be decided about

Ukraine without the Ukrainians. But we did hear the Americans say, essentially, don't worry. Of course, the Ukrainians and Europeans are going

to be brought into this.

But right now, there is a priority on the American side to jump start these conversations with the Russians, which of course, have been completely

frozen for the past three years, Becky.

[09:15:00]

ANDERSON: Yeah. Yeah, and during President Zelenskyy's trip to Abu Dhabi, I think it's important to point out, when we talk about sort of the economic

interests around all of this, during his trip her. The UAE and Ukraine signed what is known as a CEPA which is a very specific free trade

agreement that the UAE has been building a sort of catalog of with countries around the world.

And the idea of that, as announced in a statement today, is to look at the opportunities for investments among assumes that being investments in

Ukraine as well as Ukrainian investments, I guess here in the UAE going forward, so important, I think to point that out. There are a number of

tracks going on at present. And certainly, the UAE sees an opportunity in a free trade agreement or a CEPA with Ukrainians at this point.

It's good to have you. I want to bring in Clare Sebastian, Alex at this point as well. Alex, they're talking about, or noting Clare that it was the

second of three points that Marco Rubio brought up the potential for ending the war in Ukraine. The first point, he said, of these talks between the

U.S. and Russia, mediated by Saudi Arabia, was to bring the two parties back to the table and begin to explore what the relationship will look

like.

The second part of this, he said, was looking for a solution to Ukraine, which would allow for his third point of these talks, which he said was

about exploring economic and geopolitical opportunities with Russia going forward. What did you make of what you heard?

SEBASTIAN: Well, Becky, I think, look, clearly, this is the very beginning of a process. There was somewhat of an inconsistency. Mike Waltz says

they're going to continue as fast as they have been. He noted it. You know, it was less than a week since Trump and Putin spoken.

Now, we see this high-level meeting in Saudi Arabia, but Marco Rubio, taking a slightly more sober stance, said that this is the start of a long

and difficult process, potentially. And it does seem that they haven't reached any conclusions yet on the war in Ukraine.

But I think certainly Russia will interpret this as a major PR coup, that they are back in the international fold, in by invited by the U.S.,

notwithstanding, of course, the fact that they spent the last three years saying they're fighting not Ukraine but the U.S. with Ukraine as a proxy.

I think that's sort of on the back burner now that they are able to sort of take this place, what they see as an equal footing with the U.S., part of

their effort to reemerge as a sort of global superpower. So that is a PR coup for Russia. I think the other part of this is that we did hear from

Lavrov statement a few of the sort of terms that Russia wants to set out.

None of this surprise. Obviously, they are not on board with the idea of western peacekeepers in Ukraine. He said this was unacceptable, whether

they be from individual countries under those flags or perhaps from the EU we know from listening to the U.S. Defense Secretary last week in Brussels

that they certainly will not be protected by NATO, and he's not on board with that.

And he seemed to get as he told it, obviously we're only scratching the surface of what was 4.5 hours of talks here. But as Lavrov told it, he

seemed to get reassurances that NATO was off the table for Ukraine. When I spoke to NATO last week, I should note they said that they still stood by

their 2008 promise to let Ukraine into NATO, which was then upgraded at the Washington summit last year to an irreversible path to NATO that, that

hadn't changed.

But we're seeing Russia get the opportunity here to get out there in the spotlight and dictate terms, and that is a huge deal for Moscow, Becky.

ANDERSON: Thank you, Clare. And Alex in Riyadh, appreciate it. We're joined now by Barbara Leaf. She is the Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State

for Near Eastern Affairs, also formerly served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates where I am. It's good to have you, Barbara. Thank

you for joining us.

Firstly, I have to ask, given what we have just heard, the sort of statements from both U.S. and Russian delegation. On the back of what we

are told are 4.5 hours' worth of talks. The first real engagement by the U.S. in nearly three years with Moscow. Is this a major coup on the part of

the Russians?

BARBARA A. LEAF, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS: Well, Becky, it's great to see you again. Yes, sadly, I think in

the first sense, in the first -- in this first sense of this event, yes, it is a coup. Russia is clearly determined to break out of its isolation. This

is the first step to doing so.

[09:20:00]

And it would like to create and widen a reach between in the Western alliance. Putin has never altered in that quest.

ANDERSON: Donald Trump is the only leader in the world that can bring about peace in Ukraine. Solve this conflict. Is Marco Rubio, right?

LEAF: Well, actually, no. There's another leader that could bring an end to this conflict that's Vladimir Putin, obviously. And he began the conflict

11 years ago with an unprovoked assault on Ukrainian territory and taking and annexing Crimea. He doubled down on that in three years ago, next

Monday.

So actually, Putin could have stopped this conflict, at any point along the way, but he's waited until he can be essentially bought out of it.

ANDERSON: I want to get your sense of the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as mediator here, because Riyadh, of course, is inherently involved

in trying to deal with another conflict at present, and that is Gaza, has also offered to mediate between the U.S. and Iran.

This is really a burgeoning file for Riyadh and the administration there. What do you make of it? How significant is this?

LEAF: So, I think it is very much what to expect from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He had a very close relationship with the Trump

Administration, the first Trump Administration, with the president himself and other officials. He is determined to remind President Trump and others

of the value proposition that Saudi Arabia brings to these various conflicts.

He has been a key partner, of course, in terms of the OPEC question and setting oil prices alongside Putin. But he's also maintained really good

relations with Zelenskyy, and indeed has acted to broker exchanges of POWs and children and so forth. So, I'm not surprised about it at all. And of

course, Gaza is going to be an extraordinarily complex play of a different level.

ANDERSON: The value proposition that the Kingdom offers, as you describe it. And I think many people from this region would agree with you, has been

a value proposition that was also available to the Biden Administration over the last 3.5 years, an administration that you were part of.

And I will come to the efforts to sort out Gaza and indeed efforts to mediate between the U.S. and Iran in a moment. But I have to ask, given

what you have seen today, the speed at which President Trump and his team have engaged with the kingdom to ensure that at least these efforts are

started.

Does that not make you feel that the former administration basically failed where President Trump has been, at least in principle, getting talks for

talks, at least started successful?

LEAF: Well, talks for talks in terms of Ukraine, of course, were conceivable under the Biden Administration. But the question is, what are

you getting for it? I see what Russia is getting for it. Russia is breaking out of its isolation. It's going to get a normalization started of its

relations with Washington, and that is its quest.

And Putin's obsession is to be treated as a great power that is something that he is absolutely focused on. So again, he's getting all of those

things. What is the offering? Not clear at all. And I'm hard pressed to think where in the last 20 years we have had a commonality of interests and

ability to pursue those interests positively with Moscow.

I mean, there must be some instance. I just can't think of any. If you're talking about Gaza, the first phase of a three-phase ceasefire deal is the

easiest phase. So, I was glad to see the two administrations, outgoing and incoming work together to that end. But that is the easy piece.

ANDERSON: And we are effort -- to try and secure more information about what a phase two will look like. At this point, we don't even know whether

those talks are really in the offing.

[09:25:00]

These are talks that were promised from day 16 of the phase one. And we still see no evidence that there are concrete negotiations going on for a

phase two, which is supposed to lead, of course, to a permanent ceasefire. And to that end, Riyadh, of course, is inherently involved in trying to

deal with this conflict and what a day after might look like in Gaza.

They have taken a principled approach to the Palestinian issue, suggesting all the way through this process that they must see a path at least to a

Palestinian state before they are interested in talking to the U.S. about normalization between the Kingdom and Israel.

I wonder what you are looking for and hoping to see now as a counter proposal from Arab leaders to what is a plan from Donald Trump to dispel

Palestinians from Gaza and take on the enclave as a real estate deal, effectively the Riviera, as it were, of Gaza going forward.

What are you hearing and what are you hoping a counter proposal might look like from this region?

LEAF: So, two comments. First of all, I regard the president's proposal on February 5th for the U.S. to take over Gaza and rehabilitate it and so

forth, and move 2 million some people elsewhere, places, TBD. I regard that as one of a series of sort of hand grenades that the administration has

thrown into the room that have shaken people up.

You could also take some of the comments last week by the vice president, by the defense -- Secretary of Defense at Munich as other hand grenades.

And, of course, the announcement itself to start bilateral discussions with Moscow, without Ukraine at the table, let alone the Europeans.

So, I don't take it as a serious proposition as such, but rather thrown in there to shake people up and to get something, to get others to move and to

offer something. So, you know -- unfortunately or fortunately, I'm not sure, depends on how you look at these things. There aren't a huge range of

options available. That fit within the needs of, again, 2 million people who do not want to leave their territory.

And indeed, who want that territory joined in some fashion with the West Bank as a Palestinian state. There is that. There is the Arab quest to

support that ambition, which has been recognized and accepted by the international community, including multiple administrations, for years. We

put a number of ideas before the Arab partners, before the Palestinians.

ANDERSON: Right.

LEAF: There were no takers. But I expect something much like what we talked with all of them about for some 13 months. I expect something very similar

to that to come out as the proposal, which would be to say Hamas, 20,000 however many 1000 fighters, leadership, very unlikely to leave Gaza.

Israel has not been able to compel them to leave Gaza. I don't see readily, the solution for the presence of Gaza -- of Hamas in Gaza, but you can

certainly begin to construct security and governance arrangements which will exclude Hamas from that. But you got to figure -- you've got to be

able to answer the question, then, who is that partner.

And the Palestinian Authority, frankly, ought to be the partner at the table, not Hamas. I mean, it's kind of ludicrous that Israel and Hamas are

going to be deliberating the future of Gaza. Those are -- they have mutually irreconcilable ambitions.

ANDERSON: Barbara, it's good to have you. I really appreciate your time. Thank you for the sort of wide-ranging conversation today.

LEAF: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Given the news that we've just been hearing and the statements that we've had out of Riyadh, the first talks for some time between the

U.S. and Russia, mediated by Saudi in one of what are expected to be three efforts that the Saudi's have on file as far as mediation is concerned.

The other two, of course, being Gaza, as we have been discussing and mediating U.S.-Iran efforts as well. It's good to have you, Barbara.

LEAF: Great to see you.

ANDERSON: Thank you very much indeed. And more after this short break, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Well, breaking news into CNN, and Hamas says it will release the remains of four hostages taken on October the seventh, 2023. Two of those

bodies will be children. Kfir and Ariel Bibas that release will take place on Thursday. Also, they will release six living hostages on Saturday.

Israel is expected to release more Palestinian prisons as part of what is this ceasefire and hostage deal. Let's get you live to Jerusalem and CNN's

Nic Robertson, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, Becky, it is very interesting development, isn't it? Because what we have on one hand is

Hamas in Cairo through the negotiators saying that they will release and we also understand that they will release and repatriate four other dead

hostages later next week.

So, with the four remains -- set of remains being returned on Thursday this week. The six living hostages returned over the weekend, and the other four

sets of remains returned next week. That brings the total 14 that will be all of the hostages, dead and alive, that were agreed as part of the phase

one part of the deal.

And that's interesting, because Hamas really seems to be trying to, apparently, having tried to, sort of off rail and stop phase one, disrupt

the whole process. They now seem to be trying to accelerate their way through it. And this comes at a time this morning when we heard from the

foreign minister here saying that later this week, Israel will get into the phase two negotiations.

And I think it's very important to say that, that is already two weeks late. The negotiators they have in Cairo at the moment, the Israeli

negotiators are only talking about phase one at the moment. So, the getting on to phase two is already incredibly delayed. It is the much more

contentious part of the hostage ceasefire negotiations.

And it creates the impression that Hamas is going faster on it now has an all the time faster on it now, and Israel is not accelerating at the same

speed towards that point of a successful conclusion of phase one and moving quickly on to phase two, Becky.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Nic. Thank you. We are back after this very quick break. Stay with us.

[09:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company says that it has unleashed its most powerful AI yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Can you hear me? I'm so excited to finally meet you. I can't wait to chat and learn more about each other. I'll talk to you

soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Well, the tech billionaire unveiled Grok 3 in an X live stream on Monday. It is the latest version of X, AI's chatbot, which Musk calls the

smartest AI on Earth. CNN's Anna Stewart joins me with more. Is it the smartest AI on earth? What does he hope to achieve with this?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for Elon Musk, he suddenly teased this Grok 3 model last week at World Government Summit. He believes will

take things to the next level. He very much said last week that this would be the most advanced model that is available at the moment.

And at the heart of it, Becky, it's about creating an AI. He believes that is truth seeking, and he thinks this is really important. His criticism of

all the rival AI models out there is that they've been infected. And this is a Musk quote by the woke mind virus. He believes that other AI models

have an in-built bias.

A good example being Google's Gemini, for instance, which of course, illustrated the founding fathers as being racially diverse. That said it

would be preferable to have nuclear war then misgender Caitlyn Jenner. And he believes that in a world where AI is more intelligent than humans, that,

that kind of bias could be catastrophic to the human race.

And clearly, this is not a super intelligent AI model. It is looking like, according to some independent analysis, already that this is a very

advanced model. It is ranking at the same level or even higher on some metrics than DeepSeek and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and I watched that live stream earlier. You're right to point out that he had teased Grok 3 at the World Government Summit that you

and I were at last week during an interview with the AI Minister here. So, I watched the live stream, and it was actually remarkable.

If you -- look, you're listening to a man who owns the company and his team talking about just how impressive this AI is, but the examples that they

were giving in illustrating how powerful that this is, were pretty impressive. I have to say to somebody who is only at the beginning of -- AI

journey that being me, what did you think?

STEWART: What I thought was really interesting is how Elon Musk sees combining, you know, Grok 3, or the later versions of it, with SpaceX, with

Optimus, the human noise. Because ultimately, he sees this world where you could uncover the secrets of the universe by sending a Space X rocket to

Mars with a humanoid on it, powered by Grok, whatever iteration that might be.

And if you take that to its extreme, he sees a world where humanoids are actually going to provide all of the workforce we ever need, to the point

that GDP and money becomes meaningless. So, there's definitely like big picture here, but for now, it can make great games.

ANDERSON: Well, it's a big picture until he was asked, and when might this happen sending the humanoid to Mars powered by whatever, and Grok 3. And he

talked about the next window be the opportunity being something like only two years away. So, let's see. It's so good to have you. Thank you. "World

Sport" up after this short break. I'll be back in 15 minutes with much more news.

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