--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, August 4th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, why a life-saving HIV program is in major trouble, Team USA heads into a critical World Cup match, and tips for navigating life's big transitions. But first, the Writers Guild and Hollywood Studios are set to start talking again today. It'll be the first formal meeting they've had in more than three months.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Since talks broke down with writers, actors have gone on strike too, grinding productions to a halt. A key dispute is over how studios will use artificial intelligence.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Wall Street Journal takes a closer look at this. Executives say AI can help make better entertainment for less money and help artists do their jobs. But many workers are concerned AI will actually replace their jobs, so they want regulations on how it's used.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is not just a worry for the writers and actors on strike. Other Hollywood jobs could be affected, including those that don't have unions to fight for them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One film editor says he worries that studios could program AI to do first cuts of scenes. Eventually, maybe a series that would usually have three human editors might only hire one.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many think AI has potential to speed up storyboarding and set design. A visual effects specialist told the journal, AI has been a helpful tool in cutting down the more tedious parts of the job, but he also worries about AI reducing the amount of work he can get.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Visual effects artists don't have a union, but some are now trying to organize.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR spoke to Carla Ortiz, a graphic artist who worked on some of Marvel's biggest blockbusters. She says that her previous work was used to train AI systems.
--:-- Carla Ortiz: It took away my ability to consent to being a part of this technology. They took away my credit. No one will know that my work powered those images outside of my name being clearly linked to it. And it took any kind of compensation away.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Ortiz says it's critical that artists move now to protect their work and their jobs before it's too late. It's not a hypothetical for us. It's happening right now. It's existential for us, really.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The future of a life globally successful bipartisan HIV program is in jeopardy. It's the latest thing to be sucked into the growing fight over abortion in the U.S.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The program is called PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. It's credited with saving more than 25 million lives worldwide.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Parts of it expire in a few weeks. And right now, some Republicans on the Hill are threatening to block its reauthorization. They're citing claims that the program indirectly funds abortions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Supporters of PEPFAR say that's misleading. We asked Washington Post health reporter Dan Diamond to help us sort out the facts.
--:-- Dan Diamond: The program is barred from funding abortion abroad. I think that's important to state up front.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But is PEPFAR supporting organizations overseas that may be separately promoting abortion or encouraging local laws to change around abortion?
--:-- Dan Diamond: I think the answer on that is yes, there does appear to be some evidence of that.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In a way, GOP opposition to PEPFAR is surprising. One Republican questioning it now, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, was a supporter in the past.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And PEPFAR was a signature policy of President George W. Bush. He was in D.C. earlier this year urging lawmakers to keep funding it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Since Bush launched PEPFAR in 2003, the U.S. has invested more than $100 billion to treat and prevent the disease.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before PEPFAR was implemented, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy was relatively small compared to the millions of people who now receive it today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So PEPFAR is in some ways a victim of its own success because HIV is not the pressing threat that it was when President Bush announced it in 2003.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Diamond says the fight over PEPFAR is part of a larger battle playing out in Washington.
--:-- Dan Diamond: I mean, there have been military bills and the Pentagon's role that have been scrutinized over abortion. There's been for years and years scrutiny over federal funding for the Affordable Care Act and whether that's supporting abortions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So PEPFAR is not alone in having abortion questions hang over it. It's just a new battle to have it rise to the level of threatening the reauthorization of the program.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If lawmakers do not reauthorize PEPFAR, health advocates say that'll send a chilling message to countries around the world that need the funding to save lives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The knockout rounds in the World Cup start this weekend after a pretty chaotic group stage. There have been a lot of surprises.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Heavy hitters like Germany, Brazil and Canada are out. And some unexpected teams like Jamaica and Morocco made it through.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Early Sunday morning, the United States will take on Sweden in a must-win match.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the latest episode of After the Whistle, hosts Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe break down what you need to know ahead of the game.
--:-- Brendan Hunt: First of all, the U.S. has played Sweden more than any other team in the history of the Women's World Cup. Six times.
--:-- Rebecca Lowe: Six times over the years. The last time the U.S. had a nil-nil draw was against Sweden. And the last time the U.S. lost in 90 minutes was also against Sweden.
--:-- Brendan Hunt: So the first Women's World Cup, Rebecca, was in 1991. And basically since then, these are two women's World Cup or women's football heavyweights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sweden has ebbed and flowed a bit more than the United States. But Sweden, if you know anything about women's football in the last 30 years, they are one of the heavyweights.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So will they live up to that sort of history and tradition in their country or not? So far, it looks like they might do.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Can I throw you one fun fact? Two fun facts. Two fun facts about the U.S. performance so far.
--:-- Brendan Hunt: Yeah.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One, the goalkeeper, Elisabeth Nair, has not made a single save in the entire group stage.
--:-- Rebecca Lowe: And the other thing is the U.S., of course, has only scored four goals, but their expected goals is 7.8. That's a 3.8 disparity, which is the largest in the tournament so far.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I think it's supposed to be encouraging.
--:-- Rebecca Lowe: Well, they're either saving themselves or we've all massively got them wrong.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I'm going to go with they're saving themselves.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can hear the full episode if you follow After the Whistle with Brendan Hunt and Rebecca Lowe in Apple Podcasts.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And tune into The Match on Sunday at 5 a.m. Eastern, 2 a.m. Pacific to see if the U.S. can take down Sweden and get back on track.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we send you into the weekend, I want to tell you about what we've been working on for Apple News in Conversations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Our Think Again series is back, and this year we are rethinking how we approach big life transitions.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is a topic that's sort of near and dear to me. I've been hit with some of the big ones in the past few years. Marriage, changing jobs, losing loved ones.
--:-- Shamita Basu: For the series, we are asking, why does change feel so challenging and destabilizing? And what can we do to be better at handling it?
--:-- Shamita Basu: We are able to adapt to circumstances far better than any other species that has ever been on the planet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the same time periods of adaptation and change often feel incredibly stressful for us.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And many of us recoil from making those changes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's my first guest in the series, Shankar Vedantham, host of the podcast Hidden Brain.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the first episode, Shankar lays out how our brains are wired to react to entering new chapters of life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In our evolutionary past, we have strong triggers that tell us if something is working, don't change it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And so I think it's right that we are cautious about change, and it's a good thing that we're cautious about change.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But I think in the world that we live in today, in some ways this is an evolutionary mismatch, if you will.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Shankar has a lot of helpful strategies for how to see transitions as opportunities rather than obstacles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One tip, ask yourself these three questions to figure out what to do when you're at a crossroads.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The first question is, am I doing something that I love or am I contemplating something that I would love to do?
--:-- Shamita Basu: The second question is, am I going to be good at doing it?
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the third question is, does the world need what it is I'm going to be doing?
--:-- Shamita Basu: You'll see that if you try and answer those questions, at the intersection of the answers to those three questions often lies a clue to what you should be doing with your life.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the coming weeks on In Conversation, you'll hear episodes about figuring out your path and purpose in early adulthood, confronting grief, and this one's personal because I'm about to experience this transition myself, becoming a parent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And for each topic, we'll talk about tangible things for you to do and think about.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Plus, we'll share what some of you, our listeners, told us about big moments of change in your lives.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I made the radical decision to suspend my surgical career.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One of those big ones they talk about. Getting divorced from a man who wasn't treating me well.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After my divorce, my life felt unmanageable.
--:-- Shamita Basu: I decided to leave my very lucrative litigation career as an attorney.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I did a 180. I wanted to stop trying to fit into the world, but instead find my place in it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find this episode of Apple News in conversation in the podcast app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Give us a follow so you don't miss the rest of the series.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're listening in the Apple News app right now, my conversation with Shankar Vedantham will automatically play for you right after this.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Have a good weekend, and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
