Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
Trump Sits Down for Wide-ranging "60 Minutes" Interview; WTO Chief Calls for "Careful Thinking" on Nigerian Tensions; Big Tech, Innovation & Energy Converge at UAE Conference; Oil Prices Steady After OPEC+ Announces Output Hike Pause; Nvidia and Google Investing Big in Quantum AI. Aired 9- 10a ET
Aired November 03, 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 ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Becky Anderson, and this is a special edition of
"Connect the World". Live today from ADIPEC, the UAE's annual gathering of ministers, CEOs and tech innovators from around the world at the
intersection of global energy and policy.
And AI investments center stage this year as leaders Inc deals to power AI, seemingly insatiable appetite for energy. A major announcement here.
Microsoft's plans to invest more than $15 billion in the UAE by 2029.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: A lot to come from there. I'm Erica Hill joining you from New York, where it is 09:00 a.m. at this hour.
And it's a major week here in the United States for politics. A series of key elections, including for mayor of this city. All this coming as a new
CNN poll is also flashing warning signs for President Trump.
ANDERSON: Well, stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. And U.S. futures edging higher as we start November trading, led once
again, by tech stocks. We'll be watching for whether the outlook for AI will lend further impetus to these hyper scalers throughout the month.
And there's more on major investments in the industry later this hour. We're going to start off, though, with Erica.
HILL: Becky, looking forward to all of that. Thank you. Here in the U.S., as I noted, a pivotal week in politics. The government shutdown is now in
its 34th day, and is in fact, less than 48 hours from becoming the longest shutdown in U.S. government history. And it comes as new CNN polling shows,
as you see, there 63 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing.
That is his highest ever disapproval rating as president. There is also broad dissatisfaction with the state of the country, as you see there asked
how things are going in the country today, 68 percent say badly. These issues could be coming to a head of the ballot boxes on Tuesday.
There are some key elections across the U.S., which could help to gage how Americans are feeling, not just about this moment, but also potentially
about the president and his second term. CNN Politics Senior Reporter Stephen Collinson joining me now live from Washington.
So, when we look at these numbers, Stephen, in terms of the polling, what does this say about President Trump? When we look at the pessimism that
we're seeing across the country.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, the president is now entering the kind of territory that has historically spelled doom for
presidents in the midterm elections, which we'll be having in the United States a year from now. Presidents with approval ratings below 40 percent
generally see their party suffer heavy losses in Congress.
And in Trump's case, that would be disastrous, because it would fracture the Republican control on Capitol Hill and expose his second administration
to a great deal of scrutiny from Democrats. So, you can see why Trump is desperate to stop this from happening.
This week in the United States, we get the first voters weighing in, since the start of Trump's second term, gubernatorial elections in Virginia and
New Jersey, and as you were mentioning that mayor's race in New York. I think people tend to perhaps read too much from these early races.
But I think that a lot of Republicans will be looking what happens, especially in a state like Virginia, which the Republicans won four years
ago in a governor's race, to work out, OK, how is Trump's unpopularity and the way that he's conducting his second term going to impact us when we
begin our campaigns in a few weeks and months for the midterm elections.
HILL: When we're looking at where things sit too there is it is impossible to ignore the impact of a government shutdown. And President Trump was
asked about it, last night in his interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS talking specifically about where things stand right now. I just want to
play part of his reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have helped and these government shutdowns in the past, when they came about and you did it by bringing them -- you --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I did. I am very good at it. I'm not going to do it by extortion. I'm not going to do it by
being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sounds like it's not going to get solved the shutdown.
TRUMP: It's going to get solved. Yeah, oh, it's going to get solved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How?
TRUMP: We'll get it solved, eventually they're going to have to vote.
[09:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're saying the Democrats will capitulate?
TRUMP: I think they have to, and if they don't vote, that's their problem. Now I happen to agree on something else. I think we should do the nuclear
option. This is a totally different nuclear by the way. It's called ending the filibuster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So, two important notes there, Stephen right, the fact that the president is continuing to say he wants to end the filibuster. He went on
to say he wants to end it for everything, not just for the governor everything, not just for the government shutdown. He wants to be able to do
essentially whatever he wants, and he wants Republicans to make that easier for him in the Senate.
He also is very clearly not going to in any way give Democrats any sort of a win or an out here.
COLLINSON: Yeah, and to me, that seems like a classic case of a president who's a little bit out of touch with the reality. He spent last week, of
course, in Asia. He's just come back to the United States. He was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, having a Great Gatsby party over the
Halloween weekend, which is somewhat of a questionable optic, I think, shows some gilded indifference to the plight of a lot of Americans.
We are now having 40 million Americans at risk of running out of critical nutrition assistance. Another 20 million people have just seen their health
care premium shoot up. That was the spur that caused Democrats to start this shutdown. So, although the president says he's not going to do
anything, and it's up to Democrats to capitulate.
If he doesn't start to offer some kind of off ramp here, things could get a lot nastier, and he might start to bear even more of the blame for the
shutdown. So, it's going to be interesting over the next few days to see if Republicans on Capitol Hill, perhaps factoring in the result of elections
which look like they're going to favor Democrats on Tuesday, try to move the president out of this adamant position to try and find some kind of
compromise.
But I think you put your finger on it, he doesn't really care what happens after he leaves office. He's talking about abolishing the filibuster, which
would allow Democrats, if they ever got the Senate back, to really put the country on a very liberal tack. He's interested in asserting his authority
right now and getting a win and dominating the opposition.
The question here is, if that is a sustainable position as the pain of the government shutdown mounts for millions of Americans.
HILL: Yeah, absolutely. Stephen, appreciate it as always. Thank you.
COLLINSON: Thank you.
HILL: Want to dig into a few more than numbers that we saw out of this CNN poll. The Trump Administration's actions on immigration specifically, this
is, of course, a divisive issue in the United States. According to the new polling out of CNN, a majority of Americans say they have a negative view
of President Trump's deportation policies.
57 percent saying he has gone too far when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the United States illegally. Just about 28 percent as you see
there, say it's been handled about right. As for the president, well, he tells at "60 Minutes" in that same interview that he actually doesn't think
they've gone far enough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More recently, Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother. Tear gas being used in a Chicago residential
neighborhood and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far?
TRUMP: No, I think they haven't gone far enough, because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by
Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're OK with those tactics?
TRUMP: Yeah, because you have to get the people out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: CNN's Kevin Liptak is following more of this, joining us now from the White House. It's interesting. They're saying you have to get the people
out. The problem with some of those tactics, as we know, is these are not always criminals. And certainly, there have been a number of instances
where not only are these not criminals, but there are people who are American citizens, who have been rounded up.
There's been rounded up. There's a lot of concern about these tactics. Clearly, that is not going to change. What is the White House reception to
some of these new polling numbers when it comes to how Americans feel about the administration's actions on immigration?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and there's no indication, and you hear that from the president himself, that the White
House is going to back off any of these tactics that we've seen carried out over the first nine months or so of the president's administration.
You know, when you look at the polling, the majority of Americans say that this is going too far. But I think what the White House is looking at are
the numbers where Americans say that it's not going far enough. And certainly, the president has made no secret throughout the course of his
presidency so far.
That he thinks that these deportations need to be happening quicker, that he thinks that he made this promise to the people who supported him in last
year's campaign to really ramp up these enforcement efforts. And I think that is what the president is speaking to, here.
You know, he doesn't necessarily voice a lot of concern with the people who think that he's gone too far. He really seems to be intent on carrying out
the promises that the people who voted for him thought that he was making, which was to really be a strict sort of hand on immigration.
[09:10:00]
And no in this interview, he did acknowledge that there was a process that these people should go through, that if you're an undocumented immigrant in
the United States, that the thing to do is leave the country and then return legally. But he continued to insist that the majority of people who
are being targeted by these efforts are what he calls the worst of the worst.
Sort of brushing over the fact that there are individuals who are being swept up in all of this, who are not criminals, and many of whom are sort
of low-lying offenders whose only offense is being in the country illegally. And the president was asked, for example, about landscapers, and
then the president said sort of flippantly that no one needs landscapers more than he does.
And so, I think when you listen to the president here, there's really no indication that he's moving past what is really kind of the strict
enforcement measures that have caused so much concern in this administration so far.
HILL: You know, I also wanted to just drill down for a minute, if we could on something that we heard from the president over the weekend warning that
he, in his words, may well go in guns a blazing to Nigeria, raising concerns about Christians being targeted. So, considering sending U.S.
troops, can you just walk us through what is happening here, Kevin?
LIPTAK: Yeah, and it's quite a striking topic that sort of popped up over the weekend, really out of nowhere, at least when it comes to the
president. He has not discussed this at any length before now, and it was striking on Air Force One last night, he was asked to follow up about this,
and asked whether he would consider sending U.S. troops to Nigeria or conducting airstrikes on that country.
And he says could be, so the president not ruling that out by any means. What is at the center of his concerns here are allegations that Christians
are being targeted in that country, and certainly, Nigeria is a place where violence is rampant. But when you look at the numbers and we talk to
experts, they say that this violence has been targeting not only Christians, but also Muslims as well.
And of course, Nigeria has a history of Islamic militant groups, sort of operating in certain parts of that nation. And so, the president's claims
that Christians are being targeted seems to ignore the other groups that are being caught up in some of this violence. But clearly the president is
being influenced by voices.
And certainly, you've heard from figures like the Senator Ted Cruz, who has spoken out about this, and they seem to have had an effect on the
president's thinking. And it is quite striking for a president who talks so frequently about bringing peace to the world, about settling in his view,
eight conflicts, I think the count is up to now.
You also see these other areas of the world where the president is growing increasingly combative, whether it's Nigeria and threatening to send in
U.S. troops, or whether it's Venezuela and the president ramping up the U.S. military footprint in that region. It's sort of a striking dichotomy
by the president.
And it will be, I think, very interesting and important to see how this situation develops. It's clearly developing pretty rapidly.
HILL: Yeah, absolutely. Kevin, really appreciate it. Thank you. And as we look at that situation, it's important to note, Nigeria has welcomed U.S.
assistance -- excuse me, in fighting radical Islamist terrorism as long as territorial integrity is respected. It's also important to know both
Christians and Muslims have been targeted by attacks.
Violence in Nigeria is powered by two main factors, religion and tensions between farmers and herders. Christiane Amanpour spoke about that situation
with the Head of the World Trade Organization, who is also Nigeria's Former Foreign Minister. She spoke with him at CNN's "Global Perspectives" event
in London.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: This is an incredibly complex question. Let me say this. Nigeria is a very
complex country. The situation is very difficult and needs careful thought. It has religious issues involved in it. It has resource issues involved in
it. It has different complexities. So, I just think we need careful thinking through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Now, as mentioned, the Director General of the World Trade Organization was there speaking, of course, as part of "Global
Perspectives". This is CNN's live event series bringing together the network's honor talent, with leaders, CEOs and innovators from around the
world to discuss emerging challenges.
CNN's Larry Madowo is at the event. So, Larry, what more are we hearing at this event? Walk us through.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've been hearing a lot from global leaders, business leaders, cultural icons, talking about the state of
Africa in the world. But I think that opening by Christiane Amanpour and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala really set the tone for the ambition of CNN's
"Global Perspectives" event.
We want to hear from people at the cutting edge of all of these important topics, and trade was one of them.
[09:15:00]
And Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she agrees with some of criticisms that President Trump has leveled against the World Trade Organization saying
that, yes, it's time for reform, and sometimes it's a slow decision-making process. She did concede that tariffs, his tariffs, were the biggest
disruption to the system in 80 years. This is what else the Director General said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OKONJO-IWEALA: We are very happy about the de-escalation. I think if, even if people feel it's fragile and temporary gives time for more dialog and
coming to terms with each other's difficulties and needs. So, we welcome the de-escalation. I've always said that because de-escalation is good for
the entire trading system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: And we talked about some of the impacts of the tariffs on African countries and the needs to strengthen the African continental free trade
area. So African countries can do more trade among themselves. But the people speaking back here at the conference include some of the continent's
biggest billionaires, political leaders.
The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo is here speaking to Melissa Bell earlier. We've just had Tony Elumelu, one of the continent's
biggest billionaires. I just spoke to Mo Ibrahim, who is a Sudanese billionaire who's been trying to draw attention to the crisis in Sudan,
which he calls the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world.
But he also had some words of criticism for the election in Tanzania that just happened. So, the ambition of this event that CNN is doing is to bring
our journalism from the screen to the stage and to have these conversations the same way we do on the air, on this show and others live here on stage,
that people can appreciate that, Erica.
HILL: Yeah, which is great to have Larry, appreciate it. Good to see you. Thanks. When we return, we're going to return to Becky Anderson, who's live
in Abu Dhabi at the Annual Energy Conference in focus this week. How to keep up with this energy demand out there that is, of course, necessary to
power the AI boom?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. We are here at the opening day of ADIPEC, the annual energy conference hosted here in Abu Dhabi. As this gathering gets
underway, Microsoft made a major announcement it will be investing more than $15 billion in the UAE before the end of this decade, as the country
aims to position itself at the heart of the energy and artificial intelligence boom.
Well, in his opening statements, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said that policy going forward must remain
clear eyed. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SULTAN AL JABER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE ABU DHABI NATIONAL OIL COMPANY: Policy must enable progress, not obstruct growth. And on this particular
point, let me be very clear, policies should be pragmatic, not performative. Policies should be based on insight, not ideology.
[09:20:00]
Built on first principles, not fleeting popularity, because regulation without realism and legislation without logic will only weaken economies,
stunt societies and drive capital away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, earlier I spoke to leading risk strategist Ian Bremmer about the changing geopolitical headwinds that global leaders are facing
and how those are impacting the decision making here in Abu Dhabi. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT OF THE EURASIA GROUP: The United States has become the principal driver of geopolitical uncertainty on the global stage. For a
long time, the presumption was geopolitical conflict would come from the U.S. declining, China rising, U.S. trying to hold on, China trying to
become number one.
That's not what's happening. What's happening is the United States is making a conscious choice to change the operating principles of
globalization, of collective security. And that uncertainty, which some allies consider to be unreliability, is driving all of the question marks
around geopolitics today. That is the biggest concern, in response to what Dr. Sultan brought up this morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the conference also comes on the heels of OPEC + announcing that it will pause increases in production output at the beginning of the
year, in an apparent nod to the large surplus in the market looking into early 2026. Well, look, here's how the oil markets are faring.
And there has been very little change on the back of that decision, why? Well, my next guest is going to give you some answers on that. It's -- she
is Helima Croft, the Head of Global Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets. And it's fantastic to have you. Listen, we heard Ian Bremmer
talking about the fact that the U.S. has become the geopolitical driver uncertainty on the global stage.
And when it comes to just what we've been discussing in this show ahead of us, U.S. position on Nigeria at present.
HELIMA CROFT, HEAD OF GLOBAL COMMODITY STRATEGY AT RBC CAPITAL MARKETS: Yes.
ANDERSON: And on Venezuela, and on Russia, and on China and on the widest story, which is the sort of energy transition and AI sort of empowerment.
CROFT: Right.
ANDERSON: What's your view?
CROFT: I think what's interesting is OPEC taking a pause on production increases for the first quarter. Everyone's reading it as being driven by
seasonal softness. I also think they're preserving policy optionality, because we simply don't know what the supply picture is going to look like
based on some of the policies the U.S. is pursuing at the moment.
We just came out the United States and announced very serious blocking sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, more than half of Russian exports those
two companies. And I think market participants are really trying to digest like, what does this mean? Now we have a view, and you've heard -- you've
heard executives talking about this today.
If you are Total, if you are BP, any company that has to do business with U.S. regulated financial institutions, they're all saying like, look, this
is serious, and we're already seeing refineries like Reliance seeking alternative supplies. We're getting reports that Indian -- other refiners
outside of India.
Chinese refiners are starting to potentially look for other supplies. So, we're trying to digest the sanctions impact. At the same time, we have this
massive U.S. military buildup off the coast of Venezuela, conflicting statements of whether we're going to pursue regime change there.
We had a lot of back and forth on Friday, but President Trump gave an interview over the weekend where he said, Maduro is likely to go. Then, how
is he likely to go? Are we going to go into Venezuela? What does that mean for Venezuelan oil production? And now the Nigeria story is the U.S.
serious about trying to intervene there another major oil producer. So, a lot of uncertainty being driven by U.S. policy.
ANDERSON: The WTO Chief in conversation with Christiane Amanpour at our "Global Perspectives" event in London, very specifically, saying this
policy needs very careful thinking.
CROFT: Yes. Right. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Former Finance Minister of Nigeria. She was credited with the sort of economic turnaround story. She
led a team of reformers that really tried to sort of implement better uses of financing how they did the oil sector. And so, from her standpoint, I
think she would be deeply concerned about a military intervention that may not be ultimately stabilizing for the country.
ANDERSON: So, to your point, the fact that we have seen very little response in the oil markets to the OPEC+ decision, which some would suggest
it is like you know, concerns about sort of demand going forward.
[09:25:00]
Do you think is a perfectly sensible response?
CROFT: Well, I think the market is basically saying, show me, there's going to be a disruption.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
CROFT: At this point, I think there is so much uncertainty because, again, there is this big debate, are we going to be oversupply in the first
quarter?
ANDERSON: Yeah.
CROFT: And you hear different views. Amin Nasser last week at the FII said, no, you have some energy executives like Pouyanne from Total saying he does
not believe we're going to be oversupplied. The U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary today at ADIPEC said he does not believe there's going to be a
glutton 2026 but others are saying we're going to be massively oversupplied.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
CROFT: So again, if you are OPEC, I think it makes a lot of sense to take a pause and see how this pans out.
ANDERSON: Let's have a look at the longer term, because UAE certainly remains extremely bullish that over the longer term, demand will remain
strong. Do you agree with that assessment? Because what the UAE is looking at, and many of the conversations that I've had here are about what is this
projected massive increase in demand for electricity to power this next generation technology we call AI.
CROFT: -- when you talk about both oil and gas, I think if you are sitting in the Gulf, your view is at the end of the day, you will be last man
standing, that we will see other producers having to exit because they have higher costs, higher declines before these countries, and that the last
barrels will be produced here.
So, when we talk about oil, I think, from their standpoint, they're looking at U.S. production starting to decline, and they are saying, like, look, in
the end, it's going to be us. But when they think about the AI revolution. They say, look, we have the base load power.
We are the low-cost producer. We can win the race for building data centers, because we don't have to worry about base load power. We have it
here. It's cost efficient and its lower emissions.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. Still to come on "Connect the World", major cooperation between big oil and
big tech at the world's largest energy conference here in Abu Dhabi. What that could mean for all of you is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Right. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi for you, and you are watching a special edition of "Connect the World". And we are
standing by for the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures have been ticking higher, so let's get that.
[09:30:00]
Bell rung. We are starting that trading week. Tech stocks were looking Steeler march on the opening. We will keep an eye on that market. It is the
beginning of November. How will those hyperscalers do this month? We will see. All right the bell being rung today by Qnity and the folks there the
New York Stock Exchange.
All right, well, big tech and big oil sharing a stage here at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum exhibition and conference that's adequate taking
place this week, the two big industries working together to be ready to meet massive energy needs. Forecasts to be required for AI driven compute.
At the same time, energy industry leaders are asking how AI can be used in their own companies to increase efficiency? Companies though work that out
in the sort of boom that we are seeing in AI investment, the sort of valuations that we see in these big hyperscalers may just be that bubble
that many people are talking about.
Well, meantime, Microsoft announcing that it will keep up its robust investment in the United Arab Emirates, pumping in nearly $8 billion over
the next four years, for a total of $15.2 billion since 2023. The company says it's made critical progress with G42 the UAE's global technology
company here.
Well, joining us now is the CEO of SandboxAQ, Jack Hidary. His company was named one of "Time" magazine's 100 most influential companies in 2025 and
he's the author of "Quantum Computing and Applied Approach". He joins us now. Jack, it's good to have you.
JACK HIDARY, CEO OF SANDBOXAQ: Thank you. Great to be here.
ANDERSON: I think, in Saudi Arabia last week to speak to you then.
HIDARY: Yes, right.
ANDERSON: So, I'm glad that we've caught up with you here in the UAE. I want to discuss this announcement by Microsoft. How you view this sort of
U.S., UAE, sort of critical, public, private, sort of power broking partnership, as it were. First, just lay out for our viewers what your
company does?
And explain Quantum AI in a way, please that everybody watching this show, and I'm not undermining their intelligence, but AI computing is hard to get
your head around. So just lay out what you do so that all of us can understand it.
HIDARY: -- great to be here, Becky in Abu Dhabi with you.
ANDERSON: You are welcome.
HIDARY: You're absolutely correct. This is the convergence right now of two massive rivers coming together, AI and energy coming right here together at
ADIPEC, very exciting to see for us at SandboxAQ, A for AI, Q for Quantum, two of the engines that are transforming our world.
Why do we need both AI and Quantum? The AI that we do, we're at the forefront of a new kind of AI. People, our viewers here today are familiar
with AI for the digital world. AI like large language models, Gemini, ChatGPT, wonderful tools to summarize documents, to do research, to do
marketing, customer service, great applications.
But here at ADIPEC, we're talking about the physical world. We're talking about the need for new power generation. We're talking about the need for
new kinds of battery chemistry. That is not a large language model task. That's a model that for AI that knows chemistry, that knows physics, that
knows the world.
These are large quantitative models. So, the AI that Sandbox is the leader in, is the AI for the real world, as Jensen talks about Nvidia, one of our
investors, AI for the physical world.
ANDERSON: Well, you back by Nvidia, as you point out, and Google, who supported you, as I understand it, some $150 million in investment.
HIDARY: That's right.
ANDERSON: Explain that partnership for us and why you're offering these large quantitative models or LQMs are more useful than the sort of LLMs
that perhaps the rest of us hear most about when it comes to sort of ChatGPT and Gemini and stuff.
HIDARY: When it comes to energy, like here at ADIPEC, or it comes to pharma, you want to make a new medicine, for example, for cancer. Last
week, we announced that FII the announcement with Bahrain. Bahrain and SandboxAQ announced a partnership to discover new drugs for cancer, for
diabetes, for other key areas, using this new kind of AI, an AI that is trained on molecules, not on cat images.
And so, this is the kind of AI that we need to really hit the rubber meets the road in the physical world.
ANDERSON: Can I ask you about this sort of partnerships that we are seeing evolving, not least, for example, the partnership between the U.S. and the
UAE.
HIDARY: Yes, fundamental partnership.
ANDERSON: This is a multibillion-dollar partnership going both ways.
HIDARY: Yes.
[09:35:00]
ANDERSON: As part of that, of course, Microsoft's original 1.5-billion- dollar investment in G-42 the big AI holding company here. Today, we hear further investment from Microsoft to the tune of some 15 billion over the
next sort of four years. There is a broader surge in these sorts of public and private partnerships coming together.
These are power broking, sort of opportunities in this AI and energy arms race at present. What are you making?
HIDARY: I think we see more and more of this. When you think about the UAE, UAE is very, very forward thinking when the LLMs first hit the scene with
ChatGPT, which was the first country outside the United States to create their own large language model.
UAE with the Falcon, that has become a 71 a wholly independent company right now that is offering LLMs. And then G-42 which is the primary vehicle
of AI right here in the UAE, really took the lead, not only in terms of the software side, thinking about how to apply AI to the country of UAE, but
also the infrastructure side.
How do we get the energy needed for the data centers, and how do we put all that together, not just inside the UAE? Here's what's interesting about G-
42 they think globally. They're active with global partnerships, yes, with the U.S., but also with other countries as well.
So, when Brad Smith came here about a year ago to announce the 1.5 billion, no surprise to us. And now Brad was here again, and he doubled down now,
more than doubled down with now this $15 billion announcement, 7 billion already in and committed, and now a new $8 billion commitment as well. I
think we're going to see more of this, Becky.
ANDERSON: I spoke last week with the CEO of Humain, which is Saudi Arabia's new massive bet on AI building -- you know, they're looking at this full
end to end stack, data centers, cloud models, apps. You, of course, work with G-42 the UAE's vehicle here. How do you see this region's role in this
increasingly rich and compelling story that is AI?
HIDARY: Yeah, well, I think that this region now realizes the power of AI, both on the digital side, but also on the physical side, Humain, which you
mentioned, just came recently together a great initiative in Saudi Arabia. Tareq Amin, who used to be the CEO of Aramco Digital, of course, is now the
CEO of Humain, along with George Nazi and others, really strong leadership there, led by MBS to really make sure Saudi is on the map.
They see what UAE is doing. They understand that, they want to have their vehicle. You're seeing Bahrain make deals. You're seeing Qatar others. And
so, this is a region that really understands that nexus between energy and AI, but also moving AI to help their own people.
When you think about the 400 million people in this region, think about their health care needs. There's been a strong commitment here. Just a few
minutes away from here is the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. Why is Cleveland Clinic here? Why is that partnership here that goes back 10 years now.
And now you see the UE doubling down on longevity, on wellness and these kinds of areas, they're really forward thinking in terms of, how do we use
technology to transform our lives? And this is something that we don't necessarily see in other regions of the world. I think that with this kind
of announcement of Microsoft and UAE, of ourselves in Bahrain, we're going to start seeing more of these public, private initiatives that really
transform regions.
ANDERSON: It's fascinating, isn't it? I mean, you know, Donald Trump has been very clear that he loves the idea of the sovereign wealth here, $7
trillion forecast from this region's sovereign wealth funds by 2030 and in what many will describe as a rather unseemly way, he talks about the
opportunity that, that wealth provides the U.S. going forward.
But we're also seeing those investments going both ways, which I think I don't have to leave it here because we've run out of time, but it's
fantastic having you on.
HIDARY: Great, good to see you, Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you very much -- only to hear about your own company, but your insight analysis on kind of the wider story of energy and AI is
fascinating --
HIDARY: Revolutions happening right now here.
ANDERSON: -- Erica, back to you.
HILL: Becky, appreciate it. Thanks. We are giving a close watch on Afghanistan, the death toll rising after a powerful 6.3 magnitude quake hit
the northern part of the country. Official figures so far say 20 people are dead. More than 600 injured. Search and rescue operations are underway at
this hour.
The quake struck near the City of Mazar-e-Sharif in the early hours of Monday morning. Some damage was seen at the city's iconic blue mosque. In
footage from social media, rubble is strewn on the ground in front of that building. The mosque, of course, is a major set of pilgrimage.
It's believed to be the resting place of the fourth Caliph of Islam. U.S. President Donald Trump, set to host Syria's New President next Monday at
the White House, according to officials, Mr. Trump first met Ahmad al- Sharaa in May during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
[09:40:00]
Al-Sharaa led the uprising one year ago to remove the regime of Bashar Al Assad that is going to do it for this hour of connect the world.
A during a visit to Saudi Arabia, Al Shara led the uprising one year ago to remove the regime of Bashar Al Assad. That is going to do it for this hour
of "Connect the World". Stay with us. We'll be back in 15 minutes with more. "World Sport" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
[10:00:00]
END
