artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones. welcome to verified live, three hours of breaking stories, and checking out the truth behind them. we start with ukraine and an exclusive bbc interview with the us military chief general david petraeus. he's in kyiv now and has met president zelensky. he says the ukraine upcoming counteroffensive could be very impressive and says russia's operations over the winter largely failed. the us general petraeus commanded forces in iraq and afghanistan. he spoke to our diplomatic correspondent james landale.

he talks about the spring offensive and also towards the end, listen to his description of the russian forces, let's take a listen. i believe we will see the results of true combined arms effect, tanks protected by infantry against anti—tank guided missiles, artillery keeping heads down, engineers reducing the obstacles, breaching the fortifications that the russians have established, air defence, keeping the russians off the ukrainians, electronic warfare jaminet russians�* already not a and control, all orchestrated by very good ukrainian command and control, and using drones over the russians to attack them in depth with the precision munitions that the us and uk and others have provided. and

this is going to break, i think, the front lines. where they will do this attack, i�*m not going to speculate, although the ukrainians have said that their objective is to sever the ground lines of communications that enables the russians to go along the south—east coast into crimea. we achieved combined arms effect during the fight to baghdad, and it is terrifying for the enemy, and the difference this time of kharkiv last fall, where the ukrainians did carry out a very successful attack, is that when the lead elements culminate, after 72, 96 hours, as far as you can physically go, there are follow—on forces that will capitalise and exploit the momentum and continue this. and then i think you get the battlefield, you make a dynamic, they russians have to react, they have to move to re—establish a defensive line somewhere in the rigour of where they are, and where they were. and noting that on the russian side,

this is a force that has been battered, that many of these units have been in constant combat for well over a year, they are not pulling units offline and reconstituting them, in other words replacing the losses of people and equipment, they are just adding people to the front lines. that is not the way you produce a cohesive, coherent, well disciplined organisation, and i think therefore thatis organisation, and i think therefore that is why they are going to crack, crumble and perhaps actually collapse. and then if you can get the russian defence is really moving, then i think there are opportunities even more broadly. with more on this, the bbc�*s world affairs editor, john simpson. what do you make of that confidence, john? he what do you make of that confidence, john? , ., ., ,., john? he is the man who saved the american presence, _ john? he is the man who saved the american presence, such _ john? he is the man who saved the american presence, such as - john? he is the man who saved the american presence, such as it - john? he is the man who saved the american presence, such as it was, in iraq and got them out of there

with a certain amount of success. of course, it is perfectly possible that the russian army will simply fold up. the army itself has not been fighting at all well. these successes, such as they have been, have been scored, really, by yevgeny prigozhin�*s wagner group, completely different, with far better discipline and so on. the command system is that the russian army itself has are pretty feeble, and there is just that kind of tradition of always passing up every difficult decision to the level above you, and not taking any proper decisions, and indeed ukraine has a very good record on this kind of thing. you will recall last autumn, i�*ll they

telegraphed an attack in advance on one particular area and, lo and behold, when the time came, they fought in a completely different area and won back territory that they had lost before. all of that is true. it isjust they had lost before. all of that is true. it is just that, you they had lost before. all of that is true. it isjust that, you know, this is warfare, things go wrong in warfare, from day one, and although general petraeus sounds extremely confident, and i�*m sure he has been briefed thoroughly by all the top commanders, you know, things can go wrong. commanders, you know, things can go wronu. , ., , commanders, you know, things can go wronu. y ., my wrong. john, stay right there, i want to get _ wrong. john, stay right there, i want to get your _ wrong. john, stay right there, i want to get your analysis - wrong. john, stay right there, i want to get your analysis to - wrong. john, stay right there, i | want to get your analysis to the next bit of the interview, james landale asked about the timing of all this, we have been talking about this ukrainian counteroffensive for quite a while, so why now? let�*s take a listen. it is very clear, the ground is not

sufficiently dry, you have to be going off—road without having the tanks, which in some cases are 70 tonnes if you get the mis out there, they are not yet in the mix, so you have to have firmer ground. and president zelensky has said there are some additional armour systems that he wants to get into this false before they actually pull the trigger. my understanding is that they know what they are going to do, when you are at that point, it is just a matter of deciding what is d—day, h hour, because that is the determination that synchronises everything that follows, and keep in mind that from the ukrainian perspective, this is to become a bit of a symphony, because all of these different capabilities have to be orchestrated, they all have to do their part at the right time, and quite precisely, so therejust their part at the right time, and quite precisely, so there just in front of the attacking forces, whether it is artillery and mortars, the engineers right up with the

tanks so that when they encounter an obstacle, they can quickly breech it, defuse and so forth. and without getting into further detail, that is how you need to think about this. back to john simpson, sor little about this. back to john simpson, sorry little explanation _ about this. back to john simpson, sorry little explanation there - about this. back to john simpson, | sorry little explanation there about the timing of all of this. yes. sorry little explanation there about the timing of all of this.— the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was _ the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was a _ the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was a little _ the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was a little bit - the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was a little bit kind i the timing of all of this. yes, i think he was a little bit kind of careful in what he said. actually, i think the real reason for the delays has been that the new equipment which the ukrainians have been given by nato has been quite slow in coming forward, it has taken time to train the pilots, the tank crews, the people who are in charge of firing the longer range missiles, thatis firing the longer range missiles, that is all taken longer than they are expecting. i saw president zelensky three months ago now, in

february, and i was asking him naturally about what we were then calling the spring offensive. i suppose we will have to call it the summer offensive now. and i mean, he didn�*t give me any details, i wouldn�*t have expected that, but he was quite careful to say, it is going to take longer than we thought. the western powers have not been fast in supplying tanks or guns. it has taken them some time to get round to that, and the training takes a bit of time too. nevertheless, obviously you don�*t want to hurry these things at all, and that is what zelensky said to me in february — the most important thing is not to get it done by a specific date but to make sure that everybody who is involved in the big attack knows what they are doing and knows thoroughly the equipment they are using.

knows thoroughly the equipment they are usina. , y ., y ., are using. interesting, john, you remind me. _ are using. interesting, john, you remind me. as — are using. interesting, john, you remind me, as you _ are using. interesting, john, you remind me, as you are _ are using. interesting, john, you remind me, as you are talking, l are using. interesting, john, you remind me, as you are talking, i| remind me, as you are talking, i spoke to a ukrainian official in the last couple of weeks, talking about the delays and reasons for the delays. i asked specifically about jets and safety in the air and skies, and they were quite explicit, saying, we are not going to wait for thejets saying, we are not going to wait for the jets coalition to come together completely, in that assessment, it would just take too long to wait for full cover in the air and that they would be moving forward before that point. that seems to suggest that full control of these guys are still quite a way off. full control of these guys are still quite a way off-— quite a way off. yes, i think so. ukraine has _ quite a way off. yes, i think so. ukraine has been _ quite a way off. yes, i think so. ukraine has been very - quite a way off. yes, i think so. | ukraine has been very effective, actually, in controlling its skies, in preventing the russians from doing what they did in chechnya, what, 15 years ago? what they have been doing in syria pretty much ever

since, which is bombarding civilian centres, just smashing them from the air — very effective and very, very destructive and cynical indeed way of fighting a war. they haven�*t been able to do that with ukraine, simply because ukraine has been better in using its ground to air defences. this is really, i think you put your finger on it, this is the one question mark that hangs over david petraeus�* otherwise very positive and optimistic view of ukraine�*s chances. they are going, in a sense, too early, before they have established full air superiority, and you know, probably it will be ok for ukraine and it will score the kind of success is that it wants to,

but there is just that one solitary question mark that hangs over it all. y ., ., ., y ., question mark that hangs over it all. ., ., all. john, great to your analysis, thanks so _ all. john, great to your analysis, thanks so much _ all. john, great to your analysis, thanks so much for— all. john, great to your analysis, thanks so much for that. - here in the uk, rail workers are out on strike again. members of the train drivers�* union aslef are strking over pay and conditions. they�*re also going to walk out on saturday 3rd june. that�*s the day of the football fa cup final. members of the rmt union will strike on friday. the uk government has accused the unions of co—ordinating the strike action to disrupt major events. mick whelan is the leader of the train drivers�* union, aslef, who�*s travelled to various picket lines across england today. we asked him why the strikes hadn�*t achieved any progress in the dispute so far. we haven�*t had a pay rise for four years and anything we�*ve got we have earned

and we paid for by productivity and flexibility in the last 23 years. what somebody now wants us to do is give all that productivity and flexibility back for nothing for a 20% pay cut, and unfortunately my members don�*t want that and repeatedly said they don�*t want that. everybody we are working for has got guaranteed profits, are paying themselves millions in bonuses, are paying the shareholders millions out the profits they are making, yet the people who work for them can�*t have a pay rise because of government interference from collective bargaining. we do not work for the government or the treasury, we work directly for 16 private rail operators. we do not have this problem in scotland, we do not have this problem in wales, we don�*t have it in freight, we don�*t have it in open access, and we don�*t have it in tfl. this is a government led strike which they have started and are unwilling to solve. live now to helena wilkinson.. aye, give us idea of what has been happening. aye, give us idea of what has been ha eninu. , , aye, give us idea of what has been haueninu. , , ., happening. yes, this long-running disute happening. yes, this long-running disnute has _ happening. yes, this long-running dispute has been _ happening. yes, this long-running dispute has been going _ happening. yes, this long-running dispute has been going on - happening. yes, this long-running dispute has been going on since i happening. yes, this long-running. dispute has been going on since the summer of last year, so passengers are quite used to endearing train

strikes, train strikes today, as you mentioned, it is train drivers who are members of the aslef union, around 12,000 train drivers are striking today. we are at paddington station, one of the busiest train stations in the country. you can see passengers behind us here. there are some trains running here, about one an hour, but that is really limited compared to what we would normally see on a normal weekday. we have also got the heathrow express, that is running as normal, and the elizabeth line. but terms of thousands of passengers affected by this strike today, and as we heard in that clip there, there doesn�*t seem to be any immediate sign of any resolution to this long—running dispute. we understand that there is nothing in the diary for both sides to come together, to talk, to try and resolve this, but both sides say they are willing to try and negotiate. but from the language we

are hearing from aslef, the union, whose members are striking today, it is pretty clear that there could be more strikes on the way. but in terms of this week, we have the strike today, then on friday, members of the rmt union will be on strike, and then on saturday there is going to be another strike by members of aslef, so lots more disruption ahead. and as we have seenin disruption ahead. and as we have seen in previous strikes, it is not just on the days of the strike action taking place that passengers face disruption, it is also the days often before and after, train is not in the right place, for example, so a lot more disruption ahead, and really no sign that the dispute is going anywhere in terms of getting any kind of resolution. qm. going anywhere in terms of getting any kind of resolution.— any kind of resolution. ok, thanks for that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. a british man has died after lightning reportedly struck

while he was paddleboarding in the sea off greece. scott seddon from liverpool was taking part in water sports off the island of rhodes when a strike hit on tuesday, according to local reports. the foreign office said it was supporting his family and was in contact with local authorities. parents on universal credit in england, scotland and wales will be able to claim hundreds of pounds more, to cover childcare costs from the end ofjune. the government says anyone receiving the benefit will be able to claim back £951 for one child and £1,630 for two or more children — that�*s a 47% increase. the president of the cbi is to step down earlier than planned as part of an overhaul

of the leadership of the embattled business lobby group. brian mcbride is to start the search for his successor. let�*s look at al now, artificial intelligence. one of the pioneers of the technology says he feels he is the latest top expert to warn about its potential dangers. he says he would have prioritised safety over usefulness if he�*d realised the pace at which artificial intelligence would evolve. our technology editor zoe kleinman explains. artificial intelligence has the power to change our lives. now, one of the founding godfathers of ai wants tight rules on the sector to ensure humanity�*s safety. governments need to track what they�*re doing. they need to be able to audit them. and that isjust like the minimum thing we do for any other sector. like, you know, building aeroplanes or cars or pharmaceuticals. he said its use in the military should be banned. this is one of the worst places where we could put

a super intelligent ai. i think there�*s enough examples in science fiction and yeah, even if you like science fiction, the problem is if something goes wrong and we lose control of an ai, and it happens to be an ai that can kill people. governments have started to think about regulating. i'm hoping that we can bring people together and lead the world in safely regulating al to make sure that we can capture the benefits of it whilst protecting people from some of the worrying things that we are now reading about. that�*s the bigger picture. if all goes well, the hope is that ai will gradually become a tool that will just make our daily lives easier, helping us with everyday things like budgeting and meal plans. at work, you might suddenly realise you can�*t remember the last time you compiled a spreadsheet or made a presentation without it. there are already many examples of ai bringing benefits to society. new antibiotics. a paralysed man to walk again just by thinking about it, thanks to a microchip

developed using ai. professor bengio has pause for thought. ifeel like, you know, what used to be simple, what gave a meaning to my life and a direction and was clear, isn�*t any more. so you could say i feel lost. but in those cases, you know, you have to keep going and you have to engage, discuss, think, encourage others to think with you. society, we need to think together through what are the best options, without leaving all of the other dangers. zoe kleinman, bbc news. we can speak now to professor dame wendy hall, who is an expert in al from the university of southampton. thanks very much up hi. we heard a scientist talking quite emotionally and philosophically there, questioning whether we�*re heading in

the right direction, what your feelings on all this?— the right direction, what your feelings on all this? well, he is not the first _ feelings on all this? well, he is not the first scientist _ feelings on all this? well, he is not the first scientist to - feelings on all this? well, he is not the first scientist to have i not the first scientist to have doubts about the work they are doing. we need to stop the scaremongering. the letters are important, to raise awareness, i guess, but the key thing is that the threat of a completely existential threat of a completely existential threat with al is a long way off. we need to prepare for that, we need to be aware, as we have known all along it would be possible. if you are building machines that are more intelligent than ourselves, and they could, eventually, become a threat to us. so we have to need to present that... �* y ., ., that... are you dealing with some artificial intelligence _ that... are you dealing with some artificial intelligence taking - that... are you dealing with some artificial intelligence taking over l artificial intelligence taking over there already!— there already! yeah, the phone rin . in: , there already! yeah, the phone ringing. probably _ there already! yeah, the phone ringing, probably the _ there already! yeah, the phone ringing, probably the media! i there already! yeah, the phone | ringing, probably the media! we there already! yeah, the phone - ringing, probably the media! we need to prepare for that, we need to learn how to regulate the stuff, but

we have a lot of immediate things to worry about, like the disinformation we are getting through social media, add a! to that... sorry! i worry about the threats to democracy and technology, elections that are coming up. so there is a lot to deal with... ., �* , ,, ., , with... couldn't things like that be supercharged _ with... couldn't things like that be supercharged by — with... couldn't things like that be supercharged by ai? _ with... couldn't things like that be supercharged by al? the - with... couldn't things like that be supercharged by al? the spread . with... couldn't things like that be| supercharged by al? the spread of this information be supercharged... definitely, we are already thinking, the 0nline safety bill and things like that, it is important we get to grips with those, and we also need our government to be talking internationally. we are one of the world leaders in al, people may not realise this, we are third in the league, the us, china and us, so we have an influence in this world, for sure. ~ y ., have an influence in this world, for sure. ~ ., ~ ., sure. when you talk about regulation. _ sure. when you talk about regulation, what - sure. when you talk about regulation, what does - sure. when you talk about j regulation, what does that sure. when you talk about - regulation, what does that actually mean? companies taking a pause, not developing stuff, being told what

they can and cannot do? i developing stuff, being told what they can and cannot do?- developing stuff, being told what they can and cannot do? i cannot say that he would — they can and cannot do? i cannot say that he would be _ they can and cannot do? i cannot say that he would be able _ they can and cannot do? i cannot say that he would be able to _ they can and cannot do? i cannot say that he would be able to police - that he would be able to police that, and anyway, what you do about china? i think it is about licensing companies that are producing this technology, making sure they are testing, they are transparent about the use of data to make sure it is at least biased as possible. we need to be thinking about independent auditing. these are the things we have been saying for a long time, and we are beginning to get to grips with it in the uk, but these things take a long time, so raising awareness now is good, because there are so many opportunities with al, it is a risk—benefit analysis, but some of the things that al it is a risk—benefit analysis, but some of the things that ai will lead to will be world changing for the good, and we need to make sure we can do that without letting it become a threat in the future. i see. i think one of the things that has taken people are back, though, is the speed of the progress. now, i am sure for an expert like you, it

is a longer horizon, because you have been immersed in it, but for many people walking around, this time last year no—one was talking about al, and they have already seen such rapid advances, and that is cause for concern.— such rapid advances, and that is cause for concern. well, we have all been using — cause for concern. well, we have all been using al _ cause for concern. well, we have all been using ai all _ cause for concern. well, we have all been using ai all the _ cause for concern. well, we have all been using ai all the time. - cause for concern. well, we have all been using ai all the time. if - cause for concern. well, we have all been using ai all the time. if you i been using ai all the time. if you use google, you are using ai, the speech recognition, alexa in your homes, that is all ai, and when i was first a lecture at southampton in 1984, in computer science, we thought that image recognition, face recognition, was an unsolvable problem, and now it is easy to do. these things take a long time to get out of the lab, but basically they have been coming through for a long time, we are learning about it, but the pace has quickened in the last six months because of the breakthrough on generative ai, which is the chatgpt piece, but it uses technology that has been around for a while, it isjust

technology that has been around for a while, it is just the scale with which they are doing it, and i think it is a good thing that it is raising awareness, because we have been like profits in the wilderness for a long time, saying this could be a problem down the line, and almost the last thing stephen hawking talked about was this problem, before he died in 2018, and lots of other people have been talking about it, so the governments are beginning to get a grip of it now, and whilst we were third in the league tables in terms of our abilities, it is the us and china, we need those governments to get to grips with the regulation piece globally, and that is part of the problem. cannot thank you so much for coming on the programme, thank you. the man behind a satirical twitter account which parodies the life of a conservative mp has,

after much speculation, revealed himself. henry morris — who is not actually a tory mp but a personal trainerfrom wales — racked up almost 200,000 followers over four years as the secret tory, tweeting satirically about life as a conservative mp and even publishing a book written by the anonymous character. he explained why he finally chose to reveal his identity. because there are too many people out there who are quite eager to believe what is obviously complete nonsense. there was a lot of fake news out in the world, and i felt like i was contributing to it by muddying the waters and i thought i would take a step back. unless there�*s some weird alchemy about pretending to a tory mp which makes it really funny i reckon i can carry on doing it. (pres)for four days a year, the sunset in new york city for four days a year, the sunset in new york city does something a little special. these pictures show the sun aligning perfectly through spaces between buildings

in manhattan to cast a stunning sunset over the city which locals call manhattanhenge. just a few minutes before the sun was hidden again behind one of new york�*s massive skyscrapers. if you�*re in the area and missed it, don�*t worry, there�*ll be another chance to catch it injuly. ba rely barely a cloud in the sky in northern ireland, beautiful sunshine, but not like that further east, this is hornsey in east yorkshire, a lot of low cloud and feeling quite chilly. the satellite picture shows exactly where the cloud is at the moment, and i�*m going to show you the winds 700 metres up in the atmosphere, blowing this cloud to you, you can see a lot

more cloud still upstream in the north sea. the other thing is the cloud is three times thicker than it was yesterday, that is important because it is much more likely to hang around. when you have sunshine heading into the afternoon, you will keep it in day, but the computers might be optimistic in breaking this thick cloud elsewhere across england, even parts of east wales might hang onto it all day, and in the midlands, 13—14, feeling chilly, but warm spots in the west of northern ireland, western scotland, 25 degrees, warm in the sunshine. heading into the night time, the cloud comes back in from the north sea, thickening as temperatures drop below 10 degrees, starting to get a drizzle falling from the clouds, so again looking at a damp start to the day, probably quite extensive drizzle first thing in the morning. try as we head through the morning and into the afternoon, most places will be dry, but keeping probably quite a bit of cloud across eastern coastal counties, a better chance of seeing the sunshine pop out further

west, particularly for wales in the west midlands. into friday, generally less cloud around, so more in the way of sunshine, and in the june sunshine, that is a big impact on how the weather feels, looking at temperatures widely into the high teens or low 20s. what about the weekend weather prospects? high pressure is still there to the north—west of the uk, where it has been now for a large number of days, but feeding a lot of cloud from the north atlantic in the north sea, so something of an east—west split with western parts of the uk having the best of the sunshine, the highest temperatures, low to mid 20s in some spots, whereas further east you could see more cloud at times, and temperatures are more likely to stay generally into the teens. that is your latest weather, bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines. a former us military chief labels russia�*s winter offensive as a failure — with ukraine holding the front line against the kremlin�*s forces. a mother�*s love for her son — we speak to a ukrainian woman who crossed russia�*s border to save her child. more than 12,000 train drivers go on strike causing more