Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

U.S. Official: Tentative Deal has been Reached with Iran; Stubb: We Need to Find Solutions, Not Lament the Past; Anthropic Tops OpenAI as Most Valuable A.I. Startup, Finland's President Stubb Speaks on E.U.'s Role on Ukraine War; Five People Trapped in Laos Cave Found Alive; CNN Sues Perplexity; Reviving the Wit of France's Beloved Moliere; Young Users Flock to Prediction Markets Amid Legal Loophole. Aired 4p-5p ET

Aired May 28, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:23]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell is ringing on Wall Street, and we have records on the big three, the major

indices -- the Dow, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500.

Small gain on the Dow. Show that data. Much better version of events. Solid one and two and a one, two, three, four. Trading is over. Those are the

markets and these are the events we will be talking about over the next hour.

A potential breakthrough in the U.S.-Iran talks. U.S. officials say they've finalized the text on a tentative deal. President Trump's approval comes

next.

President Stubb of Finland tells me Europe must engage with Donald Trump's way of conducting foreign policy.

And on this program tonight, the CEO of Airbnb telling us the World Cup has become the biggest event in his company's history.

We are live in London on Thursday, MAY the 28th. I am Richard Quest and yes, I mean business.

Good evening.

We begin tonight with U.S. officials saying a tentative deal has been reached with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and start nuclear talks.

But they emphasized that President Trump has not yet signed off on it. It is unclear whether the deal has even been approved by Iran's Supreme

Leader.

The Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, was asked about the talks in his White House press briefing, his first. He says the President hasn't changed

his core demands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The teams have been going back and forth and President Trump has made it very clear, he talked about it at the

Cabinet meeting that he has several red lines, and Iran has to turn over their highly enriched uranium.

Navigation of the seas has to be free and open as it was before. So, he is not going to take a bad deal. He is going to make a great deal for the

American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Alayna Treene is with me at The White House.

Alayna, the market obviously wants this. We are seeing that in all the numbers, but it is very difficult to gauge what is real, what is gossip and

what is likely to happen. We just can't -- even the smell test doesn't work here.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, I think that's right. And also, I mean, just look at the record that we've had now throughout this

entire war, there have been so many instances where you've heard publicly officials come out and even privately arguing, you know, talks are good. We

are close to a deal, expressing a lot of optimism just to have them fall apart and this war continue on for another several weeks.

So, look, I think you have to take this optimism, of course, with a dose of skepticism. And I will say as well, Richard, in the conversations I am

having with Trump administration officials, they are also being careful not to get in front of their skis here.

And as you mentioned, you know, they really have said the onus is still on President Donald Trump to give his approval for this before you can really

say that this agreement has been reached.

It is the same thing with the Supreme Leader of Iran, who, from our understanding, you know, hasn't signed off on this either. But to just walk

through or if you want to come jump in, feel free. But I can walk through what exactly --

QUEST: Can I just pause you there because I want to just sort of emphasize and regardless of what is in the deal, I mean, we don't really know other

than this fairly nebulous phrase that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, we don't know what President Trump will put the most emphasis on

other than no nuclear weapon and opening the Straits of Hormuz.

But when it comes to, for example, to unfreezing the assets and all things like that, it is a lot murkier.

TREENE: Absolutely. And I think what is important to remember here as well is that this is just an agreement on a short term Memorandum of

Understanding. This is not the full thing.

If this is approved by both leaders, that would trigger a 60-day period where they're really going to have to work out the finer details of exactly

what you're talking about, really flesh out the language for what they're hoping would be a much longer term and permanent deal between these two

countries.

So right now, all that they are saying about this tentative agreement is that they have finished the language and hassling over language over a very

small framework that would open up negotiations on the broader deal.

So it is still, you know, a long ways to go, I would argue, before you see a lasting peace agreement between these two countries.

QUEST: We are getting you to do double duty, $250 bill in that has had -- the authority for doing it has stalled.

[16:05:10]

But the U.S. Treasurer, the one who signed the bottom, is hoping to get it done.

Now, we are seeing a picture of it. It has got Donald Trump on it. I mean, is this something The White House really wants? Because if it is, I guess

it will happen.

TREENE: Oh, absolutely! I mean, I think you've seen this now with the President on a number of things related to America's 250th anniversary. I

mean, he is putting his name on challenge coins, he has put out a new cards for the park services, there are a number of things that he has been doing

to use his likeness to represent on different tokens and whatnot, to represent this milestone for America.

But it was interesting, Richard, because Bessent really seemed not overly eager to make any promises on this. He actually punted, really the

responsibility of getting this through to Congress. He said Congress has to determine whether or not this is actually something that could move

forward. But he argued, and this was actually a question posed to him by our own Kaitlan Collins.

You know, he argued that he doesn't believe there is really any political downside to this. He said there is nothing untoward about wanting to put

President Trump's face on a $250.00 bill, even though, of course, we know a lot of people in the country are struggling with affordability issues right

now.

QUEST: I am grateful, as always. Thank you, at The White House. It looks like a lovely late afternoon there. Thank you.

The President of Finland has told me Europe needs to engage with Mr. Trump and Trump's way of conducting foreign policy. President Alex Stubb says

that Donald Trump handles matters differently than predecessors, and he pointed to, for example, to Iran and to Venezuela as two core examples.

President Trump has also been highly critical of America's closest allies. Only yesterday at the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump said they are not there

when you need them.

President Stubb has been called the Trump whisperer for his ability to communicate with Mr. Trump, and the Finnish President said his approach is

rooted in pragmatism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER STUBB, FINNISH PRESIDENT: Well, I think the starting point is that you'll know I am pro-European, pro-American. Therefore, by definition,

a pro-Transatlanticist, so I try to do everything in my power to make sure that the Transatlantic marriage lasts.

Having said that, I don't think you should base your foreign policy on ideals or on a utopia, deal with the world as it is, not as you would wish

it to be, and we have to understand that the way in which the United States projects power right now around the world, whether it is Venezuela or

whether it is Iran or whether it is Ukraine, is quite different from what it used to be.

This doesn't mean that we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It means that we need to engage. So there will be some things that we disagree

on, then there will be things that we will agree on and let us work on it.

My main focus right now, of course, is on Ukraine and there, I have had extremely good cooperation with the Americans. I spoke with people close to

the negotiations just two days ago.

QUEST: On a more, I suppose, a more personal level. How difficult has it been for you coming to terms with -- I mean, the pragmatism obviously comes

through in the end, but all the rules by which you had lived, your sort of foreign policy experience have changed in the last two to three years as

vis-a-vis the transatlantic relationship.

And that does take, first of all, the seven stages of grief, as some would say, before you finally realize and have to accept and move on with what

we've got.

STUBB: Well, I think we, Finns, are very pragmatic. So, you know, we don't lament the past. We don't over dramatize it. We don't over rationalize it.

We try to find solutions.

And, you know, the starting point is to say that there are three things that are driving global change right now. One for us is Russia's war of

aggression in Ukraine. The other one is a changing American foreign policy, which, of course, the administration has outlined very clearly in the

national security strategy and the national defense strategy.

And then thirdly, there is a drive of the global south, where we see demography and economic power through technology shifting. And foreign

policy is never static.

I mean, I am just pleased that I was able to live in this end of history moment for about 30 years after the end of the Cold War, when I finished my

studying. And now we are in a new kind of a world order. We are all trying to understand it, we are all trying to mitigate. We are trying to be

diplomatic.

The only worry I, of course, have is that a lot of the local conflicts have now become regional and these regional conflicts have global implications

and this is what diplomacy is about. Let's work at it. Let's not shed tears about the past.

On the economic front, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS after all, on the economic front, very difficult now, as nations are grappling with higher energy

costs, they're having to reduce energy taxes just simply so that people can pay their bills.

[16:10:10]

There is going to come -- I mean, we've seen it in some of the elections. We've seen it in bi-elections in Britain. We've seen it in the growth of

reform.

There is an attraction to right and far right parties. You're familiar with the concept in your own country as well. There has been -- it is going to

be very difficult for European traditional politics to deliver for their people, as they would -- as the population seem to want to expect and

that's a real worry.

STUBB: Yes, I agree with you. Of course, as President of Finland, I deal mainly with foreign policy, which is a completely different kettle of fish

from domestic policy, fiscal policy or economic policy for that matter.

But I think the problem of narratives that we have globally in a lot of liberal democracies is that you have this one side that says that, you

know, we need to detach ourselves, we need to go domestic, we need to go national. We don't need to do any cooperation. Globalization is bad.

And then suddenly you see something like the Strait of Hormuz being closed and that impacts 20 percent of the world economy. It hits our energy

prices. So we start to understand that the world is much more interlinked than the narrative coming from the other side and I think a lot of

politicians need to be more honest about it.

Globalization is not the save all system, but it has a lot of good elements, and it is always about trying to find a balance, whether you are

in a liberal democracy in Europe, in Asia and Africa or North America or Latin America for that matter.

QUEST: Let me finally, let me in to a secret, when you play golf with Mr. Trump, do you play to win?

STUBB: Yes, because we were on the same team and we won. President Trump is a very good golfer and we won.

QUEST: And if you were on the other side, would you play to win or is that best left with a diplomatic silence?

STUBB: I am quite competitive, so I wouldn't go for that. But I guess, I am not sure I would win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Ian Bremmer, the President of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, is with me.

Listening to Alex Stubb, who is the -- I mean, he is the most experienced of diplomatic speak, but he does come to realize that Europe has this

problem now. They are not being consulted and they are just being expected to follow or take the consequences.

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP AN GZERO MEDIA: That's right, and so unfortunately for Alex, who I like a great deal, unfortunately for Giorgia

Meloni in Italy, who was the only European leader that went in person to Trump's second inauguration, their Trump whispering skills are not getting

them very much at all for their countries or for Europe as a whole. It just doesn't play.

You know, certainly in the case of Russia and Ukraine, it hasn't mattered that much because it turns out that Ukrainians have a lot more cards than

Trump believed that Zelenskyy had when he threw him out of The White House a year ago in April.

But in the case of Iran and the Middle East, the impact this is having on Europe's economies is very severe and not only are they taking that on the

chin, but they are also being pounded by the United States for not thanking Trump and not participating in a war that is not serving their purposes to

the slightest.

QUEST: So when you look at tonight's news, which is that there may be a deal, I mean, we just don't know, and even so, would be at best, a fudge to

open the Straits of Hormuz and somehow paper over leaving the really hard work of the negotiations down the road.

What do you make of it? It is clearly not something we can take to the bank.

BREMMER: Well, I would call it the outline of a plan, the framework of a concept, a handshake to begin the real horse trading. I mean, it is not a

deal, but, but if you are the Europeans, you're the Asians, you're almost anyone in the world, what you're concerned about is not what kind of a

nuclear deal Trump is getting. What you're concerned about is ending the economic pain and getting the Strait reopened.

They were not in favor of the war to begin with, and they want to get back to the status quo ante, which is free transit through one of the world's

most important waterways.

And so the fact that Trump is going to end up with something that is very early stage and doesn't look better than Iran -- the Iranian nuclear deal

that he pulled out of, Obama's original deal when Trump was president the first time around, that is a very little consequence to people like

President Stubb that just need to get the global economy working again.

[16:15:08]

QUEST: And you are extremely well-connected and will have heard much on this. How did the administration not fully appreciate the Iranian ability

to put their foot on the neck of the global economy? You know, this is the one thing that comes out of the war so far that Donald Trump actually

showed Iran what a weapon, an economic weapon they had.

BREMMER: Well, Trump has had this problem before with a much more formidable adversary. Back in April last year with Liberation Day, when he

put a trade boycott on the Chinese, and instead of the Chinese capitulating, a much weaker economy than the United States, they hit the

Americans back hard and it was Trump that had to back down and engage with China.

And now, you see a much more stable relationship between the two.

Now, with Iran, it is a much weaker country and Trump has had military experience with the Iranians saying they were going to hit America back and

then doing very little in his first term when he ordered the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, and last June, during the 12-day war.

But still, what you are looking at here is an Iran that always had the same geography and their position on the Strait, always had the drones and the

ballistic missiles and the Navy. But this time around, Trump and the Israelis actually assassinated their leadership.

The reason that they hadn't used that leverage before is because they were scared, if they did, it could be the end of the regime. Here, you've gone

after to end their regime. They break glass, they pull lever. So, I mean, what happened is you put them in an impossible position and they behaved as

if they had no options left.

QUEST: Finally, we've got a good example of the Trump strategy that we were talking about with Alex Stubb. When we talk about Oman and the way casually

and almost, by the way Donald Trump said, oh, Oman better not be taking anything or we will go after them, too.

I mean, little Oman, if you will. I mean, yes, it punches above its weight, but even so, the strength of the U.S. President saying that against Oman

was quite something.

BREMMER: Yes, I mean, I must say, when I first saw it, I thought maybe he misspoke and meant Iran. I mean they sound similar. He didn't, he did mean

Oman and he was talking about what would happen if they were jointly managing the Strait. But I mean, it was a throw away sentence of how

powerful Trump is. He does it all the time and then he moves on.

And in this case, he is moving on to his Memorandum of Understanding, literally 24 hours later. That statement is a complete throw away that we

will not be talking about as of tomorrow.

QUEST: I am grateful, sir. Thank you, Ian Bremmer, joining me from New York. Thank you, sir.

Airbnb says the World Cup will be the biggest event in the company's history. The chief executive, Brian Chesky, sat down with CNN's Gabriela in

Mexico City, and you'll hear the interview after the break.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:01]

QUEST: Anthropic says it has raised another $64 billion in its latest funding round. It gives it a higher valuation than its rival startup,

OpenAI. Anthropic is now worth -- hold on to your hat here -- a staggering $965 billion. It is trying to expand computing capacity to meet its demand

for the chatbot, Claude.

And at the same time, investors say Anthropic is preparing for its IPO.

Lisa Eadicicco is in New York.

These numbers are startling and quite worrying at one level because they are raising so much money. What is it about Anthropic that the market

likes?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So I think what we are seeing here and what we've really seen over the past year is how much Claude has

really taken off in the enterprise. OpenAI initially kind of had the first mover advantage of being the first, really onto the market with ChatGPT in

late 2022. But ChatGPT is really positioned as more of a generalist A.I. tool for everyday people.

Of course, OpenAI does have its own agent called Codex, but Claude has really emerged as the favorite, and it is really trying to replicate that

now within other industries like financial services and design.

And I think when you look at, you know, potentially where people are likely spending money in A.I., it is probably in the enterprise. That is if people

are using it to get their job done, they are probably spending money on licenses and that is clearly where the money is going, especially as a lot

of companies are encouraging their employees to adopt A.I.

So I think that's really what is going on here. There was also a recent report this month indicating that Anthropic has surpassed OpenAI for the

first time in enterprise adoption, as well.

QUEST: Okay. So one of the things I was reading about this morning is the way in which more firms, to exactly your point, more large companies are

using and working with people like Anthropic to build their own bespoke A.I. tools and agents.

For example, Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm, one of the largest and most profitable in the world, is working with A.I. companies to build an

industry wide type of thing and this takes us down a different road, doesn't it? This is no longer me or us just asking an A.I. about what I

should have for dinner, and how do I cook the chicken?

EADICICCO: Exactly. And it is kind of an expansion of a broader trend. There has also been another shift towards a job called a forward deployed

engineer in which these companies, these A.I. companies, will send engineers from their company and embed them in other companies to kind of

show them how to use their tools.

And I think, again, that speaks to this broader trend towards using A.I. to delegate tasks and get things done at work, versus just using it as a

replacement for Google.

I think that was a lot of the early use cases back when A.I. was really mostly just a chatbot. Now, we are in this shift towards agents where you

can delegate tasks and have these agents do things on your behalf.

And, you know, that's something that we are still really mostly, I think, seeing in the software engineering community, we are not seeing it as much

in other fields yet or in everyday use, but it is definitely something that all of these tech companies are really trying to push towards, including

Google as well.

QUEST: I am grateful. Thank you.

EADICICCO: Of course.

QUEST: The chief executive of Airbnb says that the World Cup has become the biggest -- single, biggest event in his company's history.

Our own Gabriela Frias sat down with Brian Chesky. They were in Mexico City, which is going to host five of the matches, and Gabriela started by

asking Brian whether bookings have met Airbnb's expectations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CHESKY, AIRBNB CEO: They have exceeded our expectations. Just to give you a sense for the Paris Olympics, we had 700,000 guests stay in Airbnb

and that was the biggest event in Airbnb history.

[16:25:02 ]

Now, the World Cup across the three countries is the biggest event in Airbnb history. We have more than 700,000 guests staying in Airbnbs.

Here in Mexico, we have about 180,000 guests already booked to stay in Airbnbs. That's equivalent of two giant stadiums worth of people and it is

incredible because the average host is making about $1,300.00 -- U.S. dollars, as real, meaningful income and seven out of ten hosts in Mexico,

rent, just one listing the home they live in.

GABRIELA FRIAS, CNN ESPANOL ANCHOR: Is that the same case for every city in the U.S. and in Canada?

CHESKY: The stats are pretty consistent. They change a little bit, but it is very, very similar, and the thing about events is the type of people

that put their home up for events are just regular people. They're not businesses.

A lot of people only intend to host for a one-time basis to make some extra money. Some of them continue hosting long after the Games are over.

FRIAS: We've heard some short term rental owners whose expectations around the bookings for the World Cup are low because they said they, they

expected more and they point to the high price of the tickets to attend the games.

CHESKY: Have you heard that in the case of Mexico, the U.S. or Canada?

FRIAS: I have not heard that and I don't know how long ago they told you. One of the things we found with the Milan Olympics -- Milan Cortina

Olympics is the bookings were later than expected, more last minute. So kind of a couple of months ahead of time. It looked like bookings were

slow. It is just that people booked more last minute and it exceeded our expectations.

I don't over promise, but we still have two weeks and so it is still possible that many guests will book. So, I mean, if people are watching and

they want to put their home up in Airbnb, I think that there is a lot of people looking last minute.

So I expect there is going to be 180,000 guests. I mean, 180,000 guests, that's a lot of people.

FRIAS: Yes.

CHESKY: Those guests, if it wasn't for Airbnb, they wouldn't have come to the World Cup because they wouldn't stay in a hotel because hotels are

already sold out and the average Airbnb is about half the cost as a hotel for comparable inventory, about half the cost, 70 percent of listings are

under $250.00 a night, and again, many listings have multiple bedrooms, so it is more affordable than hotel. And I do expect hosts to be full.

They have to charge reasonably. There is sometimes, when an event comes, hosts can -- expect charge a lot, but we have to remember that people look

at Airbnb as an affordable way to travel.

So as long as its reasonably affordable, I think they'll be booked.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The numbers are quite extraordinary when you think. Just think about the numbers he went through there. Right?

As we continue, Finland's President tells me it is time for new negotiations between Ukraine and Russia as the dynamics on the battlefield

have changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STUBB: I think the tide is turning and Russia is -- Ukraine is on top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:55]

QUEST: You're very welcome. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. It wouldn't be the same if you weren't there. I'd be wasting my time.

In a moment, part two of the Finnish president, Alex Stubb, when we're going to discuss Ukraine and how the country is getting or might be getting

the upper hand against Russia. Users aged 18 to 21 are flocking to prediction sites because it's a potential loophole. A report on -- we're

going to have you for that and why. And this is CNN, and here the news always comes first.

U.S. officials now say the text of an agreement between the United States and Iran has been finalized. It's a tentative deal, and it would open the

Straits of Hormuz and start nuclear talks. A major caveat that Mr. Trump still needs to sign off on the agreement. And also, by the way, it's

unclear whether Iran's supreme leader has approved it as well.

Tyre rescuers say they've located five of the seven Laos nationals so far who are trapped in a flooded cave, and five people are alive but cannot be

brought out yet because of narrow passages and underwater sections. Instead, divers are bringing them food and water. The seven people

reportedly entered the cave last week in search of gold.

CNN has learned that the U.S. Justice Department is launching a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll. Now Miss Carroll is the woman who won

two lawsuits against Donald Trump, one for sexual assault and the other for defamation. Now, the investigation is focusing on whether she lied under

oath when testifying that she did not get outside help to finance her lawsuits.

The E.U.'s foreign policy chief says Russia is increasingly on the back foot in the war on Ukraine. Kaja Kallas said dynamics are shifting for Kyiv

and that includes militarily, economically and diplomatically, and what's missing now, she says, is a mediator who can bring Russia to the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: As the latest strikes on Kyiv have shown, Russia still shows no genuine interest in peace, which was also the

clear view of the ministers today. Moscow's direct threat to kill foreign diplomats in Kyiv is a public announcement of a war crime. You know, who

could be mediator? I think it is very important that we push Ukraine and Russia to talk to each other because on -- there are so many issues where

only they can decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Finland's president, Alex Stubb, is one of those names that's being mentioned as a potential mediator, negotiator, go-between, call it

what you will. However, President Stubb said the message is more important than who's delivering it when it comes to negotiations, and on the

battlefield President Stubb said this year is more about the mathematics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER STUBB, FINNISH PRESIDENT: So we're in a situation whereby the Ukrainians are eliminating about 35,000 Russian soldiers per month. The

Russians are not able to recruit as many as they lose. On top of that, Ukraine is launching more drones and missiles into Russia than vice versa.

And in the month of April was the first time when Ukraine acquired more territory back than Russia acquired.

If you want to put a final mathematics on it, the popularity of the war is now below 50 percent in Russia. And that's for two reasons. Ukraine is able

to strike in deep to Moscow and St. Petersburg. And secondly, the Russians had to close the internet, Telegram and WhatsApp. So I think the tide is

turning in Russia, as Ukraine is on top.

QUEST: The idea that Europe will provide the mediator or the negotiator, we all know the names that are being thrown around, including your own. And is

this likely? Do you see the E.U. becoming the primary mediator, negotiator, if you will, taking over from where perhaps the U.S. had been?

[16:35:11]

STUBB: Well, I think we all have to realize that the United States is right now very preoccupied for understandable reasons with Iran and us Europeans

haven't had any real contact with the top of the Russian leadership. Having said all of that, more important than the person is actually the substance.

So what is our message from Europe? What do we want to achieve? And I think we need to be very practical about it.

So it could be about border security. It could be about trying to rejuvenate the idea of a ceasefire between Russia and the Ukraine. But I

think we need to have, of course, a green light from Ukraine, which we have a green light from the United States, which we have, and then Europeans

themselves need to work out what's the best way to reach out.

The most important question we have to ask ourselves is, what should Europe's Russia policy be? And now that Ukraine is in a position of

strength, I think it's time to open the negotiation channels. For me, the personality is less important than the substance.

QUEST: Well, one personality that certainly helped was the loss of Viktor Orban as a political leader within the E.U. I know you're the -- you are

the epitome of diplomacy, but I'm guessing you didn't shed too many diplomatic tears when he lost the election.

STUBB: Well, I look at the whole package. As you know, I'm very pro- European, and I think it's important that we advance integration. And I'm also very pro-Ukrainian. And I think it's important that Europe can help

Ukraine. So in that sense, I think politically we are in a much better place right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: That's President Stubb talking to me earlier.

In Laos, rescue divers are searching for two missing people still trapped in a flooded cave. The rescuers have already found five of the seven

villagers. Their next challenge is to safely guide out the group from the cave.

CNN's Will Ripley has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time since floodwaters trapped them hundreds of feet underground,

Laos villagers send emotional video messages to their families.

"Don't worry, mom and dad, I'm still strong. I'll be able to go home soon," he says.

"Don't worry, mom. The rescue team has reached us now. We're safe."

Officials say they came to this cave hunting for gold and almost lost their lives. These five have been found so far, but two are still missing.

"The important thing is that you're alive. It's OK, it's OK. You've done really well. Don't cry," a rescue diver says.

Monsoon rains flooded these tunnels, trapping the men in total darkness. They lost track of time, telling rescuers they thought 18 days had passed

when officials say it was only seven. Now they're finally getting food and fresh water as rescuers coordinate a daunting and dangerous operation to

bring them back to safety.

"It took us about three hours to get in here," this rescuer says, as his team stops for a food break inside the cave. "Right now, they're setting up

the pump system to remove the water as quickly as possible," he adds.

New video from inside the cave shows just how remote the survivors are. The route to get them involves bends, crawling sections, squeeze points and

more than 800 feet of rope line. At times, rescuers navigated muddy underground streams with only their heads and shoulders above water. Crews

are excavating an access route through dense, damp jungle, trying to move a larger generator closer to the cave entrance.

A bigger generator could mean faster pumping, allowing the men to crawl out without having to attempt a perilous plunge through murky black water.

Rescuers need to lower the water levels, keep oxygen flowing inside, and avoid sending the survivors through flooded passages unless absolutely

necessary.

"We'll find a way to get you out, so stay calm," this Thai rescue diver tells the men. He's part of a multinational rescue team, drawing directly

on lessons learned during Thailand's dramatic 2018 rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team. They survived 18 days, trapped inside a flooded cave. Now,

that same hard won experience is being used in Laos. Oxygen tanks staged along the route, strict entry controls, backup divers ready if something

goes wrong.

Will Ripley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Extraordinary. CNN, it will -- we are the latest media company to take legal action against Perplexity. We're suing the software startup over

alleged A.I. copyright theft. We'll have the details in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:32]

QUEST: CNN is suing Perplexity. Our network is accusing the software company of unlawfully copying and distributing CNN's content through its

A.I. tools. It's thought to be the first A.I. copyright action by a television network. A number of other publishers including "The Times" and

News Corp. have taken legal action against Perplexity in the last two years.

Brian Stelter is with me.

Brian, what is Perplexity doing that's different than the others? Because all the others do still take, you know, the content. What is Perplexity's

problem here?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, there are certainly others that are also scraping the internet using all of this news information for

training data and then spitting it back out in chatbot form.

The case against Perplexity revolves around some of the marketing that the company has done in the past, saying that you don't need to click through

to the links, to the actual original source, and also the fact, and this is the important part, I think, Richard, that CNN and Perplexity were in

negotiations last year for a content licensing deal, but the two sides apparently did not see eye to eye.

Those talks broke off, and now perplexity continues in the view of CNN to violate CNN's copyright, even though it knows it doesn't have the

permission. So that's what the lawsuit lays out, that's the allegation in the suit that was filed this morning in New York.

Perplexity responded with a four-word statement, and we'll put it on screen. It says, "You can't copyright facts." That is the entire Perplexity

statement. Now, the company has been sued by others in the past. News Corp in 2024, the "New York Times" last year. I've been watching how the company

and others like it have responded to these various lawsuits. The arguments started out more broad.

You heard a variety of arguments from Perplexity, and now it boils down to that four-word response. But as you said, other media companies are facing

this as well. Other A.I. companies are facing these lawsuits as well. So we are seeing a long list now of these lawsuits alleging copyright

infringement.

QUEST: The facts may be different. And the difference in terms of the, you know, A.I. versus. But we have been here before. I'm thinking of all the

cases against Facebook and Meta, Australia, where eventually they withdrew some of their content for exactly the same. I mean, you know as well as I

do, there's nothing new under the sun. It's just the facts slightly sort of alter and the circumstances.

But is this different to when the social medias were aggregating news?

[16:45:04]

STELTER: I would say what's different right now is that media companies view this as an existential moment to make sure there is a new balance of

power, a new financial relationship that is set with these giants that are reshaping and rebuilding the internet. All of us increasingly are using the

internet through these A.I. bots. Even when I go on to Google and I make a search, whether I want it or not, I'm experiencing Google's Gemini. I'm

experiencing an A.I.'s answer about the world around me.

So as we are seeing the internet being reborn in front of us, companies like the "New York Times," the "Wall Street Journal," now CNN, they want to

make sure they're fairly compensated for the information, for the raw material that they are providing and putting out into the world. I think

from the view of the "New York Times" or Dow Jones or now CNN, if this new financial model is not worked out right now, then it will be too late a few

years from now.

So we've seen a two-track approach from these networks and companies. They are signing these deals all the time. CNN has a deal with Meta, the "New

York Times," others are signing these deals all the time with other A.I. companies. But sometimes when these negotiations don't work out, we end up

in this lawsuit stage. And I suspect it's far from the last one. There's been more than 20 of these lawsuits at this point.

QUEST: Thank you very much, and the -- Brian Stelter I'm grateful.

The actual quote from Perplexity was, "You can't copyright facts." We sort of moved the words around a bit by accident. But anyway, "You can't

copyright facts."

Moliere is one of the biggest figures of French literature. His comedies are as popular now today as they were during his lifetime, in the 1600s,

and artists are trying to revive his signature style in a play written with artificial intelligence. Ah, yes, A.I. again.

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Versailles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The final touches as actors prepare for the premiere of the play the French

playwright, Moliere, might have written in 1674 had he lived a few more months.

It is here in the splendor of the Opera Royal at Versailles that the play will be put on tonight, in this very classical theatre where Moliere

himself came and acted in some of his later plays. 600 people tonight will be able to decide what they think of this newest play in the style of

Moliere.

(Voice-over): For two years, more than a hundred people, scientists, historians and thespians have worked with A.I., training it and correcting

it every step of the way.

HUGO CASELLES-DUPRE, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, OBVIOUS RESEARCH: Our vision is to use A.I. in a way that we could discover new things about Moliere and to

make people enjoy Moliere in a different way, and to see that we can reconciliate art creation and history study with this new technology.

BELL: And tonight then, the important thing is to see the reaction, I guess, of the 600 people who will come to watch.

PIERRE-MARIE CHAUVIN, ARTS, SCIENCES, CULTURE AND SOCIETY VICE PRESIDENT, SORBONNE UNIVERSITY: Yes, that's really the main verdict because we know

that all the process, creative process, scientific process, was really stimulating for everyone, for researchers, for artists. But we don't know

how public -- how the public, how the audience will receive it.

BELL (voice-over): While the Oscars now officially ban A.I.-written scripts from contention, France's theatre world has no such rule, but many remain

skeptical. Like the philosopher Eric Sadin who says that given how seriously generative A.I. threatens artistic creation, there is a moral

duty not only to avoid these systems, but to categorically oppose their use. Those behind this project, though, say that it has been a profoundly

human endeavor, simply improved by A.I.

Thanks to A.I., the performance is as close to what you might have seen here in the late 17th Century. The costumes, the set, brought back in time,

even the accents the actors use.

Really remarkable to a modern ear, and as for the emotion --

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very moved because I felt that I saw for the first time a new play from Moliere, in this very same place where the king was

discovering the first play.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's great. We just -- we have been laughing and so on, as if it was a real Moliere.

BELL (voice-over): A little piece of the past brought back to life, thanks to the technology of the future.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Versailles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Fascinating. I look forward to hearing the results and to the reports.

College age adults are rushing to prediction markets. In a moment an 18- year-old's story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:52:28]

QUEST: Users aged 18 to 21 are flocking to prediction sites, and it's because of a loophole. Prediction markets are not considered gambling under

U.S. law, so they're available to anyone over 18 years old. Traditional sports books are 21 plus in most states. Now, the current regulations are

raising concerns among U.S. lawmakers and health experts.

Our reporters, Elizabeth Buchwald and Marshall Cohen, are with me, and they've been speaking to an 18-year-old about his experience on these

platforms.

Start with you, Elizabeth, about this 18-year-old and the experience and exactly what the problem is.

ELIZABETH BUCHWALD, CNN ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So the 18-year-old that I spoke to is actually a high school senior, and he got started on

Kalshi looking to make enough money to afford a ticket to Greece this summer. He did quite well. Got the ticket to Greece, ended up developing an

addiction, and that kind of got out of control for him.

The problem here is it depends on who you ask, and I think Marshall will get into this a little bit more. But the fundamental issue is whether this

is gambling or not. Experts in some cases say that fundamentally it is. And therefore people above the age of 21, or sorry, below the age of 21 should

be barred from these. There's some theories that brain development doesn't fully happen until 25, and it leads people to take on more risk without

evaluating the consequences.

QUEST: Marshall, this nicety of argument about is it or isn't it gambling? And it's dancing on the head of a pin.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: You know, Richard, this is an enormous question that's being debated in dozens of cases across the

country, in the U.S. and courts across the country. In short, here's the theory.

According to these companies, according to the Trump administration and according to some judges that have ruled so far, prediction sites offer

financial tools like derivative swaps or commodity futures that offer an actual value toward possible hedging with your investments, their event

contracts in that respect. And you can use them to mitigate your risk.

The people on the other side of that debate say, that's ridiculous. This is gambling. It looks like gambling. Betting on the NBA Finals, betting on the

Super Bowl, it's gambling and it should be regulated as such.

A lot of people, Richard, think it's going to probably ultimately go all the way to the Supreme Court. But that's the current state of play.

[16:55:01]

QUEST: The -- Elizabeth, the companies involved are quite clear and quite dramatic about it in terms of their insistence this is not gambling, this

is prediction markets, it's financial ease, it's financial this, that and the other.

BUCHWALD: Yes. I mean, ask an 18-year-old if they think that they're trading cattle futures when they go on and they're betting on sports games.

Honestly, in some cases they look very similar to what you could do on traditional sports books. And companies are under pressure to do more to

protect younger users. Kalshi recently introduced what they call gentle guardrails and having some deposit limits.

As Marshall said, though, this could end up in the Supreme Court, and they might not be the ones deciding. The Supreme Court may be deciding for them

what they have to do.

QUEST: OK, Marshall, last one to you. There may be some viewers watching saying, well, look, what difference does it make? 18, 21, you're sort of

you can vote. You can go out and do this. I mean, it's not like we're talking about 12-year-olds here getting involved in it. And you take my

point.

COHEN: I get it.

QUEST: Are we now talking about it, does it really matter?

COHEN: Well, you know, look, if you ask Kalshi, they would say this is about freedom. If you're an 18-year-old, you're an adult. You can trade

even more dangerous and riskier products on the stock market. So why shouldn't we allow you to cash in on what you know a lot about? Maybe

you're a huge fan of music, and you can predict who's going to be on the Billboard charts. Maybe you're a diehard Knicks fan and you know how many

rebounds Jalen Brunson is going to have next -- in the next game.

QUEST: Right.

COHEN: You know, so they -- that's their argument. But at the end of the day the states have made the case, Richard, that this is not fun and games.

This is about consumer protection.

QUEST: Right. I agree.

COHEN: There's a lot of tax revenue on the line for the states. These companies are not taxed like gambling. And also when states get -- give out

licenses to gambling companies, the companies agree to fund anti-addiction programs.

QUEST: Right.

COHEN: They have to restrict some of their marketing so they don't target the youngest cohorts of the group. So there's a give and take here,

Richard. Also let me just point out, for the record, CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use their data to cover major political events, but

editorial employees like us are not allowed to use prediction markets.

QUEST: And Polymarket declined to comment. A Kalshi spokesman (INAUDIBLE).

We will take a "Profitable Moment" after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's brief "Profitable Moment," listening to President Stubb earlier today, I was very much taken by the difficulties that European

leaders are facing when dealing --

END