¶ Intro / Opening
What's up, sunshine? Welcome to the show. I'm Koi Wire. This is CNN 10 with your news for Wednesday, September 3rd. It is Your Word Wednesday. One of you helped us write today's show with a vocabulary word you submitted on my at Koi Wire social account. So listen up and let's get this show on. the road.
¶ Global Powers Seek New World Order
In China, where a gathering of key world leaders could have big implications for global politics, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed allies from across Asia and the Middle East for a summit designed to showcase China as a capable... counterweight to Western institutions like the United States and Europe. It was Xi's meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin taking center stage. The friendly displays come as all three of the
world's superpowers face uncertain relationships with the US, stemming from things like President Donald Trump's tariffs and Russia's war on Ukraine. Our Ivan Watson has more. A show of international solidarity. At a time of global uncertainty, leaders of three of the world's largest countries happily rubbing shoulders at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tianjin, China.
The leaders of China and Russia have long complained that the US and its Western allies have dominated international relations. So now they've gathered heads of state from across Asia and the Middle East into this vast building. to call for the creation of a new world order. The host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, denouncing bullying and double standards and promoting China as a champion for developing countries.
The House rules of a few countries should not be imposed upon others. Those points echoed by his close partner, Vladimir Putin. even as his military continues its nightly bombardment of Ukrainian cities. Defying U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for peace. But the Russian president accuses the West of starting Russia's war with Ukraine.
and makes his own appeal for a new global system of governance. A system that would replace the outdated Eurocentric and Euro-Atlantic models, taking into account the interest of the broadest possible range of countries. countries truly balanced. But it is the presence of India's Prime Minister that has been most notable at this gathering.
Narendra Modi came to China, still stinging from 50% tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Indian goods. Snubbed by Washington, Modi is now mending fences with China. despite an ongoing Chinese-Indian border dispute that five years ago turned very deadly. Modi also spent an hour talking to Putin in the Russian president's limousine. demonstrating India has other powerful friends if it can no longer count on U.S. support.
¶ Ukraine's Schools and AI's Environmental Cost
Children in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv have started their new school year underground. Their classrooms are located in new facilities that were built to shield students from potential Russian attacks. As air raid sirens go off, teachers and children gathering classrooms equipped with modern supplies and safety systems all three floors below ground. Kharkiv has built seven underground schools and six subway stations are now also being used as underground classrooms.
Next up, a deeper look at artificial intelligence and chat pots. We know they can be a big help when trying to find creative solutions to problems, conducting research, etc.
We also know we shouldn't rely too heavily on them, right, so that our mental muscles don't get weak. But did you know that every time someone uses a chatbot, it uses a lot of energy and resources that could potentially hurt the environment? It's estimated that... more than 2.5 billion messages are sent to just ChatGPT every day. CNN's Claire Duffy talked to an expert whose bailiwick is all things conservation. They ruminated over potentially more sustainable ways to use AI.
The data centers answering your AI questions are pulling a whole lot of electricity from local grids and a ton of water to stay cool. And the computers inside are made from rare earth metals that have to be mined out of the ground.
There's limited data out there, but some big AI companies have given us at least some indication of the resources their AI systems use. In its latest environmental report, Google said the electricity consumed by its data centers grew 7% in 2024 compared to the year prior, although it said emissions were falling thanks to investments in clean energy and making its technology more efficient.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has written that one chat GPT query uses just about 0.34 watt hours, about what a high-efficiency light bulb uses in a couple of minutes. But OpenAI also says that more than $2.5 billion messages are sent to ChatGPT daily. So if you do the math, every day ChatGPT is using enough energy to keep that light bulb running for more than 9,500 years. Google estimates the average text question to
its chatbot Gemini uses slightly less, about 0.24 watt-hours. Part of the challenge is that AI systems demand a lot more resources than earlier computing models. According to the studies that I ran on open source models, it's 30 times more energy for a generative model compared to an old school, like traditional model for a task like web search. We're still using Google. We're still using Bing. The fact that we're switching out.
tasks that were traditionally done in a much more kind of efficient way with generative AI and then multiplied by the amount of people that uses these tools every day. That's what really worries me because the interfaces are the same, but the back end is so much more. energy and resource intensive and we don't see that.
So for consumers out there who are trying to be mindful about the impact of their AI usage, how do you go about that? The good rule of thumb, if a model does a single task, it's gonna use a lot less energy. For a lot of people it's become ChatGPT for just about anything, and that's where environmental costs add up. We should be using multiple platforms, multiple tools, and I think that that's a healthy practice to have as a user.
¶ Titanic Discovery and Heroic Rescue
10-second trivia. The RMS Titanic is one of the most famous shipwrecks of all time. How long was the ship? 750 feet, 883, 930, or 657 feet? You are cruising if you set 883 feet. The Titanic was the largest movable object in the world when it was built. Today, Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas holds the record at 1,197 feet long, a football field longer than the Titanic.
See you, Nick. This week marks the 40th anniversary of a landmark discovery stemming from one of history's most famous disasters, the RMS Titanic, which famously sank during its maiden voyage in 1912, sat undisturbed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. more than 73 years. That all changed on September 1st, 1985, when a team of scientists led by Bob Ballard did the unthinkable, finally locating the elusive wreck.
Whoa! Where is that the stern? That's a bow. It's like a boiler! It's like a boiler! Yes. Yes. Fantastic! The crew used cutting-edge prototype technology of the time, including remote vehicles that could livestream video from miles below the surface. Ballard also became the first person to visit the wreck that year via Alvin, a crewed submersible. that took two hours to reach the seafloor. And the story gets more unbelievable.
Decades later, Ballard revealed that the entire expedition had actually been a cover for a top secret military operation, did you know? Ballard convinced the US Navy to help fund the tech that made his expedition possible, provided he helped them. locate a pair of downed nuclear subs. The discovery even resulted in a new word being added to the Oxford English dictionary.
Ballard coined the term rusticles to describe the unique formations covering the wreck, the result of bacteria feasting on the metal hull. Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10. Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they wear shoulder pads. An army football player and his dad are being hailed as heroes after pulling a man from a car crash just moments before the vehicle burst into flames. Second year West Point.
cadet Larry Pickett Jr. and his dad sprang into action when they came across this crash. The pair immediately rushed to the driver's aid as first responders were still on their way to the scene. I was thinking I'm just grateful that we got him out on it. Because I really don't think that anybody else because when we pulled up there's already somebody standing there, but they saw the electric wire and I don't think that they wanted to go get them.
And their quick thinking may have saved the driver's life. Just moments after they pulled the driver to safety, the car burst into flames. West Point has praised the father-son duo's selfless act as an embodiment of army values, a sentiment echoed by... Larry's father. There was no discussion. My son just jumped right into action. He mentioned his military training kicked in and we pulled him out. He took care of him on the side of the road until the police officers got there.
And then the fire department got there shortly after. Awesome stuff. Also awesome, Mr. Pitt's class at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan for submitting our Your Word Wednesday winner. bailiwick, a noun meaning a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work. Thank you for boosting our vocabulary today. Our first shout-out today goes to...
The Nighthawks at First Flight High School in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, rise up. Friends in Miss Christie's and Miss Sam's class, I see you. And this shout out goes to... Miss Martin, Dr. Tony, and all our friends, the dragons at Springdale Park, spark. In Atlanta, thank you for making this part of your day. I see you, Zachary. Go on out, make someone smile. You might be the spark of joy someone needs. I'm Koi Weir, and we are CNN 10.
