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Connect the World

Former Russian Presidential Candidate on Mood Inside Russia; Israeli Settlers Besiege Palestinian Homes in Occupied West Bank; Iran Demands Compensation Over Persian Gulf Pollution; Miracles and Nightmares as Volunteers Search Through Rubble; Karoline Leavitt Steps Down as White House Press Secretary. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired August 13, 2026 - 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)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Search for survivors is becoming a race against time. Three days after a deadly earthquake in

Colombia. It's 08:00 a.m. in the City of Cali, and it's 02:00 p.m. in London. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

Thanks for joining us. This is "Connect the World". Also coming up, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging the U.S. to supply.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: -- We pay 100 percent to the Americans. I have the package from the United States and then my personal

involvement. It doesn't work --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: And the Lakers could have a surprising pair of new owners. And the Lakers could have a surprising pair of new owners. More on that to

come, and who that could be. And we are looking to U.S. futures, which are pointing to a mixed open as investors balance easing consumer inflation

data against stubbornly high oil prices.

But we begin with a startling appeal from the Ukrainian President to the U.S. Give us 10 percent of your Patriot interceptors, and we'll vanquish

Russia's onslaught of ballistic missiles. Russia has been stepping up strikes on Ukraine, exploiting its dangerous lack of interceptors.

These images are from two days ago when missiles bombarded the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a children's hospital was among the locations hit. Well,

the Ukraine's President says he is following up with the White House daily after Donald Trump said Washington would give Ukraine a license to produce

patriot interceptors.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country currently has about 1 percent of America's stockpile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Are you out of interceptors now? Do you have none left?

ZELENSKYY: No. I will explain you how it works. So, this year we have 2.5 times less interceptors than we had in 2025 first. Russia has two times

more ballistic missiles per month than they had before. We pay 100 percent to Americans. I have the package from the United States, and then my

personal involvement.

It doesn't work either way. It's my personal talks, meetings, and phones, phone calls, EJ with everybody. I try to exchange something to miss this.

This year, I'm asking American partners to sell me 5 percent of missiles, what they have in their stocks. If they sell us 5 percent we will go

through the winter and save people life.

If they can sell us 10 percent, we will destroy all the Russian ballistic missiles.

WALSH: And has that request been answered? Have you had a clear indication of the word?

ZELENSKYY: The answer is for today is next. I have 1 percent. This is in what I live each day. From 1 percent to 5 percent, I have some, you know,

some months and million phone calls and anything else. What can I do? I do some things which I can't even share. It's not.

It doesn't mean that it's out of the law. No, but it's -- I can't speak about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well Nick Paton Walsh has been speaking to Ukraine's President, as you saw there, and he joins us now. And Nick, I mean, the numbers there

that he laid out give us such an understanding of the perilous situation that Ukraine is in right now. And really how much of his time is being

focused on trying to increase the percentage that he is getting?

What more did President Zelenskyy tell you in this interview?

WALSH: Yeah, I mean it's important to point out, Christina, why there is this crisis. It is a global issue in terms of the lack of patriot

interceptor missiles. So many used by the United States, by Gulf states during the war with Iran to defend skies there. Sometimes it seems,

according to some reporting, to take out very low-cost Iranian drones, and that has led to this broader global shortage.

Now that is felt here, not nowhere else.

[09:05:00]

The war in Iran has dialed down. And so, it is a nightly crisis here in Kyiv, a city where years we've been amazed watching people calmly walk

through airway sirens. Now they run to the subway and for shelter when they hear them because we've had many nights over the past weeks where simply no

interceptions, it seems, have indeed occurred.

Now president -- was very keen to not state that they are out of interceptors, he wouldn't go there. Instead, we had that complex

explanation of the need to go from 1 percent of America's stocks to 10 percent and that remarkable admission of what he spends his mornings doing,

bringing up allies, kind of making deals, trying to get more of these interceptors.

And he described people here, you know, tired, exhausted, trying to get out of the subways where it's dark at night, where they're sheltering, to get a

bit of sun during the day as well. And also, constant pleas to the White House, directly, indirectly, via allies, whatever way he can, to President

Donald Trump to increase that percentage.

And also too, his I think still uncertainty about a promise made by President Trump, that they would be able to license the manufacture of

weapons like those interceptors, exactly those interceptors here inside Ukraine. And there've been reporting suggesting concerns that maybe Ukraine

will get really good at that and be cheaper and efficient than the current U.S. manufacturers.

All of this has led to what President Zelenskyy referred to as bureaucracy and a slowdown in the process here. They're trying to find a work around to

it, but none of it means that the process of getting the manufacturing going here that could take months, some more cynical suggestions say

potentially years to actually build the interceptors that not only Ukraine needs nightly, but Europe needs, the United States needs.

And so, there's an extraordinary disconnect between the nightly peril faced here in the Ukrainian capital and the sort of macro vision seen in

Washington of how the U.S. needs to preserve its stocks after some would say expending a lot of them very quickly, perhaps unnecessarily in a war in

the Gulf.

And that something which Zelenskyy himself every morning is on the phone trying to correct, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, well, it is an extremely timely interview. Nick Paton Walsh, there live from Kyiv. Thank you. And as the war between Ukraine and

Russia continues, CNN's Clare Sebastian has spoken to a Former Russian Presidential Candidate who's now living in exile after running against

Vladimir Putin in 2024 on an anti-war platform.

Here's part of what he told her about the mood in Russia right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS NADEZHDIN, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN: The understanding of that everybody wants to stop the war, it's in the society, is in the elite, and

in the nearest people around Putin. And of course, the understanding of what this war Israel means for Russian economy, for Russian cities.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Does Putin understand this?

NADEZHDIN: Yes, yes, to Putin and people around him. I am absolutely sure. I am absolutely sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: -- watch that full interview on my colleague Isa Soares' show at 07:00 p.m. here in London tonight. That's 10:00 pm in Abu Dhabi. Now,

for days, Israeli settlers have surrounded three Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank in an apparent effort to force out the residents.

The Israeli army has been on the scene since last weekend, but the settlers appear unbowed. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The view from this Palestinian home is the same from every angle. Israeli settlers

everywhere you look. For days now, they've set up camp and surrounded three homes on this hilltop in the occupied West Bank in a bid to force the

residents out and take over.

They've cut water and power lines and have tried to stop anyone from approaching. All of this is illegal, and yet this is what happened when

Palestinian residents first called the Israeli military. The soldiers joined the settlers in prayer.

LOUI RIDI, PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN, OWNS HOUSE BESIEGED BY SETTLERS: They start hugging the settlers and they start praying with the settlers and

absolutely did nothing to protect my brother and his son.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Loui Ridi owns one of those houses. A Palestinian- American, he's watched all of this unfold from Ohio. And this is what he saw on Wednesday. Israeli military trying and ultimately failing to remove

the settlers from the area. Hours later, we drive up the hill to see if anything has changed.

DIAMOND: So, these are actually the three homes that have been besieged by these settlers for four days now. We're going to try and climb up this hill

and see if we can get past the settlers who are blocking the area.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The settlers are still there, and so are two Israeli soldiers who order us to stop and turn off our vehicle.

[09:10:00]

The soldier tells me this is now a closed military area, and that we're interfering with military activity.

DIAMOND: Why are we interfering and not them? I don't understand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can contact the military spokesperson. This is a closed military area.

DIAMOND (voice-over): An IDF spokesperson said the order does apply to the settlers, but it's clearly not being enforced. The IDF said it would soon

deploy more troops to the area to restore order.

DIAMOND: They're telling us that it's a closed military zone that we're not allowed to be here, but at the same time, we're seeing multiple Israeli

settlers who are here, who are not being made to leave, and who are continuing to block the access to these homes.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Down the hill, we call Loui's brother Qusai, who's been staying in his home.

DIAMOND: Qusai, this is the closest we're able to get to your home. Unfortunately, how are you doing? Do you still have supplies.

QUSAI RIDI, QUSRA RESIDENT BESIEGED BY SETTLERS: The food I have is going to run out in two to three days. Beyond that, I have no food, nothing, he

says. But at the same time, even if I run out of food, I will not leave the house.

DIAMOND: So, do you have any hope that these settlers are actually going to be kicked out of this area?

Q. RIDI: Honestly, from what I saw today, the settlers were monstrous, he explains. They even attacked the Israeli army, forcing them to fire sound

grenades and tear gas. They have their eyes set on the house and this hilltop. They want to take it.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The next day, Israeli soldiers temporarily order Qusai out of the house, leaving him to move in with his neighbor. The

soldiers say they will use it as a base to operate against the settlers, but Qusai's fears aren't abstract. In recent weeks, settlers in this area

have set fire to a mosque and besieged this home.

DIAMOND: This right here is why those families are afraid to leave their home. You can see Israeli settlers on the rooftop of this house here. Three

weeks ago, Palestinians were living in that house, but it's been taken over by Israeli settlers.

DIAMOND (voice-over): With a messianic flag now flying above it, these settlers want their presence known from one hill top to the next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us now from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, clearly a very tense visit there to Qusra. What more can you tell us about

that, and what's happened since?

DIAMOND: Well, it's really it really was extraordinary to be in that area. I mean, these settlers have been laying siege to these three homes of

Palestinians living on that hilltop for five days now. And the Israeli military was in the area as you saw in our piece when we arrived.

And yet they are not enforcing this military order on those settlers who are living there illegally. The Israeli military has failed to remove them

thus far. Now we are witnessing what appears to be the beginnings of a much larger operation by the Israeli military to remove those settlers and also

to take down several other illegal outposts in that very same region.

We've seen today videos of Israeli soldiers, an entire battalion of Israeli soldiers arriving in the area. Initially, we saw soldiers beginning to kick

out Palestinians from their homes, from at least a dozen homes in the area, they said that they were going to use those homes as bases to operate

against the settlers.

Quite an irony there. That irony seems to have been recognized since by the Israeli military, which hours later reversed that decision and ordered

these Israeli soldiers to leave the homes of all of these Palestinians, and we've begun to see that actually taking place.

But it just underscores, you know, the different ways in which the Israeli military, you know, the different rules that they have for operating

against settlers versus operating against Palestinians. If we saw anything like this coming from Palestinians in the West Bank, you would see the

Israeli military acting with a significantly higher degree of force against those Palestinians.

But when it comes to these settlers, we see that the Israeli military is really putting gloves on to take efforts to take them out without causing

any deaths or injuries. And also, it seems, without properly detaining and arresting any of these settlers. Only one settler has been detained so far,

according to the information I have from the Israeli military today.

But again, the military is vowing that they will conduct an operation to remove the settlers from the area. We'll wait and continue to cover this

story to see whether or not that actually comes to pass.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, it's an important story. We appreciate you being there, and of course, we will continue to cover this step by step. Jeremy Diamond,

thank you. Now, Iran is demanding compensation for what it says is decades of pollution in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.

On Wednesday, a thick oil slick washed up on a beach around Iran's Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a video geolocated by CNN.

Meanwhile, across the Persian Gulf, Oman says oil from a tanker under sanctions carrying Russian crude has contaminated up to 40 kilometers of

coastline.

[09:15:00]

The spill is threatening beaches and important sea turtle nesting in the grounds. CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us. So, Paula, Iran says the

environmental damage to its coastline runs into the trillions of dollars. So, who does it expect is going to pay this compensation?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there have been concerns since the war began, about the economics, the politics of all this. The environmental

damage really has been put to one side, but it is becoming more of an issue now as we are seeing an increasing number of oil slicks in and around the

Persian Gulf.

Now, this first one is just on Qeshm Island. It's near the Strait of Hormuz. There's about a kilometer of this coastal area of this island. We

can see a thick black oil slick on it, according to videos geolocated by CNN. Iran is saying that it wants compensation for pollution in these

waters.

It's not just talking about during the war, though. It is saying going back decades. I'll read you part of an interview we had with the PBS had with

the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he says, who bears responsibility for compensating these damages?

Is it the nations that consume the inexpensive energy exported from our region, the shipping insurers, or the aggressors and their partners who

have transformed the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman into a theater for military operations. Now we have been seeing oil tankers come under attack

since this war began in these critical waters.

And of course, notably, we have also seen a number of them coming under attack from Iranian drones if they're using a route that they do not agree

with. But at this point, Iran is demanding compensation going back decades.

MACFARLANE: All right, Paula Hancocks there with the latest on this oil spill. Thank you. And you are watching "Connect the World". Still to come,

the frantic search for survivors in the rubble continues in Colombia as that crucial 72-hour window draws to a close.

We'll have a report on the ground. And there's a shake-up at the White House after Karoline Leavitt announced she will step down from her role as

the president's mouthpiece. We'll have the details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: The earthquake that devastated western Colombia on Monday has left at least 265 people dead and nearly 500 missing. That's according to

Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella. He added that the tremor had brought a tragedy of immense proportions and has vowed to create an

emergency fund for reconstruction efforts.

De la Espriella was inaugurated days before the dark disaster struck, making this the first major test of his presidency. Here's more of what he

had to say.

[09:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT: The emergency I am proposing will create a Miracle Fund an entity that will channel national and

international contributions toward the reconstruction of hospitals, educational centers, buildings, roads, and airports that were damaged by

the earthquake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's David Culver is in Cali, Colombia, and has more now on the rescue efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're headed now to a southern part of Cali, where we're told there are active

rescues underway, including just a few hours ago where someone was pulled out alive.

CULVER: You can hear people still right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yeah.

CULVER: Well, they won't. OK, he said you can still hear people, so let's go see. Just handed us masks. They said please put these on because they're

worried about asbestos and anything else that's in the air that we're also seeing some of this dust. We've been told what we're looking at here was an

apartment building that was about four stories high.

You can see the rooftop pool, the blue tiles over there, now about a story and a half up in the air. So, it has totally pancaked down, collapsing into

the basement of this apartment complex.

CULVER (voice-over): Looking into the collapsed rubble, Harold Valencia recognizes something.

CULVER: You can see your dad's mattress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly, which is that one that he's showing right now.

CULVER: Have you have you heard anything? Is there any movement or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. For two days and we don't hear anything.

CULVER (voice-over): Harold flew in Tuesday from his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and he isn't the only one here doubling as a first

responder.

CULVER: And how old are the two people still missing, roughly?

JAVIER TABARES, VOLUNTEER: Late teens?

CULVER: Teenagers.

TABARES: Yes.

CULVER: And a brother and sister.

TABARES: Yes.

CULVER: How do you even process this moment? Like --

TABARES: There's no way to process it. Like you don't process it. You're just here, dealing. Like if you're at home, maybe you may have to find some

way to cope with it. Like there's no time to process this type of stuff. Like you have to be here helping. Otherwise, there's nothing else to do.

CULVER (voice-over): Here in Cali, Colombia's third largest city with a population roughly the size of Houston, Texas, even folks working at hotels

or taxi drivers even, are splitting their day between their actual work and helping with rescues, motivated by scenes like this.

A man handing off a baby boy from within the rubble, dust covered and struggling to breathe. But he's alive.

CULVER: You saw the baby's little head. He's not a first responder. He works in a bank and he was just around the corner and rushed down the

street where the collapse and rescue, is still underway for several others. And he says he goes there and he hears -- What did the voice say?

CULVER: The voice says, I'm here. I'm here with a baby. Brian and several others immediately go in. Over the course of three to five minutes, they're

able to pull the baby out -- How's the baby right now -- Stable condition right now as well as the dad -- The only thing is that the mom is still

missing.

CULVER (voice-over): More than 130 miles north, we watched on for hours as this closeknit community dragged huge slabs of concrete from this collapsed

apartment in Pereira.

CULVER: All of these folks are volunteers.

CULVER (voice-over): Late in the evening, their hands reached a 32-year-old woman clinging to life. Her stepmother held vigil there for more than 24

hours. She tells us her daughter suffered heart failure and shattered nearly every bone imaginable, but says she's hopeful she'll make it.

From that same wreckage someone's beloved pet also pulled out alive. Back here in Cali, this moment reality briefly surfaces for Harold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trying to get my dad one way or the other. That's it.

CULVER: You could tell in that moment, Harold started to allow almost the reality of what he was looking at, the potential aftermath to soak in, and

he had to push it away, almost compartmentalize a bit so that he could then focus that and get back to work. And looking at him from afar, when we

first were pointed to his direction, we assumed he was part of first responders or a work crew.

I mean, he was directing traffic and having essentially some of the workers follow some of his orders so as to remove some of the large slabs of

concrete. Then it turns out that he, like so many we've met here, have just flown in and are not part of the experienced team so much as are just here

looking for loved ones.

He and many others have said, if you want to do it, you have to do it yourself sometimes. And they're doing just that. David Culver, CNN, Cali,

Colombia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: It's heartbreaking for so many families. Now U.S. President Donald Trump says his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her role

at the end of August to focus on her family. This marks the latest shakeup in the White House just three months before midterm elections.

[09:25:00]

Now the president faces the daunting task choosing his new mouthpiece. Leavitt spread MAGA's message with tenacity, leaving behind a stint filled

with heated clashes with reporters. The president says Leavitt would still serve as an outside adviser, calling her quote, one of my most trusted

allies.

She gave birth to her second child in May and returned to her post about a month later. Here's what she said about being a working mum on Megyn

Kelly's podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, HOST OF "THE MEGYN KELLY SHOW": It seems like in the right, there's like some a bit of a shift toward like you can't do what Karoline's

doing. That's actually like an unsafe or a dangerous or a bad choice for families for children, which I reject wholesale, but you hear it more and

more.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yeah.

KELLY: Do you hear that? And what do you think of it?

LEAVITT: I would reject that it's a bad choice. Is it a tough choice? Absolutely. You know, as a mother, you want to be with your child 24/7. I

would reject that you can't be a good mom and be good at your job. I think you can do both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: "Connect the World". Still to come this hour, a new era for the Los Angeles Lakers. The storied basketball team could be changing hands

again, and the price tag is stunning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London, and you are watching "Connect the World". In an interview with CNN, Ukraine's

President says it has just a fraction of the missile interceptors it needs. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country currently has about 1 percent of

America's stockpile and would need 10 percent to defeat Russian aerial attacks.

Iran is demanding compensation for decades of pollution in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman. This comes after a thick oil slice washed ashore on

Wednesday near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says the environmental damage to its coastal areas amounts to trillions of dollars.

At least 265 people have died and nearly 500 more are missing following the earthquake that struck western Colombia on Monday. That's according to

Colombia's New President, who says an emergency fund will be created to finance reconstruction efforts. Vladimir Putin has visited an island at the

center of a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan.

Japan claims four of the Kuril Islands, which were taken by the Soviet Union near the end of World War II. Tokyo says it strongly contests the

visit by the Russian President.

[09:30:00]

Ringing the opening bell here on Wall Street. Well venture capital from Robinhood Ventures. And it looks like it's going to be a mildly higher

open. Take a look at the DOW. Up in the green by just a quarter of a percent, and that's as we contemplate one of the NBA's most iconic

franchises that could soon have a very different look at the top.

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, are buying the Los Angeles Lakers. The pair is shelling out

a whopping 12.5 billion dollars for the team. The deal still needs to be approved by the NBA, and if it's completed, it would be the most expensive

sale for a professional sports franchise in history.

CNN's Senior Reporter Matt Egan is following the latest on this blockbuster deal. And Matt, the price tag is just staggering here. So, explain what

sort of driving sports franchise valuations to these levels at the moment? And what makes the Lakers such a unique asset here compared to other

professional sports franchises?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Christina, I think it's just the simple fact that there's only so many sports teams out there. Normally,

they don't really go up for sale very often, and a lot of people would love to buy them. And look, you talk about the Lakers, right?

You think about all the history here, how many championships they've won. This is the team of Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, Magic

Johnson. Right, this is just such an iconic franchise, but the fact that they're being sold again, this was a shocker, right?

This was a made for Hollywood plot twist. As you noted, we're talking about a major amount of money that's being spent. A source confirming to CNN,

that the buyers here, Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Josh Kushner, they're paying 12.5 billion dollars in this deal.

Now the timing is the surprise, right? Because it was just last June that billionaire Mark Walter stepped in to buy the Lakers, and it was only last

fall that the NBA Board of Governors approved that deal. Now you have the Lakers changing hands again.

Now this deal still has to be approved by the NBA's Board of Governors, but the fact that this is happening again is a surprise. Normally, these

franchises they're owned by the same group for many years, sometimes even decades. I talked to a banker who is involved in a lot of sports business

deals.

And he told me no one flips a premier sports franchise in less than a year. I've never seen anything like this. Now, a person familiar with the matter

tells me that this deal did come together very quickly, like the last few days quickly, and that it was the Iger and Josh Kushner side that really

initiated the offer here by reaching out to the Lakers.

Now, some more context on the money, 12.5 billion dollars. This is more than some major public companies are worth. In fact, it's more than Macy's,

Harley Davidson, and Jet Blue are worth combined. And this is just the latest mega transaction in the sports world. The biggest deal ever was the

one just last year with the Lakers at $10 billion.

But you're also talking about major sales in recent years for the Boston Celtics, the Washington Commanders at $6 billion a piece, also the Broncos,

the Portland Trail Blazers, at more than $4 billion. So, look, it is a surprise that the Lakers are being sold again.

What's not surprising to me is the fact that these valuations just keep going higher and higher, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and as you point out, the timing here is a bit of a head scratcher. Why this is all happening so quickly? Matt, appreciate it. Thank

you very much.

EGAN: Thanks.

MACFARLANE: Our Google's Android Chief is laying out his company's vision for what AI might soon be capable of doing on your smartphone. According to

him, the next shift for AI to begin doing everyday tasks for you, like booking a doctor's appointment rather than prompting you to make the call.

Well, Lisa Eadicicco is with me. So, Lisa, just run us through this new AI vision and how different it is from what we've been hearing before.

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yeah, Christina. So, in the past, these AI assistants have been pretty limited in what they can actually do.

[09:35:00]

They've been able to do things like play music, make a phone call, answer basic questions. Now we're shifting to this moment in time where they can

do slightly more advanced things. They can understand natural speech a bit better. They can infer context from the apps on your phone.

But where we're going, according to Google's Android Chief, is this world where you can just say a broad task and have your phone do it for you. That

is what Google and other tech companies are working towards. And the way Google's Android President described it to me is that you just articulate a

task, and your phone is just smart enough to do it for you.

And the example he gave me is, let's say you need to book an appointment for an MRI or something like that. And that could involve going into your

health portal to find information from your doctor, and also seeing if your insurance accepts the place that you're looking to go to, and then actually

booking the appointment.

In the future, they're trying to make it so that you can just tell your AI assistant, hey, I need to book this appointment. Can you do that for me?

And it'll do it. Now that being said, we are still a long way out from that being a reality, and we don't know. You know, there's been a lot of

pushbacks against AI.

And we don't know if consumers really want to hand over the things that they're doing every day to an AI agent if that level of trust is there. So,

I do think there will be a little bit of friction working towards that future, but the company is trying to kind of put the pieces in place to

work towards that vision today.

Like for example, one of the new features coming to Google's new pixel phones is called Rambler. It's basically this new dictation system that can

understand what you say and strip out things like likes and ums and these little ticks that people say when they speak and understand what you said

and kind of package it into an email or text message or whatever you're trying to do.

So, and Google isn't the only company working towards this vision. Apple, OpenAI, Amazon, pretty much every major consumer tech company is kind of

setting the steps in place for this future where people are talking to their AI agents instead of opening apps on their phone as often.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

EADICICCO: So, we'll have to see how this plays out, of course, but we'll definitely be watching that.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, I kind of understand why people are mixed on this because I just can't make up my mind whether or not it's a good thing. Lisa, we

will watch this space. Thank you very much. And we will be back after this quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. PSG have picked up where they left off last season by lifting silverware. The Parisians retain their Super Cup title

after their two one win over an Aston Villa in Austria on Wednesday. Patrick Snell is joining us for more. And Patrick, they didn't miss a beat,

it seems.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Basically, I will say, look, you're absolutely right.

[09:40:00]

Starting off when he just laid off last season, incredible, doing what they do best, and that's basically winning trophies. They make it look so easy,

winning the UEFA Super Cup back-to-back. Now they're looking to go on and win the Champions League for what would be an incredible third straight

season.

And I tell you what, they make the game look so easy. This was a bunch of players not even playing in this match, a lot of them World Cup stars not

returning to action. Although Desire Doue was in there for them. And look under Luis Enrique, their very talented head coach, I wouldn't bet against

them.

I wouldn't bet against them. They're going to win league again. I have absolutely no doubt. And look, they want to be kings of Europe again. And

Enrique was saying, basically, look, we want to win every trophy in sight. That is absolutely ominous for all their rivals.

I have no doubt that they are going to be every, every chance of winning the European Cup, the Champions League for a third straight season,

Christy. And we'll have more on this on "World Sport". And I can't hear you, but I'll send it back to you. Hope that was what you were after. Oh,

now I can.

MACFARLANE: Thank you, Patrick. The challenges of live TV. Thank you. And as Patrick said, more "World Sport" after this break. We'll be back with

more "Connect the World" in 15 minutes. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

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