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One World with Zain Asher
Five Teachers Killed In Thailand School Shooting; Cassidy Announces He'll Support Blanche's A.G. Nomination; Trump Unveils New Executive Orders On Birthright Citizenship; Meta To Pay $567 Million In New Mexico Lawsuit; Taylor Farms Tied To Five Outbreaks In 19 Years, Deflected Blame Each Time; New A.I. Research Discovers 16 Potential Viruses; Study Finds Mosquitoes Changing Tactics To Survive; FAA Orders Hundreds Of 737 MAX Jets Inspected For Cracks; MySpace Owners Plan To Revive Social Media Pioneer; Surprise Trick-Or-Treat Birthday For Child With Autism; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired August 07, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[12:00:39]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. This is the second hour of "One World," which starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The horrifying act of violence carried out by a 14-year-old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Deadly shooting out of school in Thailand. CNN is live for you at the scene.
Also ahead, never-before-seen. How artificial intelligence is creating viruses that don't naturally occur in nature.
And later, standing firm. Amanda Knox is defending her comedy show, and Meredith Kercher's family is speaking out.
All right. Thailand is searching for answers this hour after an attack that has stunned the nation. Police say a teenage gunman killed five teachers
and two family members in a deadly rampage before taking his own life.
Authorities say that the 14-year-old killed his grandparents in their home, then went to his high school, opening fire there. When the shooting
stopped, five teachers lay dead, and dozens of people were injured.
Thailand's prime minister says today's rampage, as horrific as it was, could have been much worse. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANUTIN CHARNVIRAKUL, THAI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): This is a saddening incident, but also it was a sort of luck that everything ended.
As the student who carried out the shooting still had over 30 rounds of bullets. If he had not decided to kill himself, he might have ended up
harming more people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's Ivan Watson is following the story for us from Bangkok. He's outside the school.
Ivan just talk to us about the reaction to all of this, the mood there, and really what -- what happened here?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, I mean, this was a terrible, deadly incident. I'm at the gates of this high school,
the Nonthaburi School. We can mark and take you in and to show you a little bit more.
It doesn't look from the outside as if a deadly rampage took place here just hours ago. But this is, in fact, according to the prime minister who
visited the school, and it's quite large compound earlier today, he says at least five school teachers were killed, some 30 more people injured, nine
of them in very serious condition.
He says that the alleged shooter, a 14-year-old boy, a student at the school, then turned his weapon on himself and that he had another 30 rounds
of ammunition.
He actually said if -- if the boy hadn't opened fire on himself, it would have created a terrible situation for the police to have to deal with,
because the alleged assailant was a child, in fact, and they would have had to try to figure out what to do there.
Now, police, when they went to investigate at the home of the boy, they discovered that his grandparents had been shot dead. They believe it
happened around four o'clock in the morning. They have seized computers and other electronic devices. And they say that it appears that the boy was
researching mass murders, looking up websites about this ahead of time, that the weapon that was used was a legally registered firearm in the name
of the now slain grandfather, and that there was some social media images, at least one that the boy had posted on Instagram, where it showed that he
had access to this weapon before the shooting took place.
This is, of course, devastating for the community here, for parents, for students, absolutely terrifying.
And for our own producer, CNN's producer, Karla Cripps, whose 17-year-old son studies at this school, knows some of the people who were hurt, but at
least he fortunately was not here. He was on an athletics trip and -- and not present at the time that this took place.
But every parent's worst nightmare taking place here. And CNN's another producer here (INAUDIBLE) Lauren (ph), has actually spoken with the father
of the deceased boy, who authorities say killed himself after opening fire here.
The father clearly in shock with both his parents and now his son, both dead. He said to us that the boy never exhibited any signs of violence that
he liked playing with his pet birds and dogs, that he liked to play football.
[12:05:08]
Well, a lot of questions right now. The prime minister has said that there are going to need to be some measures taken after this. And he suggested
the possibility that police might have to search for firearms when they're conducting when they have checkpoints, for instance, in the future.
But, yes, a devastating incident taking place here with (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES) to be a 14-year-old high school student who then killed
himself. Back to you, Zain.
ASHER: So sad. Ivan Watson, thank you so much for that report.
All right. The confirmation path for Todd Blanche to run the U.S. Justice Department has just gotten a whole lot smoother.
A short time ago, Senator Bill Cassidy had announced that President Trump's former personal defense attorney will get his vote after his colleague Lisa
Murkowski said Blanche would not get hers. Both votes were seen as crucial. Blanche can only afford to lose his support of two Republicans if all
Democrats propose him -- oppose him, rather.
Murkowski explained her decision by saying that if Blanche is confirmed, she's not sure he would, quote, check the worst impulses of this
administration.
The president meantime, put it in this term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will lobby if I need to. I will lobby very, very diligently because he's outstanding.
Anybody voting against him would be doing a great disservice to the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us live now on Capitol Hill. I mean, part of the problem for Senator Lisa Murkowski is that when you have somebody,
this is, you know, her thought process, who used to be the president's personal lawyer, there is, of course, a conflict of interest there. So, she
has concerns as does Susan Collins.
But now that Bill Cassidy has essentially been one over, that does change the path for Todd Blanche, doesn't it?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Zain. Senator Bill Cassidy's decision to vote in favor of President Trump's attorney general nominee,
Todd Blanche, essentially paves the way for his confirmation. We still don't know quite exactly that will happen as there are a number of votes
that the Senate is trying to get through before they leave for their August recess, but this does mark a significant victory for President Trump and
his senior aides who have been pushing for Blanche's confirmation for weeks.
It has certainly been a very rocky path for Blanche as he has tried to get Senate confirmation. Many GOP senators had expressed concerns about some of
his actions, including that $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund that would have been used to aid the president's allies, including those who had
rioted here at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.
You had people like Republican Senator John Cornyn and Tillis expressing concern about that. They would not get on board with Blanche's nomination
until he sent a memo saying that that fund was essentially dead.
But we still have two GOP senators who are opposing him, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski. But Cassidy argued that when he thought
about this process, he still believes that Blanche is capable of doing this job and talked about how he was concerned that the alternative to Blanche
could potentially be far worse.
But take a listen to how Senator Cassidy described his decision on the Senate floor just a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances. All
considered, I will vote for Mr. Blanche. I'll be criticized for this vote. What's new?
The people of Louisiana can be assured that I work hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, Cassidy appeared to grow -- become emotional as he talked about his vote there. And what's really notable about Cassidy's decision to vote
in favor of Blanche is when you think about his relationship with President Donald Trump.
Cassidy and Trump have clashed over a number of issues in recent years. And most recently, the president had actually endorsed a primary challenger to
Cassidy and Louisiana. That challenger was in fact successful.
So, Cassidy will be leaving the U.S. Senate a bit later this year. I think there had been some folks who are thinking that maybe Cassidy would go
against the president given some of their past history. But he said he was clearly putting that aside and making his decision about this vote based on
-- on Blanche's ability to carry out this job.
Now, we will be waiting to hear from Senate Majority Leader John Thune in the coming hours about when exactly this Blanche confirmation vote could
get scheduled. As senators are eager to leave for the August recess very soon.
But this decision by Cassidy to vote in favor of Blanche does mark a major turning point for Blanche's nomination as he now appears to be on set to
coast to confirmation later today, maybe tomorrow.
ASHER: All right. Arlette Saenz, live for us there. Thank you so much.
[12:10:02]
All right. Todd Blanche may have gotten the boost he needs from Republican lawmakers, but calls on Capitol Hill are going -- growing louder, rather,
for GOP Congressman Max Miller to resign, including from within his own party.
Miller, who is running for reelection, continues to deny domestic violence allegations from his ex-wife, who also accuses him of breaking a collarbone
of their two-year-old daughter. And he is vowing to remain in the race.
Here's how some Ohio voters are responding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think running for Congress, while you're being accused of this stuff, no, man. Just set it down. If you're really innocent, then
be innocent. Take a few years off. You can afford it. If not, well, then deal with it and go get a real job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen any actual facts or video or anything that would support her allegations, but I don't want to say that she's
lying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Miller faces a Monday deadline to withdraw if Republicans want to replace him on the ballot.
All right. The U.S. president is renewing his push to curb birthright citizenship. Donald Trump has signed two executive orders that tighten some
laws already in place. It comes less than six weeks after the Supreme Court struck down the president's previous attempt.
One order targets alien enemies and members of foreign terrorist organizations and categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of
foreign governments, making children born to people in these groups ineligible for birthright citizenship.
The second executive order focuses on so-called birth tourism, which has been a focal point for immigration hawks.
Listen to White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: I would put this in the top three in terms of importance, because it ends what has been
one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of the American system. And it keeps American citizenship sacred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's take a closer look at the executive orders with Todd Schulte. He's the president of FWD.us, an organization started by key leaders from
the tech community to promote policies to keep U.S. competitive in a global economy starting with immigration reform. Todd, always good to see you.
So, the last line there in what Stephen Miller said was about citizenship in the U.S. being sacred. And I find that quite interesting, because when
you think about birth tourism and the sort of numbers of people who actually come to the U.S., specifically to give birth in order to get
American citizenship, by many accounts it is less than one percent of all births in the United States. It is a very, very tiny amount.
So, based on the numbers, this is not a real problem based on actual numbers. So, why is the issue of identity and -- and citizenship in the
United States such a -- a wedge issue? And why does it resonate so strongly with the right base?
TODD SCHULTE, PRESIDENT, FWD.US: Well, I -- I think what you see is the president had a rebuke from the Supreme Court. They are coming back around
on this question. And they're using fear-mongering, both under kind of the guys of what they would call national security and -- and -- and fear-
mongering on that.
But also, yes, I mean, you heard this quote. The idea that people come into the United States through so-called birth tourism is like a top three issue
for the American public. I would ask all of your viewers, have you talked to anybody today who said that that is like the top three issue for them?
And I bet you have it here.
Because what this is ultimately about is trying to scare people and give them a sense that somehow their way of life is being replaced by the other.
And we've seen this across American history in some of our really dark moments here.
And this is just the administration continuing that same sort of plan of dividing and distracting people from the fact that their agenda overall and
their immigration agenda is very unpopular.
ASHER: Just in terms of the practicalities of enforcing this. I mean, this idea that we're going to look at people who are specifically intentionally
coming to the United States in order to give birth.
I mean, how on earth do you -- do you verify that? I mean, obviously, there's a key difference between somebody who does want to come to America
to give birth so that a kid can get American citizenship and somebody who is pregnant and happens to be here visiting family members or friends and
then obviously goes into labor.
I've seen -- I've seen both, to be honest. But how on earth do you verify intent?
SCHULTE: Well, so we should be clear. There's laws against lying on a visa application, explicitly to come to the United States for another purpose or
to advocate that. That exists already.
Let those laws exist and that this administration who I should say in charge of the laws, they don't like all the ways those -- because it
doesn't give them the ability to rip up the 14th Amendment. So we should start with that, because that's ultimately what this is here.
How do you verify the difference between people who are coming to the United States, who would be precluded by that by law versus people who are
coming to the United States?
[12:15:05]
You know, not to get particularly graphic, but you would pregnant -- I don't know, you're going to pregnancy check people who you think are
particularly high risk.
And if we look at the other part of the executive order here, the people who they are targeting here are people who they seem to be see are
undesirable. So pregnancy checks for people from maybe it's the same 75 countries they've done visa bans before. I -- I -- I hope we never find
out.
ASHER: What was so interesting, I think, is during the World Cup, I'm not sure how much attention you played -- paid to the World Cup just a couple
of months ago, but obviously there was a whole red card controversy.
SCHULTE: It was great. It was great. Yes.
ASHER: Yes. Red card controversy over a player named for Folarin Balogun that a lot of people were talking about and --
SCHULTE: Yes.
ASHER: -- President Donald Trump had called the head of FIFA to say, listen, can you reverse the red -- red card that for Folarin Balogun was
given?
What was so interesting is that when you looked into his background, this is somebody who played on the U.S. team literally because of birthright
citizenship. He was a Nigerian-British man or rather his parents are British-Nigerian. They happen to be in Brooklyn on a vacation while his
mother was pregnant and then she gave birth to him in the United States by pure chance. That's how he got to play on the U.S. men's national team.
And when you hear --
SCHULTE: And it's awesome. Yes.
ASHER: Awesome. But when you think about -- when you hear how Donald Trump talked about him as being one of the best players in the United States, he
was only able to play because of birthright citizenship, because of the very thing that Donald Trump is trying to dismantle.
I mean, talk to us, just based -- that's one tiny example. But give us your thoughts on really just the sort of contributions that we have seen that --
that immigrants make in the United States and how the administration is really able or tries to play both sides depending on what suits their
argument.
SCHULTE: I think this president is a very talented politician often frames I don't agree with here and will lift up individual examples when he finds
them to be beneficial. Certainly when it comes to immigration, he and his personal life has married a number of immigrants to this country.
And so I think what we should take a step back on and realize here is it's great that people want to come to the United States. It's awesome that we
have doctors from around the world working at the best hospital systems in so many ways from around the world who do awesome medical research in
places like New Jersey and in places like New York.
And if you look at ultimately what this administration is trying to do, it's going to make that so that we will lose the ability to be the top
destination for people from around the world.
When that happens in world history, when you stop being a center for kind of global human capital, it doesn't come back. And so this will start with
them saying, we're going to label someone a domestic terrorist. They're engaging in birth tourism.
We should be really clear people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they have said were engaging terrorism here. They will scare
people about ideas of birth tourism here.
But this is about ultimately them trying to redefine in really harmful and exclusionary ways who's an American.
And then at the same time when the president thinks it's advantageous, he'll -- he'll lift up an individual, an immigrant or two for sure. Yes.
ASHER: Yes. I mean, that -- that was an irony that a lot of people were talking about during the World Cup.
Todd Schulte, live for us there. Thank you. Thank you so much.
All right. A New Mexico judge has ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund to combat the youth mental health crisis. This comes on top of a
previous $375 million penalty Meta was found guilty on all counts in their child safety trial by a jury in addition to monetary penalties.
Meta must also delete the accounts and personal information collected from accounts belonging to a user under the age of 13. Meta said in a statement
that it says that it disagrees for the latest ruling and is planning to appeal.
CNN's A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold joins us live now from New York. So, just talk to us about what this 500 or so million dollars is going to be
used for where we're learning that it's going to be apparently used for to treat young people who have been harmed by social media as it pertains to
their mental health. Walk us through that, Hadas.
HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is the largest financial penalty that Meta has yet faced in these types of legal battles over the
potential harms of social media.
Meta is facing many lawsuits, both from users and from states. New Mexico is one of the first states to sue back in 2023.
And then as you noted back in March, a jury found Meta liable on all counts in the trial including willfully engaging what they called unfair and
deceptive and unconscionable trade practices.
So, this fund, the $567 million, almost all of it around $420 million of it will be used to help pay for the treatment of young people who have been
harmed by social media and also campaigns to help warn people about the dangers of social media.
There are other remedies though that the judge ruled on beyond just the monetary penalties. They also need to delete the accounts and all personal
information for any users under 13 years of age. They cannot send push notifications to underage users during certain hours. Those include school
hours during the school year and overnight all year long, so that, you know, kids don't be woken up or, you know, attempted to open their phones
overnight as well.
[12:20:16]
They also have to limit the total hours the underage users will have access to Facebook and Instagram to no more than 90 hours a month. So, quite a few
things there beyond just the monetary penalty, but also actual changes to what Meta can do.
Now, this is just for New Mexico. Keep that in mind, but it is pretty significant because it is the largest penal -- financial penalty Meta has
faced thus for now.
As you noted, Meta does plan to appeal this. And I'll read to you their statement. They say, "We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and
have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content. We remain confident in our record of protecting
teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresents the facts."
So, that $500 million on top of those $300 million or so that you noted earlier together that's around $942 million that Meta has to pay in this
case in New Mexico. That is a drop in the bucket for Meta when you look at just their annual profit which was about $60 billion in 2025.
Investors seem to be struggling at this news. Not much has changed to their stock price, but it should be noted that it is still a momentous day for
these sorts of legal battles over the harms of social media.
Some experts are likening it to the tobacco moment for social media. And as I noted, Meta is still facing an avalanche of lawsuits from other states
and from other individuals. You know, that maybe could change things in the future, Zain.
ASHER: All right. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that.
All right. Amanda Knox is doubling down and defending her comedy show to premiere at the Edinburgh Festival tonight. Knox, now 39, said that her
show honors her former British roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was stabbed to death in 2007.
At that time, Knox was a student in Italy. She and her boyfriend were convicted in the murder and sexual assault of Kercher. The case made global
headlines. But both were acquitted of Kercher's killing in 2015. And another man convicted -- was convicted using DNA evidence. Knox's social
media post came after Kercher's sister did a BBC interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE KERCHER, MEREDITH KERCHER'S SISTER: The problem with this particular project is that it is comedy. And whilst I appreciate comedy is
there to push the boundaries and, you know, it very much normalizes and trivializes violence against women, and Meredith in particular.
I think in this case, it's a position where it's not a generic topic, it's targeting an individual traumatic case and an individual person and family.
And I feel very strongly that -- that Meredith wouldn't agree with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The show is named "Cartwheel." It refers to a false claim that Knox did cartwheels at the police station after Kercher's death. It debuts
tonight.
Still to come here on "One World." A CNN investigation into the company the FDA links to the outbreak that causes explosive diarrhea. It turns out this
is not the first time they've been tied to outbreaks and their response is always the same.
Plus, millennials, get your top eight ready. MySpace could be making a comeback. But can the social media pioneer find a place in a very different
online world?
And later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at the verge of tears. People really, like, they didn't just agree to do it, they were excited to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: A beautiful gift from an 11-year-old Alabama boy on his birthday. What his neighbors did and why, ahead.
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[12:25:37]
ASHER: Now the latest on the spreading cyclospora outbreak. At least 15 states in more than 6,000 cases have been linked by federal health
officials to lettuce sold by Taylor Farms. It's at least the fifth time the company has been directly tied to outbreaks.
But as CNN and senior investigative correspondent Kyung Lah finds, Taylor Farms has had a long pattern of deflecting blame.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: This is the headquarters for Taylor Farms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is private property.
LAH: OK.
LAH (voice-over): Taylor Farms won't talk to us on camera today. We'd already asked for an interview and had not heard back.
This is the company the FDA linked to the historic cyclospora outbreak; 6,000 sick, hundreds hospitalized, and two dead. Here's what we want to ask
the company.
The government traced at least five different outbreaks directly to Taylor Farms in the past 13 years. And a CNN review finds time after time, the
company turned to a similar playbook, deflecting blame.
How? By relying on negative test results to imply that Taylor Farms products are not responsible, even though investigators mainly find the
source of outbreaks by figuring out what and where people who got sick ate.
BILL MARLER, FOOD SAFETY ATTORNEY: It's deja vu all over again. I sort of feel like we're on a repeat record.
LAH (voice-over): This month, Taylor Farms said, "According to the FDA, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for
cyclospora as of August 5th, 2026. We are confident in our food and food safety systems."
Let's rewind through the known outbreaks linked to Taylor Farms. 2013. Eerily similar cyclospora cases connected to Taylor Farms salad.
CEO Bruce Taylor said at the time, "All our tests have been negative. And we have no evidence of cyclospora in our product."
2015, a multi-state E. coli outbreak. Taylor's public response: "The tests were preliminary findings, and it looks like a false alarm." The FDA later
said a product with Taylor Farms produce was the likely source.
2024, another E. coli outbreak traced to onions distributed by Taylor Farms. The company said it found "no traces of the bacteria. All Taylor
Farms products in the market today are safe to consume."
MARLER: I think they have played a little bit fast and loose with the facts.
LAH (voice-over): Food safety attorney Bill Marler has sued Taylor Farms a dozen times in multiple outbreaks, representing more than 100 clients.
He says the company implies its food may not be to blame by telling the public their testing found no trace of the microbes. But Marler says that
doesn't prove anything.
MARLER: Taylor Farms is using those negative results to muddy the water.
The scientists at Taylor Farms know better; that the products that get tested are not the products that people consumed. And I -- and I always say
this, and it sounds like I'm making a joke, but people eat the evidence.
LAH: About half of America's domestic lettuce is grown here in the Salinas Valley in central California. It's also where Taylor Farms is
headquartered.
But the focus of this cyclospora outbreak is in central Mexico at the Taylor Farms facility there, the same plant linked to another cyclospora
outbreak in 2013.
MARLER: It's the same facility. They're drawing iceberg lettuce in from the same area and expecting a different result.
[12:30:09]
LAH (voice-over): Taylor Farms tells CNN, it invests more than 200 million a year in food safety. The problem is that nothing can kill cyclospora on
fresh vegetables without cooking.
LAH: In the middle of this enormous outbreak, some of the nation's top food safety experts are gathering in this one conference in New Orleans. So,
we've come here to talk to a consultant who has worked with Taylor Farms.
TREVOR SUSLOW, PROFESSOR, EXTENSION EMERITUS AT UC DAVIS: It absolutely feels like deja vu for all of us, for everybody.
LAH (voice-over): Food safety expert Trevor Suslow says he's one of the scientists hired by Taylor Farms on this outbreak, part of the rapid
response team to find what could have gone wrong at the facility in Mexico.
LAH: Is there a working theory right now?
SUSLOW: Right now, it's very difficult to come up with a working theory. If they're missing something, they want to know. And then they put in programs
in place to correct that. And they've really built a strong program, you know, really progressively since 2013.
LAH: Would you open up a bag of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce and -- and eat it today?
SUSLOW: Yes, I would. If one assumes that that was the source, there's nothing been shipped for, you know, since mid-July. You know, it's either
consumed already or it's -- it's gone.
LAH: Do you eat bagged salad?
MARLER: No.
LAH: Ever.
MARLER: No. No. Ever. No.
When you've been with families who've lost family members to a bag of romaine lettuce, you do change your eating habits.
LAH: Taylor Farms did email us a statement saying the company goes above and beyond industry guidance or requirements for testing.
It added, "We have cooperated fully with regulators in any instance where food safety concerns were raised, taking corrective action where warranted.
For this recall, we have acted voluntarily, moved more broadly than required, and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes
available."
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:16]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Zain Asher.
A research from Stanford University and the Arc intitute -- Institute, rather, is now raising concerns about A.I. and biosafety.
According to the study, scientists used an A.I. program to create new viral genomes that are different from any known natural viruses. Among the
thousands of genomes generated by A.I. scientists built and tested about 300 in a lab and found that 16 were actually viable viruses.
Time now for The Exchange. Joining me live now is Dr. Celine Gounder. She's an infectious disease and specialist and epidemiologist. Thank you so much
for being with us.
Obviously, this news, on the one hand, it's -- it's great in some ways because it raises hopes for medical advances. But there are, of course,
fears that the technology could someday be used to create dangerous pathogens.
Just -- just walk us through where you stand on how grounded or founded, I should say, those fears actually are.
CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST "AND EPIDEMIOLOGIST: So, what's happened here is a team at Stanford trained in A.I., not a ChatGPT
or Claude, but a very specific kind of A.I. on two million viruses that attack bacteria, not humans.
And they asked the A.I. to write new viruses from scratch, that they then proceeded to print 302 of those designs, 16 of which worked, which is a
pretty high hit rate. And a few of those killed E. coli bacteria better than the natural viruses do.
So, this is the first time A.I. has written a working genome. So, why would you want to do this? Well, we have difficulties with antibiotic resistant
bacteria. You have thousands of people just in the United States alone who die from this every year.
Scientists have been experimenting with the use of viruses that infect and attack bacteria as an alternative approach. And so there are therapeutic
applications such as this one, but others as well.
ASHER: And then in terms of the -- the sort of threats that people fear that this could turn into perhaps, you know, a source of an unstoppable
pandemic or perhaps, you know, biological weapons. I mean, how -- how realistic are those threats?
GOUNDER: Well, the concern is that people could design viruses that don't attack bacteria, but rather viruses that attack humans. Now, this
particular experiment, they excluded any data on viruses that infect humans.
But there are not enough safeguards to protect against using A.I. and what we call synthetic biology to design bio weapons.
So right now, you can order custom made DNA. Online companies will mail it to you. They're supposed to check every order against a list of dangerous
germs, but that check is voluntary. And now think about a germ that A.I. has just invented. It's not going to be on anyone's list.
ASHER: And obviously, you know, thank you for -- for clarifying that. And I think it is important to note to our audience that there is a difference
between something that is a theoretical possibility and something that is actually a near-term sort of real viable threat.
But be -- can you be more specific about the safeguards that need to be implemented in order to prevent the worst-case scenario?
GOUNDER: Well, the three national security threats that experts will say we don't have enough guardrails around include A.I., synthetic biology and
drones. And, you know, the first two are the ones that we're talking about in this particular scenario.
In June, the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Deepseek, two Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, former army and Navy secretaries, and the chair of
the DNA industries own trade group, all of them signed a letter telling Congress to make that check mandatory.
There's a bipartisan bill in Congress, Senators cotton and Klobuchar have sponsored that and it's been sitting in Congress since February. This would
put the Commerce Department in charge and find companies up to $750 million, but it doesn't say which germs count.
And while you can require those checks of legit companies, there are other bad actors, including in other countries that do not necessarily need to
follow those regulations.
ASHER: All right. Thank you. Thank you so much for clarifying. Dr. Celine Gounder, appreciate you being on the program.
All right. There's new information about everyone's not so favorite insect. Researchers at Virginia Tech say that some mosquitoes are changing tactics,
oh, God, in order to survive. That could make them harder to control and make the diseases they carry even tougher to stop.
[12:40:09]
Meg Tirrell explains what it will take to stay ahead of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, it turns out mosquitoes are a lot smarter than we've been giving them credit for.
CLEMENT VINAUGER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, VIRGINIA TECH: There's also that -- that notion of mosquitoes adapting their behavior in response to the things
we do.
After many, many years of using the bed nets, mosquitoes started shifting the time at which they look for the humans to bite. So, we saw rebounds in
malaria transmission for that. So, there's a lot of elasticity in their behavior.
TIRRELL: And they were also really gross. Whoa, ew. I really don't like bugs.
We've come down to the labs of a scientist here at Virginia Tech who's been studying the brains and behavior of the world's deadliest animal. Let's go
check it out.
VINAUGER: And then when they bite you, they actually inject some saliva in your bloodstream. And that saliva might contain some pathogens.
TIRRELL: They, of course, cause hundreds of thousands of deaths every year from malaria, spreading viruses like dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya,
Zika. We're also off to an early and ominous West Nile virus season here in the United States. So, the news is not good when it comes to mosquitoes.
VINAUGER: For the past 150 years, we've had tools to fight back. We had insecticides. The problem is that they've started developing some
resistance.
TIRRELL: They also will remember people who try to swat at them and potentially avoid them in the future.
So they get whacked, swatted.
VINAUGER: Yes, yes. Exactly.
TIRRELL: They don't like it.
VINAUGER: And we have a publication showing that they actually can learn, you know, mechanical perturbations like that that we make swats.
TIRRELL: They're doing work here to try to get ahead of the bugs once again. They're doing this in some really incredibly fascinating ways.
VINAUGER: So, we can sample people's body odor and using a technique that separates those, you know, hundreds of chemicals into individual ones.
And then the machine is going to separate all the chemicals from the blend and send them to the mosquito one at a time.
And if we recall from the antenna of the mosquito, you can tell which one is detected by the mosquito.
TIRRELL: What could we do with that information?
VINAUGER: So different things. You know, once you understand how they smell us, you can either use that information to create baits and lures to
attract them towards traps. Or you can start thinking about engineering some repellents.
TIRRELL: All of this, the researchers tell us, will help us better understand how to protect ourselves against a threat that's only growing in
its geographic distribution as climate swarm.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Gosh. You knew that mosquitoes were that smart. Not sure whether to be freaked out or impressed, Thanks to Meg Tirrell for that report.
All right. Up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Millennials, we are show back.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not something that I thought I would say again, MySpace?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: From custom profiles to the drama of who made your top eight. My Space defined an early era of social media. Now more than two decades
later, its owners want to bring it back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:35]
ASHER: All right. Let's take a look and see how the markets here in the U.S. are doing green across the board after that jobs report we got. There
is some hope among investors that the Fed is not going to be in a rush to raise interest rates anytime soon. This is your business breakout.
America's monthly snapshot of labor market in the U.S. isn't. And it shows that the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July. Economists had expected a
gain of 95,000 jobs. Today's report shows more caution around hiring as employers navigate the rapid adoption of A.I. and higher oil prices.
The CEO of Diageo is unveiling a $1 billion cost cutting plan. The world's top spirits maker is working to reduce prices on some brands while also
expanding in fast growing areas like Guinness and canned cocktails.
President Trump is defending data centers and saying Texas is making a mistake by halting new projects. Trump says they -- they could one day
become bigger than the oil industry even as Americans raise concerns about higher energy costs.
All right. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is ordering inspections of hundreds of Boeing 737 MAX jets for possible cracks. It's warning that
undetected damage could impact the plane's structural integrity.
CNN's aviation correspondent Pete Muntean has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Just last week, the FAA proposed inspections of seat assemblies on hundreds of Boeing 737 MAXs, fearing that
entire rows could come loose in an emergency.
Now, the agency is ordering inspection, starting next month, on a different part after it received reports of cracks in the fuselage or body of these
planes.
The FAA says that 471 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and MAX 9s may have cracked structural reinforcement near the forward service door. That is on the
right side of the airplane near the forward galley that's used by the flight attendants.
The good news is that this does not require any sort of grounding of these planes and that's key during the peak of summer travel season and
especially since these planes have become the backbone of airline fleets. Boeing says, in this case, it is already notified airlines on its own.
The FAA also says that Boeing is addressing the issue on new planes before they leave the factory. The agency cracked down on Boeing after
investigators set a quality control failure led to the omission of key bolts on one 737 MAX before it left the factory leading to that dramatic
door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight in January 2024.
By the way, this is not the first time the company has had a deal with structural cracking on 737s. In 2019, Boeing 737 next gen models, that's
the 737, 700, 800, and 900 were ordered to be inspected after some planes were found to have cracks in a structural component connecting the plane's
fuselage to the wings.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Millennials, get ready to dust off your top eight. MySpace could be making a comeback. The social media pioneers owners say they plan to revive
the site, hoping nostalgia for custom profiles, music, and all that friendship drama can win over a new generation.
Here's CNN's Betsy Klein.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: Millennials, we are so back.
YOUNG: Not something that I thought I would say again, MySpace?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Man, I loved me some MySpace when I was in college.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: I was fully addicted to MySpace as a teenager.
LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: That's right. Millennials are rejoicing because MySpace might be making a big comeback.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think mine was pink and sparkly. I learned how to code. There was music. I was probably having a
big John Mayer moments, still am.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I stood in front of the mirror for the longest period of time with a digital camera trying to catch just the right
amount of light.
EADICICCO: The owners of the site said in a recent documentary that they planned to revive it, although we don't know much more than that.
But if my space does come back, it'll be entering a much, much different social media worlds than the one that existed in the early 2000s.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: It was like this one-stop shop of personality where you could stop by and be like, yes, OK, that's who
Omar is. That's the song that's on his mind right now. Oh, those are his top friends. Why am I not on there? I was there last week.
SCHOLES: If you wanted to message someone. You went to my space, but it was also controversial because of that top eight.
ROSALES: And that's starting fights because people felt some sort of way about that.
[12:50:01]
KLEIN: Which is arguably where 13-year-old Betsy learned more about politics and strategy than I have in Washington in years.
EADICICCO: If you moved someone out of your top eight or if you put someone in your top eight, I definitely remember there being a lot of drama.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Let me just get into some trouble of my own here and pick my top eight, CNN Josh Campbell, Elex
Michaelson, Laura Coates, Dana, Bianna, Jake, Priscilla Alvarez. Oh, Mike Valerio. I lost count. I think I have one more. Wolf Blitzer. We need Wolf
Blitzer in the top eight.
EADICICCO: There is also a growing desire, especially among young people to sign off and spend less time on social media. So, we'll have to see if that
nostalgic factor will be enough to make my space a hit once again.
ROSALES: All right. Gen Z, hear me out. If you're addicted to doom scrolling, this could be a solution.
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maybe our time is now, MySpace?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Oh, my god. MySpace totally summed up my childhood.
Anyway, still to come on "One World," an 11-year-old boy with autism gets a trick or treat surprise for his summer birthday. We'll tell you how dozens
of his neighbors helped out, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. A major surprise for an 11-year old boy in Alabama with autism. Dozens of his neighbors let Soren get some trickle treating done
for his birthday in the middle of July.
Samantha Lindell reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday.
LEAH FARROW, SOREN'S MOM: I was at the verge of tears. People really, like, they didn't just agree to do it. They were excited to do it.
SAMANTHA LINDELL, JOURNALIST (voice-over): One thing about Soren Griffin is, he loves trick-or-treating, so much so that 83 of his neighbors put
together a Halloween-themed party for his birthday in the middle of July.
SOREN GRIFFIN, BIRTHDAY BOY: Trick or treat.
LINDELL (voice-over): His mom, Leah Farrow, says Soren was diagnosed with autism at three. She put a callout on social media asking neighbors if her
son could stop by to trick or treat.
FARROW: Last year is really when he started asking to go trick-or-treating. Probably at least once a week, he pretends or asked to go to trick-or-
treating.
LINDELL (voice-over): And when his 11th birthday came around, he was off to the races, going from door-to-door for four hours.
FARROW: They went above and beyond. They had like happy birthday signs with his name. There were handwritten notes and like things that people printed
out with like one had a picture of a birthday cake and it said "Happy Birthday, Soren" with a little note.
GRIFFIN: Trick or treat.
[12:55:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday.
LINDELL (voice-over): Now that Soren is older, his mother says she worries about him being able to connect with other children.
FARROW: When he got his diagnosis both his dad and I cried. Not because of not wanting a child with disabilities but because of two things like all of
the any expectations, any normal expectations you might have for your child, you have to kind of put aside.
LINDELL (voice-over): Farrow posted a video about her son's party on social media, which gained nearly 14 million views and has sparked online
conversations with other parents of children with autism.
FARROW: The big ones that really like touch me are other parents with kids with disabilities and how like it kind of restores their faith that their
child is going to be OK.
A couple of parents have written me and said that their kid wants to trick or treat with him next year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Just so touching for the whole community to come together like that for Soren.
All right. That does it for this hour of "One World." I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Bianna hosts "Amanpour," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
