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--:-- Host (John Bickley): The CEO of ChatGPT issued an urgent warning before Congress on Tuesday. Artificial intelligence must be heavily regulated. Going off to build a super powerful AI system in secret and then dropping it on the world all at once, I think would not go well.
--:-- Co-Host (Georgia Howe): What kind of rules does the AI company leader propose? I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, May 17th, and this is Morning Wire. Homeless veterans in New York City are reportedly being kicked out of hotel rooms to make room for illegal immigrants. This comes as the city also houses migrants in school gyms. There's no safety. They're giving us one safety officer for a school of 700 kids. What action is the city's mayor taking to address the crisis?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): And we break down the biggest takeaways from special counsel John Durham's 300-page report. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): The Senate held a groundbreaking hearing on artificial intelligence on Tuesday. Lawmakers heard testimony from industry leaders, including the CEO of OpenAI, the creator of the massively influential ChatGPT. Here with the details is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): So Cabot, an important topic getting a lot of attention in Washington. What can you tell us?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Well, on Tuesday, the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law held a hearing on the oversight of artificial intelligence, with testimony offered by industry leaders, including an IBM executive, and most notably, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman. Altman's company created ChatGPT, the AI language model which has taken the world by storm. For context, while Facebook and YouTube each took around four years to reach 100 million active users, ChatGPT hit that mark in two months.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Senator Richard Blumenthal, who led the hearing, said Congress failed to act swiftly enough to regulate social media platforms when they were taking off, and they don't want to take the same course of action with AI. What sort of regulations are they looking at?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, while there's generally bipartisan agreement that regulation is needed, there's just not yet consensus on what that should look like. For his part, Altman called for a new federal or even global agency that would issue licenses to AI companies once they reach a certain size or capability and then ensure they're following certain safety protocols.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): But something that large would require a lot of time and effort. And in many ways, lawmakers are already playing catch up on AI. Now, what are some of the biggest risks that are being brought up?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Well, Senator Blumenthal opened the hearing playing a clip of himself talking about AI, which was actually generated by an AI language model, reading a script written by ChatGPT. He used the clip to point out that AI could easily be used to create fake videos of world leaders declaring war or calling for any number of actions.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Right. Easy to see how that could go bad. Exactly. Others, like Senator Josh Hawley, pointed out the potential for election interference, as AI could be used to drive voters along partisan lines or spread misinformation. And look, there are plenty of very serious people in the industry who are concerned about the potential for AI to infiltrate military or infrastructure systems and inadvertently cause chaos.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): To give you an idea of just how seriously the threats are being viewed, earlier this month, Jeffrey Hinton, the man who spent 50 years pioneering artificial intelligence and was actually known as the godfather of AI in Silicon Valley, resigned from his post at Google so he could speak publicly about the harm it could cause.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Here's how Altman put it to Congress: "My worst fears are that we, the field, the technology, the industry, cause significant harm to the world. I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong."
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, one of the big fears we've heard when it comes to AI is how it could impact the job market. What do we hear on that front?
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Yeah, it's interesting. So over the last decade, the general thought was that AI would first replace blue collar and service jobs. And we have seen that to a certain extent, but it's become clear that high-scale white collar jobs are increasingly at risk of being eradicated by AI.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Why pay for a graphic designer who might take a day mocking up a few logo options when a computer model can give you 100 options in a minute?
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): When asked about the potential for millions of workers to be replaced, Altman did not deny that could happen, but countered that new jobs will be created at the same time.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): GPT-4 will, I think, entirely automate away some jobs, and it will create new ones that we believe will be much better. The general argument from Altman and other AI proponents is that throughout history, the job market has constantly been evolving as certain jobs are eradicated or made easier through new technology.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): And they say that now trying to stop AI because it could eliminate certain jobs would have been like blocking the development of cars to protect those working in the horse-drawn carriage industry.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): But critics say that AI has potential to completely upend the workforce like never before.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Right. I've spoken to a few techies and they say it's impossible to overstate just how much this will change the world.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Guest (Cabot Phillips): Anytime.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): Coming up, homeless veterans in New York lose their hotel rooms to make space for illegal immigrants. Homeless veterans are being kicked out of hotels in New York to make room for migrants arriving to the city. Meanwhile, New York Mayor Eric Adams, who's been busing these migrants to just outside the city, is now working overtime to reverse course on the sanctuary city platform he ran on. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Presta-Giacomo.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): So Amanda, first tell us about these pretty troubling reports of homeless veterans being removed from hotels in New York.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yeah, sure thing. A veteran-focused nonprofit, the Yurk Israel Tony Foundation, told the New York Post last week that some 20 veterans had been booted from at least two hotels in Orange County, New York. And they were told that was because of, quote, what's going on with the immigrants?
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Migrants are reportedly being bused from New York City at Mayor Adams' behest to these areas in New York. The government or taxpayers are paying the tab and offering the hotels an extra $100 a night to sweeten the deal for these hotels to take in the migrants.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Meanwhile, this nonprofit, the YIT Foundation, is scrambling to place these veterans. And there's been a lot of backlash from both sides of the aisle over this, correct?
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Yeah, that's right. A Democratic representative from New York, Pat Ryan, stated bluntly when this news first emerged, quote, this is BS. 20 veterans lost their housing tonight because of the incompetence of the New York City government.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Republican New York State Assemblyman Brian Marr, a spokesman for YIT, had some harsh words for those he feels are to blame for this issue.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Here's Marr on Fox News. The Biden administration, Governor Hochul and the city of New York, they all have a part in this. And it's a total embarrassment. It's a slap in the face to veterans, to citizens of New York and this country who are really being cast aside to allow for asylum seekers to come here.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Additionally, both Orange County and Rockland County have sued over Adams' plans to bus migrants into their counties. So a lot of blowback over this including some lawsuits.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): How has Mayor Adams responded to all this?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Adams' office is maintaining that the city just doesn't have enough room for these migrants. They're saying the number of migrants bused outside of the city is just a small portion of the number they've taken on.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): City officials have estimated some 61,000 migrants have entered New York City since just last spring, and that's costing the city around $5 million per day. The city is now even housing migrants inside school gyms.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Parents have complained about this and said that not only have their kids lost access to recess and some sports, but their children are basically being put on lockdown inside school since there are now strangers living there.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Parents have started protesting that. I don't mind giving a helping hand, but when it interferes with the education of our students, yes, I do care. That's not fair. And it only happens on low-income communities. Makes me angry.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): What's notable, though, about these areas outside of the city where Adams is sending migrants, these areas haven't declared themselves so-called sanctuaries from immigration law the way New York City has. That's part of the contention here.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): And to that point, the mayor is now trying to wiggle out of that sanctuary city designation by way of an executive order. The order allows city officials to bypass certain portions of their right to shelter law, which forces New York City to provide a shelter to anybody who asks for it.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now that the city is dealing with this border crisis directly, it seems Adams has really changed his tune. Tell us about that political transformation.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Yeah, things are very different now. Here's Adams promoting New York City as a sanctuary city just last year on ABC. You pledged during your campaign to keep New York City a sanctuary city. Do you have any concern that that policy is attracting more people to the border?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): No, not at all. This city has always been a sanctuary city, and we've always managed those who wanted to come to New York City to pursue the American dream.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): That designation seems to have been better in theory than in practice. Adams has heavily criticized the Biden White House over the border crisis, and he's complained publicly about the influx of migrants in his city, saying the crisis is basically getting in the way of what he sees as his administration's successes for the city.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Law of Sanctuary City was in place long before I became mayor. I'm following the law. We're now in court now, today, asking the judge to revisit this law to deal with this humanitarian crisis, because even when they decided to put in place that law, no one thought that they would be dealing with a humanitarian crisis of disproportionate.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): And we should note that while New York's reeling from the 60,000 or so migrants over the course of a year, more than 80,000 migrants crossed the border just last week. So this crisis is only escalating.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Amanda, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Guest (Amanda Presta-Giacomo): Thanks for having me.
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--:-- Host (John Bickley): The Trump presidency was crippled by multi-year investigations, and now Special Counsel John Durham's 300-page report suggests top FBI brass knew from the start that the Russian collusion narrative was fundamentally flawed. Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak has been combing through the report. We gave a big picture overview of the report yesterday, but Luke, you found some troubling revelations. What were some of the highlights?
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): Well, let's start at the beginning. In 2016, the FBI received a short message from an Australian diplomat mentioning a vague remark that a Trump campaign volunteer made over drinks in London.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Peter Strzok, a top FBI official, immediately opened a full investigation and got on a plane to England.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): But when he explained to FBI and British intelligence agents there what the basis for the investigation was, no one could believe that they would start an investigation on something so flimsy.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Yet Strzok continued to work with Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who was being paid indirectly by the Clinton campaign.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): The FBI even offered to pay him $1 million to prove his claims against Trump.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Strock seemed to acknowledge that he knew he was conducting a baseless probe. According to Durham's report, he told a colleague, quote, there's nothing to this, but we have to run it to the ground.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): So you said Steele was offered $1 million to substantiate his claims. Was he actually able to?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): No. In fact, even though the FBI told the courts the information came from a Russia-based source, Steele actually got most of his information from a D.C. area resident named Igor Danchenko.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): The FBI spent three days with Danchenko, and he couldn't substantiate a single claim in the dossier.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The claims of a, quote, well-developed conspiracy, attributed in the dossier to a source close to Trump, actually came from a 10-minute phone call Danchenko claims he received from an anonymous stranger.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): And it turned out that even that couldn't have happened because his phone was turned off at the time.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): But one of the most shocking parts is that even after the FBI knew Danchenko had no evidence, it paid him $220,000.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): So who is Danchenko?
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Danchenko is a Russian who lives in the D.C. area and who both the FBI and several Democrats believed was a Russian spy.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): One of the reasons they believed Danchenko was a spy was because a Democrat official told the FBI that Danchenko offered to pay him for classified documents.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): The FBI closed the investigation by mistake. When it tried to use him as a source in 2017, the FBI has a department that vets confidential sources, and that department told investigators that they strongly believe they should not associate with him.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): But the agent in charge of using him as a source, Kevin Helson, ignored them and apparently made false statements about it.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Now, this whole investigation into Trump included multiple agencies as well as the Obama administration. What did our top intelligence people know when all of this started?
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): In July of 2016, the CIA intercepted intelligence showing that Russia understood that the Clinton campaign had devised a plot to tie Trump to the Russians as a campaign strategy.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): This was such a big deal that the CIA briefed Obama, Biden, and FBI Director Comey about it and sent a letter to Strzok in September.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): But the FBI agents assigned to investigate Russia's role in the 2016 election said they never heard anything about this from Strzok and therefore never considered it.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): When Durham showed the memo to one investigator, he got so upset that it had been concealed from him that he left the room feeling betrayed by FBI leadership.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): Others recounted being forced to investigate, quote, dry holes, figuring that someone above them must know something they didn't.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): But it turns out that wasn't true. There was just nothing there.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): Meanwhile, the investigation hamstrung the Trump administration for nearly his entire term.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Well, this is just about the biggest political scandal in a generation, maybe more.
--:-- Guest (Luke Rosiak): Luke, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thank you, Georgia.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Another story we're tracking this week. After a brief meeting with President Biden on Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says a debt ceiling deal may be possible by the end of the week. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back later this afternoon with more news you need to know.
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