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Quest Means Business
Singapore Airlines Vows More Cautious Approach; Wizz Air Celebrating 20th Anniversary; ICK Rules Israel Must Keep Rafah Crossing Open For Aid; Actors Suing A.I. Company They Say Cloned Their Voices; Family Says American Missionaries Killed In Haiti; Italian Teen Set To Become First Millennial Saint. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired May 24, 2024 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:11]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Fleet Week, that's why you're seeing people in uniform. Naval is at the New
York Stock Exchange. It is Nextdoor and Blue Star families ringing the closing bell.
Hit the gavel. One -- I would not like to argue with that gentleman whoever is in charge of a ship.
We are down just four points on the Dow. The market is now closed. The main events of the day: Singapore Airlines is changing its policies on seatbelt
use after Tuesday's fatal turbulence. They might not be so easy to put into practice.
The president of Kenya, William Ruto joins me to discuss his economic ambitions, fresh from his elaborate White House welcome. Did he enjoy that
cold soup he had.
And Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs and that could be a good thing. Well, before it does, let me just get through today's program.
Live from New York, Friday, yes, May 24th, start of a holiday weekend in the United States. The summer begins. I am Richard Quest, and I mean
business.
Good day, and we begin tonight with Singapore Airlines, which says it will now adopt a more cautious approach to use of seatbelts as passengers remain
in hospital following the severe turbulence on Tuesday.
So the airline will suspend meal service when the seatbelt sign is on. Crew members will be returning to their seats. There will be no hot drinks that
will be served.
So far, 48 passengers from 321 are still in hospital in Thailand after the flight landed in an emergency landing there. Twenty of those people have
suffered spinal injuries.
Les Abend is a former pilot and contributing editor at "Flying" Magazine and a good friend of mine.
Les Abend is with me now.
All right, I get it.
So you tighten up and you increase the use of the seatbelt sign, but if you -- that makes a difference, but here they only put the sign on it at the
beginning anyway, they wouldn't have been on anyway.
I mean, is this a sensible move that they're making?
LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it is sensible and it is not sensible. I mean, you know, it is a conservative approach to this thing,
Richard.
You know, once turbulence is encountered, or its anticipated, you put the sign on, you seat the flight attendants. Everybody is by theory safe.
But the captain has to be proactive on this. If that seat belt sign stays on with the possible threat of additional turbulence or just for whatever
reason, let's just leave the seatbelt sign on you know, it makes passengers numb to that illumination, that light if they have to go to the restroom,
they are going to get up and go to that restroom, notwithstanding the fact --
QUEST: You have jumped straight to that bit that I was going to beat you over the head over. Pilots who put the seatbelt sign on, first of all, US
carriers are way more cautious than the rest of the world. You don't switch it off after takeoff until you're at altitude. The first sign of a bump and
you put it on and then you all seem to go to sleep and forget that it is on, and two hours later, you might turn it off.
ABEND: Well, like I said, you've got to be proactive. It is captain's discretion and yes, sometimes we are guilty of that. We'd rather have that
sign on than not have it on, but you know, we do have a customer service to perform back there, especially on a flight that was as long as London to
Singapore.
QUEST: Okay, so relevant to that is this idea of the flight attendants sitting down when the seatbelt sign is on. I mean, it makes sense and I
know in the US carriers, you do sort of seatbelt sign may go on and the next thing you'll say is flight attendant take your jump seats, if it is
going to be particularly bad.
But you're still going to have all the detritus of the service out there. You're still going to have people on laptops. You're still going to have
everything in the cabin that will go to the roof, God forbid if something happens.
ABEND: It is true, if they don't -- if they don't get advanced warning.
You know, when I was flying the airplane and I knew ahead of me somebody was reporting turbulence in the approximate area that our flag was about to
go to, I'd get on the phone and call the flood attendants. Lock your carts up and do that.
This situation is not -- would not have been prevented by this new policy that Singapore is talking about. You're absolutely right. If there are
carts in the aisles, somebody may get hurt.
QUEST: Clarify one quick point. This plane was never in any actual danger to the aircraft itself. This turbulence was never going to bring down that
plane, correct?
[16:05:10]
ABEND: Correct No, this is a Boeing 777, something that you know as well that I've flew for nine years. It's a very robust airplane. Now granted, if
it was classified as severe turbulence, you know, there might have been moments where that crew did not have control of that aircraft and that's
the definition of severe turbulence.
QUEST: And we will find out when the report comes out. Les, it is good to see you. Thank you, sir. I am grateful.
So Friday, today, it is the start to the Memorial Day holiday, which is the beginning of summer, if you will, the travel season in the United States
and the weekend is expected to break travel records.
The TSA said it was the second busiest day in US airports. Yesterday, everyone is traveling and more are expected today, but it is not only -- on
the other side of the Atlantic, there are holiday resorts buzzing. British tourists will be off for the bank holiday weekend, and many of the low-cost
carriers in Europe, the Ryanairs, et cetera, the EasyJets, the Wizzes are warning an outlook that is interesting.
Michael O'Leary of Ryanair said fares would be lower than expected, citing a recessionary feel in Europe.
Wizz Air is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week. Wizz Air, now, I interviewed the CEO, Jo Varadi when they started -- the day they started
that first route to Luton back in 2004. Look at me, I look younger, but then so does Jo.
I was skeptical of everything from Wizz Air, everything from the name to whether the airline would last.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOZSEF VARADI, CEO, WIZZ AIR: Wizz Air is a name which associates with being young, dynamic, providing a positive feeling associated with speed.
QUEST: Why on earth do you think we need another low-cost carrier?
VARADI: The sky is quite busy in the investments side of Europe, but not yet the case in Central and Eastern Europe. You know, 70 million people are
in the European union, representing a major market opportunity for Wizz Air in the Central and Eastern Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Jo is still here 20 years on. He has never let me forget my last question, which we didn't play there, which was I invited him to come back
next year if you're still in business and he has never forgotten, and reminds me regularly.
Jo, glad to have you back. Good to see you, sir. We have much to talk about.
First of all congratulations. You're running a profitable --
VARADI: Thank you, Richard.
QUEST: -- extremely efficient, a very low cost airline across -- and you know, your markets well. What is it you're expecting this summer?
VARADI: First of all, of course, I remember every bit of the discussion we had 20 years ago and you were skeptical, I was optimistic and luckily, 400
million people were with me because 400 million people have chosen to fly Wizz Air over the last 20 years. So that's great.
Looking ahead, we remain very excited and we are having a very robust view on life including summer. I know summer revenue became very topical, but as
far as our business is concerned, we see strong demand for Wizz Air seats, Wizz Air services and we are positive.
And we have seen there is a strong demand, there is a strong market out there.
QUEST: The way in which you've grown the airline is interesting. You've obviously got the European, but you've got the Central European, you have
the UK, but you've gone -- you've dabbled and dillied into Asia through Abu Dhabi and that's through different subsidiaries.
Is that the way you're going to grow in the future?
VARADI: I think so.
I mean, clearly our market diversification strategy has had us you know, take care of some of the risks and issues we have been encountering in the
business recently.
I mean, you see the airline industry becomes affected by geopolitics, by economic downturns. Fuel prices, supply chain issues, you name them, and we
believe that the more diversified we are, the better we can weather the storm.
And clearly what we see is our business model is very universal. We are seeing the same consumer needs, no matter where we go. It is a very
expandable, scalable business across the board, across geographies, across continents.
QUEST: You have an extraordinary number of aircraft on the ground, everybody does because of the problems with the engines, which must be
annoying you hugely that these planes aren't flying, and the compensation that you're probably getting from the manufacturers, the OEMs and the
engine makers isn't really satisfactory.
VARADI: We have learned recently how to park aircraft, but our business is to fly aircraft and we remain focused on flying aircraft.
[16:10:02]
This year, we are protecting capacity and we are flat on capacity year-on- year. We have mitigated some of the issues the way we could have, so we are okay with that regard and now, we just have to go through the cycle.
It is usually annoying. It is irritating. It is very inefficient, but as you say, we get financial compensation and we are very focused on getting
over with this operationally, and as soon as possible, get the fleet back in the air.
QUEST: Were you really annoyed that the share price didn't hit the level that would have got you your contractual bonus of hundred odd million? I
mean, it is not very often I get a chance to ask somebody the question, you missed out on that much. Are you really angry about it?
VARADI: I have five more years to go so I am good, but I think I see exactly how this business goes and what value it creates. We have to go
through this turbulent times.
I mean, a lot has happened to us, to Wizz Air -- geopolitics, supply chain -- we just have to recover the business from the cycle.
This week we reported our last financial year, very strong financial results, strong recovery on operational KPIs. We are very optimistic and
very upbeat and we are going for the prize.
QUEST: Jo, I am going to rephrase my question of 20 years ago. Jo, please do come back in five years' time when we will be able to, but before for
that, of course, when we will be able to review exactly where things are.
I am grateful to you, sir thank you for taking the time for us tonight. Have a good weekend.
VARADI: Thank you.
QUEST: Still to come, the world leaders react after the world court orders an immediate stop to Israel's offensive in Rafah.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Good evening to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The United Nation's top court has ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah. It follows an
emergency request to the court by South Africa, which brought the initial case.
The Israeli Security Minister Ben-Gvir called the verdict irrelevant. Israel has said it will not comply with the ruling, which the court has no
mechanism to enforce and it is worth noting, the ICJ is an entirely separate entity from the ICC, the International Criminal Court, which of
course, on Monday was saying, it was seeking the arrest of both Hamas and Israel's leaders.
So let's not confuse the ICC with the ICJ. It is most definitely not a mistake that Jim Sciutto would make -- who is now with us in New York.
[16:15:07]
Jim, look, when the ICJ makes this ruling, Israel ignores it. Everybody carries on.
I mean, it is sort of -- it is a smorgasbord of picking and choosing those bits of ICJ rulings we like.
JIM SCIUTTO CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: True and listen, I think what they have in common though, they are two separate bodies, is that they are bodies
with an international imprimatur, right? I mean, they have a number of countries backing them and a number of countries who back these decisions,
but they are not binding on Israeli policy, and it has proven many times in the past, even, for instance, with building settlements, et cetera that
despite international legal rulings, they proceed with their own policies which they perceive to be in their national interest or their national
security interest here.
That said, we should note that this comes in collection with other rounds of pressure. And by the way, not just from international organizations
which Israel and by the way, other countries, including the US have ignored in the past, but its own ally, right? Because President Biden himself,
Secretary Blinken himself have expressed publicly and privately their own criticism of the conduct of the war by Israel.
So I don't know if chorus is the right word, but there is certainly a collection of criticism in Israeli policy, the conduct of the war, the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
QUEST: But if we expect certain warlords to be hauled off to the ICC, and we expect the ICJ to rule on those bits of those things, I mean, for Israel
to just ignore it. Does that not question -- does it not pull up the threads if you will, not of the legitimacy of the court, but of the
effectiveness. In other words, why bother?
SCIUTTO: Well, it certainly goes to the effectiveness of the court and by the way, the US has its own on weak standing when it comes to say, the ICC,
it has not signed onto it when for instance, US forces are accused of breaking the law in times of war.
And how the US will sometimes prosecute them themselves, but there are other countries, right, who don't have much of a leg to stand on when it
comes to these organizations.
The question then becomes, is it having an influence that is less measurable?
QUEST: Right.
SCIUTTO: I mean, some make the argument that US pressure while Netanyahu has sometimes ignored Biden's warnings has at least slowed the progress,
for instance, of the assault on Rafah, perhaps shrunk the ambitions of its military operation in Gaza.
QUEST: Do you believe -- that is what I was just about to ask you -- do you believe that the assault on Rafah will still take place? It is now just a
matter of finessing the differences.
SCIUTTO: I mean, it looks like it, right, perhaps on a different scale and with a different speed and a different level of aggression that it might
have without this sort of pressure.
And there is -- I was talking to Nic Robertson about this in the last hour. There is also the phenomenon of sort of a circling of the wagons, right?
The amount of criticism and opprobrium from organizations like the ICC, ICJ Senate Democrats, et cetera here in the US will lead Israeli leaders, or at
least some of them to say, you know what, we are on our own here and we are going to do it the way we want to, right?
There is some evidence of the progress of the war that there is substance to that argument. So you could conceivably have the opposite effect.
But I think it would be wrong to ignore all of this and say it means nothing, because by the way, you had three European states today declare
Palestinian statehood. These are not minor states.
I mean, the collection of these moves shows that there is a large portion of the world that beliefs, in the simplest terms Israel has gone too far in
the conduct of the war.
QUEST: I am grateful, sir. Thank you. Happy weekend.
SCIUTTO: Thank you. You, too.
QUEST: The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken announced a military assistance package for Ukraine on Friday, worth $275
million. It was for reference when urgent need to repel Russia's assault near Kharkiv. It comes on the same day that G7 foreign ministers are
meeting in Italy and they are discussing ways to freeze or to use the frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.
Clare Sebastian in London has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We will stop Putin from using his war chest.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just days after the first Russian military trucks rumbled over Ukraine's border, the West had crossed
its own Rubicon --
NED PRICE, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, US STATE DEPARTMENT: We have imposed restrictive measures against Russia's Central Bank.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): -- freezing around $300 billion of Russian foreign currency reserves, funds the Kremlin had saved up for a moment like this.
Moscow was blindsided.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The reserves in the Central Bank, really, none of those who made predictions could have
thought what sanction the West might apply. It's theft.
[16:20:10]
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): And yet, within a few months, as images of destruction flooded in, talk turned cautiously from freezing to seizing.
JANET YELLEN, US TREASURY SECRETARY: I'm unclear whether or not it would be possible without legislation.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): Alongside long-awaited military aid to Ukraine, that US legislation finally came this April.
ANTONY BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE: Our Congress has given us the power to seize Russian assets in the United States. We intend to use it.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): But, Europe has by far the most skin in this game.
CHRISTINE LAGARDE, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK PRESIDENT: That opens a whole series of other questions which have to do with respect of the
international legal order, which have to do with financial stability.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): About two thirds of the $300 billion of frozen assets are sitting in the EU, mostly in Euroclear, a Belgian financial
institution.
TOM KEATINGE, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: They are earning this so- called extraordinary profit as a result of sort of sitting there and accruing interest. And I think people are comfortable that the
extraordinary profit doesn't really belong to the Russians.
SEBASTIAN (on camera): You're in Brussels right now, is there is a sense of urgency among European leaders because of the potential for another Trump
presidency?
KEATINGE: Part of the discussion here is acknowledging how difficult it was for the most recent tranche of funding to come out of the US. And so, of
course, the Trump factor features.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Putin loves money above all.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): For Ukraine, too much time has already been lost. Russia's surprise offensive in the north likely already adding to what the
World Bank estimates as a half-trillion-dollar reconstruction bill.
KEATINGE: The fact that Kharkiv is under as much pressure as it is under right now, that has to be at the front of mind of those who are thinking
about, do we give the Ukrainians $2 billion? Do we give them $20 billion? Do we give them $200 billion? Right?
So, I think the most powerful weapon we can give them right now is funding.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Elon Musk says he is not in favor of President Biden's quadrupling of EVs tariffs on China. The Tesla CEO said: "Neither Tesla nor I asked for
this sort of assistance for these tariffs." The hikes on Beijing have become a major issue on the campaign trail in the race for the White House.
The president is using them to bolster his economic image. Donald Trump insists increasing levies was his idea first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He wants to put a big tariff on China, which is the suggestion that I said, where did it begin?
For three-and-a-half years, they should have done it a long time ago, but they've also got to do with other vehicles, and they have to do it on a lot
of other products because China is eating our lunch right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Mr. Trump is proposing expanding tariffs across the board, 10 percent on all imports, 60 percent or more on Chinese imports. The Peterson
Institute for International Economics says that could cost US median households as much as $1,700.00 a year.
Mary Lovely is with me, senior fellow at the institute.
Good to see you. Thank you, as you join me from Washington.
Why are the Trump tariffs different from the Biden tariffs if they are -- bearing in mind that President Biden has effectively kept most of those
that Donald Trump put in in the first administration?
MARY LOVELY, SENIOR FELLOW OF THE PETERSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS: Yes, he has. It is the new proposals where they really differ.
President Trump's tariffs are much larger and they are covering much bigger basket of goods. In fact, he is proposing a 10 percent tariff on all
imports from whatever country, as well as raising tariffs on all imports from China to 60 percent, so it is a real expansion of what we've already
seen.
QUEST: But President Biden doubling of EVs is just as protectionist.
LOVELY: Well, we don't really import many EVs from China, so not many people are going to pay those tariffs. It was really a prospective move to
protect the investments that the US is making in the auto sector right now. So it is protectionist, but is part of a bigger strategy that the Biden
administration has in terms of reviving US manufacturing, but most particularly helping US based auto companies make the transition to
electric.
QUEST: We are so far away from the World Trade Organization and bilateral and multilateral rounds. I mean, it is almost inconceivable now that you
could get a global trade deal.
LOVELY: The WTO has been hobbled particularly by the US actions. The US has been unwilling to appoint new appellate court judges, so that disputes can
be settled within the usual procedures and frankly, they have been calling for reform, but not offering many proposals for how they could be done.
[16:25:10]
So basically, at the heart of this is of course the US-China trade tensions and instead of seeing us moving closer to solutions or negotiated outcomes
we are actually seeing tensions rising, particularly this past week when we saw the new tariffs, but also on what each candidate proposes for the
future.
QUEST: And as we look at this, how much of this trade issue do you think it will be in the election? And I don't mean in terms of the nitty-gritty
because that is really in the weeds, but the headlines, we are going to bash them, we are going to protect, we are going to hit them. We are not
going to hit them.
That is good electoral headlines.
LOVELY: It may be good electoral headlines, but I think people -- some people are confused about how it will hurt them. Tariffs are very
regressive tax. Low-income people, middle-income people will pay far more than the top one percent in terms of the share of their income that is
going to be lost by these tariffs.
Also, there has been no evidence that jobs have been gained. What happens is that what we used to import from China, for example, it just goes to
Vietnam or Mexico. So no jobs gained, big losses for American families. I say it is just a bad policy.
QUEST: I am grateful for you tonight. Thank you very much for joining us.
Coming up next: The president of Kenya. I will be talking to President William Ruto about his historic US state visit, in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:18]
QUEST: Good Friday to you. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in the moment. The president of Kenya will be with me from Washington. He's finishing the
first U.S. state visit by an African leader in more than a decade.
And it's not only Scarlett Johansson will be talking to voice actors who claim A.I. companies are ripping off their voices. Only after we've had the
news headlines though. This is CNN and, on this network, the news always comes first.
Family members of two American missionaries say were killed by gangs in Haiti. They say Davy and Natalie Lloyd were ambushed while coming out of
the church on Thursday. In a statement to CNN, the White House has expressed condolences and urged the deployment of an international police
force to Haiti.
Nearly two decades since his passing. One Italian teen is on track to become a Catholic Church's first millennial saint. The Vatican says that
Carlo Acutis used his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith. Two miracles are attributed to him in the healing of a -- of a poorly young
woman. He died in 2006 from leukemia at the age of 15. It's unclear when he could just could be canonized.
The filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has died of cancer complications at age 53. Known for his Oscar nominated documentary Super Size Me in which he only
consumed McDonald's food for 30 days. Several years he also hosted a CNN documentary series called Inside Man.
As A.I. continues to develop, we're now seeing an increase in legal actions being brought up against various tech companies, those creatives who say
their works were used without permission. The latest, the two voice actors who are suing the tech company Lovo. They say Lovo is using their voice
without their consent. CNN's Clare Duffy spoke to them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL SKYE LEHRMAN, VOICE ACTOR: Just ghost white. We're in the twilight zone,
LINNEA SAGE, VOICE ACTOR: They really only need 30 seconds of your voice to clone it in a realistic way.
LEHRMAN: It's really, really disturbing.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER (voice-over): This is Paul and Linnea. They're both voice actors who say they were hired in 2019 and 2020 by a
client who wanted to use their voices for "academic research and tests for radio ads." They say they were told their voices would not be used for
anything else. But years later, the couple made a shocking discovery while listening to a podcast.
LEHRMAN: And it's talking about the potential dangers of A.I. and how the impact that might have on the entertainment industry. And the host is
interviewing A.I. entity. And that voice is my voice. And we had to pull the car over.
SAGE: Dead stop.
DUFFY (on camera): So you knew immediately and this is my voice. But these are not things that I've ever actually said.
LEHRMAN: There wasn't a moment of doubt.
DUFFY (voice-over): Quickly, the two actors discovered it wasn't just podcasts using what they say are A.I. versions of their voices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Introducing Jenny by Lovo. Artificial intelligence that makes it fast and easy to create voiceovers for marketing, e-learning
documentaries, animations, games, audiobooks, and more. Need to create high quality voiceover content.
DUFFY (on camera): We just listened to what you say is the A.I. clone of your voice. What's your reaction to that?
LEHRMAN: This -- it's still infuriating. Not just because of the implications for my career, but because of the violation of me, of my
individuality, my likeness, my voice are saying these words that I did not agree to say. I gave no consent, nor was there any proper compensation, and
I no longer have control.
DUFFY (on camera): Will you do your commercial voice for us for a second, just so that we can kind of compare?
LEHRMAN: Introducing Jenny by Lovo. Artificial intelligence that makes it fast and easy to create voiceovers for marketing, e-learning,
documentaries, animations, games, audiobooks, and more.
DUFFY (on camera): Can we pull up the (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does your child have difficulty reading? Is mathematics a thorn in their side? Our certified teachers are writing to
help your son or daughter conquer their fears of reading, writing, arithmetic and more.
DUFFY (on camera): And Linnea you said this voice is your bread and butter. So, this is the kind of thing that you might have said, but you didn't
actually say these words.
SAGE: So, the first half of that was me. Those were the audio files that I delivered to them and I still have those on an external hard drive that we
were able to track down once we figured out who they were and when they ordered from us. And then the second half of the video is the A.I. version
of me that they manipulated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does your child have difficulty reading? Is mathematics a thorn in their side? Our certified teachers are --
(CROSSTALK)
DUFFY (on camera): So that's where it switches?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- conquer their fears of reading, writing, arithmetic and more.
[16:35:05]
DUFFY (on camera): Wow.
LEHRMAN: And they mentioned when she delivered these audio assets that they would be used only internally and never public facing.
DUFFY (on camera): Obviously, this does sound a lot like you. But how do you know it's actually your voice? How do you feel confident about that?
LEHRMAN: The same company that solicit us for our work, we delivered audio assets to them, and they took those audio assets. This is a company that we
now know manipulates audio that's delivered to them to clone voices. It seems so unbelievably clear to us.
DUFFY (voice-over): The couple say they were unaware that their client was Lovo who they're now suing. In a proposed class action suit, the couple
claims that their voices were "stolen by Lovo and marketed by Lovo under false pretenses." A lawyer representing the company previously denied the
claims to the New York Times. The A.I. company did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.
DUFFY (on camera): What was your reaction when you read this news that Scarlett Johansson, her lawyers and sent a letter to OpenAI for sort of a
similar situation to what you're now going through?
LEHRMAN: I hope Scarlett Johansson's case can serve as a wake-up call. It's happening to everyone no matter where you are on the totem pole, no matter
what industry you're involved in. This really I hope is the writing on the wall for anyone who doesn't yet believe that this is an issue today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Fascinating. Clare's with me. Clare, I don't know what to make of it all because I, you know, I've listened to that one. I've listened to the
Scarlett Johansson. I've got a pretty distinctive voice as more than one person has got like gargling with glass. Somebody once said, quite easy to
A.I. it. But I don't know what you do about it.
DUFFY: Yes. That is really the challenge, Richard. I mean, it's sort of like you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Often the concerns with
actors here as well as with artists and authors is that their work may have previously been used to train these major -- these huge A.I. models. And
that then those A.I. models can produce essentially clones of their voices without them ever actually getting credit or compensation.
I don't know how you work backwards from that. But certainly, I think these folks are asking, at the very least to now be credited if indeed, this
company did take their voices.
QUEST: So, Elon Musk says we're all going to be out of a job, or at least, you know, we'll have hobby jobs. The worrying part about what he says is he
might be right. The man has a great forecasting ability, he has a genius ability to see the things that you and I perhaps or maybe me certainly just
can't see. And he might -- well, isn't that the bit that the worrying bit he could be right that will put us all out of work in the fullness of time.
DUFFY: Well, Richard, I mean, I think one thing a lot of folks who are in the A.I. industry are who are watching this closely agree upon is that A.I.
is going to impact jobs. We are going to see job losses because of this technology. I don't know that it will go so far as Elon Musk says where he
says having a job will be optional, you can have one if you want to, but that robots and A.I. will provide all of the goods and services that humans
need.
I also don't know that most humans are asking for that. I think many people, myself included, feel fulfilled by our work. It provides human
connection that is really important. In this time when technology is infused in so many parts of our lives, it's important that we have human
interaction. So, I don't know how much humans will really want to give up working entirely. I think the other big question here is how are people
going to make money if nobody needs a job and A.I. can provide services?
How do you afford those services? Elon Musk suggested that everybody will need a universal high income, but he didn't explain how that would happen.
There are conversations in the A.I. industry that perhaps a universal basic income or guaranteed income, payments from the government to people based
on taxes of A.I. companies could help kind of cushion the blow of job losses from A.I.
But that requires legislation, that requires new regulation. I mean, that feels very far way off at this point.
QUEST: If this is zero, and this is 100 percent all you know, we've read. Where's the thinking about where we are on the A.I. spectrum? Clearly, it's
obviously round about here. But it's difficult to work out where people think we are.
DUFFY: Yes. I mean, I think we're still very, very early in the rollout of this technology. And I mean, you can tell that based on the fact that this
technology still struggles in a lot of areas. I think people are expecting it to get much more advanced, you know, potentially really quickly as
computing power increases as the amount of data these things can collect and process increases.
The other thing I have to say that's really interesting to me about Elon Musk making this prediction and he referred to it as sort of utopia and
that humans wouldn't have to work because technology could do the work for them is -- there's real contrast between that and some of his other
statements about Artificial Intelligence. He has called it one of his biggest fears. He's previously said that artificial intelligence could
cause civilization destruction.
And of course, let's not forget that this is somebody who also runs an A.I. company, xAI that's seeking to compete with OpenAI.
[16:40:04]
So, we're hearing these like real extreme ends of the spectrum in terms of what A.I. could mean from -- for society from this person who seeks to
benefit from and profit from Artificial Intelligence.
QUEST: We'll talk more. Thank you very much. Clare, have a lovely weekend. Good Memorial Day. You can wear white shoes -- you can wear white shoes in
the Hamptons now apparently.
DUFFY: Bye.
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) I was planning on but -- all right. This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We continue tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: It's been two decades since he passed away when one Italian team has earned the nickname God's Influencer. He's on track to become the world's
first millennial saint. Carlo Acutis use his computer skills to spread the Catholic faith. And the Vatican now says he helped heal to people with
miracles. CNN's Christopher Lamb with the story.
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's become known as God's influencer, Carlo Acutis, a teenage gamer and computer programmer is
set to be declared the Catholic Church's first millennial saint. Almost 18 years after he died from leukemia at age 15. Pope Francis has recognized a
second miracle attributed to Acutis, paving the way for him to be canonized.
The London-born Italian teenager was a computer prodigy, use his technological skills to spread awareness of the Catholic faith including a
Web site which documented reports of miracles. Since his death, Acutis is following among Catholics has grown. He's widely seen as a saintly figure
who is truly relatable to today's youth. His mother, Antonia Salzano continues to share the message of her son's life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIA SALZANO, MOTHER OF CARLO ACUTIS: And he's a great sign of hope because he told us as I did, you too can become holy. Nevertheless, all the
media they cannot, technologies. It seems some type that holiness is something that belongs to the past. Instead of holiness is also nowadays in
this modern time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAMB: Acutis grew up in Milan and like other kids of his age, he enjoyed video games, sports and making funny films about his family dogs.
To declare someone a saint, the Catholic Church normally requires proof of two miracles. The latest miracle attributed to Acutis was the healing of a
woman from Costa Rica who suffered a head trauma after falling from her bicycle in Florence in Italy. According to Vatican news, she was cured
after her mother prayed at the tomb of Acutis.
[16:45:02]
Acutis was beatified and declared blessed after his first miracle in 2020. With the Vatican approving as miraculous, the healing, the healing of a
Brazilian boy who had a birth defect in his pancreas that made him unable to eat normally. The next step now is for the Pope to hold a meeting of
cardinals to sign off on Acutis' sainthood, then they will pick a date for the canonization.
Christopher Lamb, CNN, London.
QUEST: We continue tonight. Organized retail theft is on the rise. We're going to explore the way retailers are attempting to combat it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Organized crime has a new target. It's retail theft. Retailers are trying to battle the theft of consumers that have paid for the price of
security investments. CNN's Kyung Lah visited one Home Depot store to see how it's tackling the rise of organized theft and the price it has on
consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pre-dawn raid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come out with your hands up.
LAH (voice-over): Dozens of heavily armed deputies and investigators from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department surround a house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fourth in the doorway.
LAH (voice-over): Twelve people arrested and organized crime network says law enforcement suspected of links to narcotics stealing and illegal
gambling. At another location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're (INAUDIBLE)
LAH (voice-over): Santa Clara County deputies recovered the fuel for this alleged criminal network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tons of packaged goods, some parts of the house looked like it was a store.
LAH (voice-over): Stolen from local businesses, but it is nothing like the shoplifting you've seen in the past. Brazen thieves recorded racing out
with carts full of merchandise, even attacking store workers in the process.
SEAN BROWNE, SENIOR MANAGER, ASSET PROTECTION, HOME DEPOT: This is not somebody who forgot to scan something at self-checkout or somebody who
stole food. This is a large criminal organization with multiple factors.
LAH (voice-over): Sean Brown is not a cop. He works for Home Depot investigating organized retail crime. His job, a growing field and store
chains as criminal organizations branch out from guns and drugs to stolen goods.
A CNN review of court records and interviews of more than two dozen retail chains and law enforcement officials show that the private sector is not
just helping the police, but often delivering the initial evidence that leads to search warrants.
BROWNE: A lot of times local and state resources don't have the capacity to investigate these crimes at that scale.
[16:50:03]
LAH (on camera): And incomes you?
BROWNE: We tried a full service the investigations.
LAH (voice-over): Home Depot gave us a glimpse of a model replicated by multiple major retailers across the U.S. This is their high-tech command
center with electronic eyes on their stores throughout the country. Retailers have already moved beyond searching for the thieves you see in
viral videos to their bosses. They are the real targets known as the fences.
BROWNE: These ringleaders operate as the fence of this merchandise where they're converting it to cash, drugs and other illicit items.
LAH: It sounds like you're talking about the mob.
BROWNE: It often is conflated with what would be considered mob activities. Bad actors will target specific merchandise usually directed by the
ringleader almost like a shopping list.
LAH (voice-over): Store chains have the financial muscle to deploy high- tech tracking, like license plate readers and in-store monitors, capturing the crime as it happens.
BROWNE: We use a lot of different investigative tactics and technologies to ensure that we can build the absolute best case for law enforcement and
prosecutors.
REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): The bad guys have the upper hand with respect to this issue.
LAH (voice-over): The sheer scale of organized store theft is so overwhelming members of Congress met with prosecutors and store chains
looking for federal help.
MATTHEW WALSH, DIRECTOR, GLOBAL INVESTIGATORS, WAL-MART: The organization and sophistication of these groups has grown exponentially in recent years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think organized retail crime is one of the biggest issues that is facing our local economy.
LAH: This entire aisle and this side is almost completely locked up.
BROWNE: Yes. Not the way we would like to envision our rough electrical aisle for our customers, our pro contractors, but this is what your typical
Home Depot looks like.
LAH (voice-over): Retail says Brown has already locked down their merchandise impacting the consumer from inconvenience to higher prices.
LAH (on camera): This -- how would they get past this though?
BROWNE: We've had certain crews that have caught locks and cables and broken into some of the fixtures that we fill inside of our stores.
LAH (voice-over): What you see here is because the explosion of online shopping has made it easier than ever to move stolen merchandise sold to a
consumer hunting for a deal.
BROWNE: Twenty years ago, I needed a storefront in order to sell laundry detergent. Now I can do it from my phone.
LAH (voice-over): California has now put hundreds of millions of dollars towards combating this problem, enabling law enforcement here in Santa
Clara County to break up a major crime ring. Recovering $150,000 in stolen merchandise authority say from six retailers.
LAH (on camera): How big of a heist was this?
BROWNE: This happens daily across stores. Even with all those measures that you got to see in the store. We're still impacted at this level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Gosh, whatever next. U.S. stocks were getting some losses from Thursday's wipe out and NASDAQ closed at a record high after the A.I.
rally, fueled the video get -- gave us another two percent and it was good day all around. The Dow just totaled up ahead but 1.1 percent on the NASDAQ
is impressive along with the S&P 500 and Wal-Mart was higher along with other major retailers.
Boeing one percent up but it was really up clobbered yesterday were down seven percent and it says it's aiming for its first astronaut launch on
June the 1st. Cell force and usually at the bottom. I will give you a profitable moment in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:57:08]
QUEST: Kenya's president is wrapping up his historic state visit to the United States. Boosting ties with Washington amid China's growing influence
in Africa. The President shared the stage this morning with the Vice President Kamala Harris. A few hours ago, there were meetings with the
President Biden at the White House. Kenya has now designated a major non- NATO ally, whatever that might mean.
U.S. is trying to counter Beijing's influence and the financial leverage in Africa from 2000 to 2022. China lent Kenya only $7 billion, according to
databases from Boston University. Kenya's President William Ruto joins me now from Washington. Mr. President, can you hear me sir?
WILLIAM RUTO, PRESIDENT OF KENYA: Ah, there is a bit of an echo, my friend. There is -- I don't know how --
QUEST: Right. But are you able to keep going or should we take a break, sir? Can you hear me enough that we can continue talking?
RUTO: OK. I think -- I think -- let's -- we can continue, let's give it a shot.
QUEST: Let's give it a shot. We are live on television, sir. We are live. In your statement and in your various comments, you said that you are
rewriting and recalibrating the relationship between Kenya and the United States. What did you mean?
RUTO: I meant exactly that. For a long time, our continent has been profiled as a continent of trouble, disease, poverty, war and conflict. Yet
our continent to be fair is a continent that is rich in minerals. We have some of the best human capital anywhere in the world, the youngest
population in the world. The 40 percent of the world's workforce is going to come from our continent by 2050.
One in every four citizens of this globe will be living in the African continent. We have 60 percent of the world's renewable energy assets. In
short, Africa is a rich continent. And we want to rewrite our own story that Africa is a continent of tremendous potential. Africa is a continent
that has opportunity and we want to move it from opportunity to investment. And that is the engagement I'm having with the United States that there are
real present investment opportunities in Africa.
And as much as we do not need aid, and we do not need our assets to be exported as raw materials. We want to combine the technology and the
financial power of the U.S. with the assets that we have to have a win-win outcome, create jobs way back at home and create wealth as well.
END
