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than half of everyone in the u.s. will face dangerous bitter cold temperatures today. plus, the january 6th committee's final report is out which says that donald trump is to blame for the violence on capitol hill. we'll have more. for the first time, vladimir putin uses the word war to describe his invasion of ukraine. live from london, this is cnn newsroom, with max foster and bianca nobilo. we begin with a huge winter storm bearing down across much of the united states. more than half of the u.s. population, about 117 million people are under windchill and winter weather alerts across the country. dangerous rigid conditions, bitterly cold wind, snow and ice making trip for treacherous travel conditions ahead of the holiday weekend. in south dakota, more than 500 miles of two interstate highways are closed because of

high winds and blizzard like conditions. air travel is becoming even more chaotic, as more than 2700 flight scheduled for today have already been canceled. airlines are giving weather waivers, so travelers can change flights without penalty. here are a couple of travelers and what they had to say. >> they canceled the flight as everyone were boarding because the wings froze, they said. >> it was a little crazy at midway. everyone was trying to get out before the storm. >> here's where things stand right now, several governments have declared states of emergency, while over a dozen states have started in lamenting emergency measures. nearly every state is under some kind of winter weather alerts, including windchill, ice, and snow. amtrak has been forced to delay or cancel passenger services to some lines in the midwest and northeast, and u.s. president joe biden is urging americans to take the storm extreme we seriously.

the storm could leave many people stuck in homes, or stuck on roads for several long hours, and some have been stocking up on food and other necessary supplies at stores is the strongest closer. >> my milk and eggs, so i'm ready. >> aaa says 102 million people are expected to travel by road over the holidays, and they are advising drivers to pack emergency supplies to the question. >> make sure your vehicle, if you are going is equipped. check your battery, check your emissions, check your tires. make sure the roads are not, you know, dry, that you are not using cruise control, that you are abiding the speed limit or going lower if you have to. really equip your vehicle with extra things. you know, water, snacks, blankets and coats, flares, emergency kits. be prepared for anything. >> a blizzard warning will go into effect soon for the buffalo new york, area as snow

and 70 mile-per-hour wind gust are expected this morning. the bomb cyclone complain combined with heavy lake effect snow and high winds will lead to dangerous and worsening conditions. let's go to cnn meteorologist bradley reyes. >> that's right, max, already below zero fahrenheit temperatures across the northern plains and into the ohio valley. what matters is, when we factor in the wind, feels like temperature or windchill if you will. in des moines, it feels like 36 below. wind gusting over 35 miles per hour. indianapolis? 41 mile-per-hour wind gusts right now with sustained wind of 25 miles per hour. windchill warnings are in effect from texas to the ohio valley and back to the mid atlantic. in jackson, mississippi, temperatures are expected to be below freezing for over 80 hours.

we are dealing with the possibility of frozen pipes, so if you things you can do is keep your house at 65 degrees and make sure you open up the cabinet doors, let warmer air circulate around the pipes, and, lift that faucet, let it drip. make sure that water is moving as well. another thing to keep in mind, wind of 30 to 40 miles per hour with temperatures below zero. it feels like 35 to 45 below. we are talking about frostbite dangerous, in that exposure time, you can get frostbite within 5 to 10 minutes. we have wind chills below zero for at least three days through the ohio valley booklet at chicago, 28 below is what it will feel like on friday. not only that, we are also dealing with snow. many of us, it does not take much, dealing with stronger wind , with that snow, blizzard warnings are in effect from the northern plains to the great lakes, up into parts of new york, now. along the lakes, where visibility will drop down to a quarter of a mile or less. keep

that in mind. the heaviest snowfall expected to be up around the great lakes as the wind, that cold wind moves over warmer waters and we could pick up roughly 2 feet of snow, especially toward buffalo and watertown. watch that closely as we move into the holiday. current snowfall through the ohio valley, heavier bands expected reports of columbus into cleveland as we are getting that transition, now. not only through the ohio valley, but right on up into the great lakes as we talked about with like enhanced snowfall, which causes big travel issues, not only on the roadways, so if you can, stay indoors, the best advice i can give you, but also into these more populated areas, some of our bigger airports like boston and new york and back into chicago. >> thank you very much, we will be watching it very closely. while millions of americans are bracing for the worst weather, still to come, people in the plains and midwest are already feeling the frigid impact. lucy kavenaugh has the latest

from denver, colorado. >> reporter: millions of people experiencing the peak of what the weather service is calling a once in a generation event. others, still bracing. the bomb cyclone producing ice and snow is impacting more than 105 million people across the country. winter alerts from coast-to- coast, for snow and icy conditions. dangerous cold has over 150 million people, or nearly half the u.s. population under windchill alerts, with below zero wind chills as far south as texas. in the midwest, more than a foot of snow and possible blizzard conditions expected. south dakota's famous sioux falls, frozen. in some parts of kansas, the national weather service is reporting wind chills below negative 30. there, and in the planes, the cold is expected to stick around for christmas weekend. likely making it the coldest

christmas there in roughly 40 years. >> reporter: even those used to the cold in wyoming are feeling the arctic blast. >> it is cold, but when it is negative 20, it's another level. >> reporter: slick ice and snow making driving conditions dangerous. abandoned vehicles, stranded drivers, -- >> people who have things in their vehicles, kits, ready to be deployed if they get stuck in their vehicles and where. >> reporter: weather hazards causing road closures in various parts of the country. zero visibility making it hard for emergency workers to respond. >> hand warmers, some socks, a beanie, and some hiking products , some water and a blanket. >> reporter: in colorado, outreach workers trying to provide help and keep people warm. >> they said it will be cold, so i get off the streets. if it is an extreme emergency, they would be right on in. >> reporter: buses of people seeking shelter at the denver coliseum to stay out of the freezing cold.

>> reporter: it may look like things are getting back to normal, the sun is out in denver, finally, but looks can be deceiving. it still feels incredible cold. the city of denver is opening up new warming centers. there is some relief on the horizon, we are expecting temperatures to go back up, slowly but surely, on friday, and by christmas day we could be seeing highs of 50 degrees. of course, there is less relief in sight for the rest of the country. cnn, denver. in just a few minutes we will be taking a closer look at flight cancellations growing by the minute. do stay with us. the house committee investigating january 6th has released its final report. the panel concludes that anyone responsible for an insurrection should be barred from holding public office. the report goes on to detail a concerted effort by trump and his allies to overturn the 20/20 election. chapter titles include the big lie, and a coup in search of a legal theory. the committee outlines a scheme

to submit fake electors from states trump lost, and at least 200 attempts by trump and his inner circle to pressure state election officials. the report includes testimony that trump wanted to walk from the white house to the capitol on january the sixth, and it says that the white house should have counseled canceled drums rally at the ellipse because of the risk of violence. more now from cnn's justice correspondent, jessica schneider. >> reporter: nearly 2 years after the january 6th attack on the capitol, the committee tasked with interest getting all aspect of that attack has released its report . it comes nearly 2 days after the committee expected to release it, all because of typographical errors and printing issues, but, it is nearly 900 pages with the confidence of narrative of what occurred before, during, and immediately after january 6th. most importantly, here, it also lays out 11 specific recommendations from the committee about how various agencies, and even congress,

can move forward. key among those recommendations is the committee pointing to a section of the constitution, the 14th amendment, section 3, which clearly states that anyone who is engaged in an insurrection can be disqualified from holding office. the committee said that constitutional provision should be enforced. while they do not say it directly, the take away here is that they believe that donald trump should be barred from holding office again, especially because he has now announced his plan to run in 2024. the committee, separately, is also pushing for passage of the presidential election reform act which would make it clear that vice presidents do not have the power to overturn elections, of course, as trump pressured pence to do. the committee is also recommending that federal intelligence and security agencies take a much closer look at the dangers of violent extremism, especially since members of the proud boys and oath keepers were at the forefront of the capitol attack. plus, there is a host of new details in this 800 page

report, including about how john eastman first contacted donald trump at the white house on december 23rd, 2020, almost exactly 2 years ago, to fill trump in on his plan to get pence to overturn the election. of course, pence refuted refused to do that. also how a little-known attorney named kenneth cheese bro allegedly came up with the plot to appoint fake electors in battleground states to claim that trump had actually won in those states. crucially here, the fake elect or plot is exactly what is now being investigated by state prosecutors, including in georgia, also federal prosecutors from the special counsel's office. those prosecutors with the special counsel's office had even served subpoenas to election officials in several battleground states as part of its ramped up investigation. so, the committee wrapping up its report, with a potentially long way to go on the criminal side. jessica schneider, cnn, washington. >> aretha martin is a civil

rights attorney joining us from los angeles. thank you for joining me. there is no legal guilt here, we should make that clear, but the report makes it very clear that the riot would not have happened without trump. >> no doubt about it, max. this 800 page report makes it very clear that there is one person responsible for the january 6th insurrection, and that one person is donald trump. they make that very clear, without ever really mentioning his name. and they provide for referrals to the department of justice, for criminal charges to be filed against donald trump and they lay out a roadmap for prosecutors, giving insurmountable amounts of evidence leading to the conclusion that donald trump incited the riot that we saw

take place, the insurrection that we saw on january 6th, that he refused to accept the reality told to him over and over again, by his closest aides, the reality that he had lost the election, that there was not any widespread voter fraud, and what we know now is that he, despite that information kept plowing ahead, trying to overturn the will of the people. >> because he engaged in an insurrection, or, an individual engages in an insurrection, under the constitution, they can be barred from office but that is how they are trying to have an impact, here? >> no doubt, trump has already announced that he is running for president again, and this report makes it clear that anyone engaged in the kind of insurrection that he was engaged in, and incited the insurrection in the way that he did, that they should be barred from running for office, the issue is, in this case, recommendations many of them had to be passed by congress,

and we know that there is majority republican control over the house of representatives. it is not likely that they will take up the recommendations of the committee, but nonetheless, this report is stunning in how it lays out, methodically, the premeditated insurrection which occurred on january 6th, and how donald trump was at the center of that premeditated insurrection. >> you have followed donald trump closely over the years, you have followed these hearings as well very closely. was there anything, ultimately, in the reports that really surprise you, something that you did not know? >> i think the level of detail mentioned in the reports are stunning. some of the main conclusions were a part of the executive summary released a couple of days ago. but, can -- particularly as it

relates to cassidy hutchinson, this staffer for mark meadows, really acted in such a brave and courageous way, pushing back on an attorney that was hired by the trump team, an attorney that asked her to commit perjury without saying those words out loud, but encouraged her not to give truthful answers to the committee, and she basically fired this attorney, moving forward, giving accurate and honest testimony to this committee. she is to be commended for her bravery, for standing up to donald trump and his team. a lot of the details in this report we would not know if she had decided to capitulate, to follow the unethical, and perhaps even illegal advice given to her by an attorney hired by the trump team. >> if donald trump or his team have done something illegal, the justice department would stop that process, right? how does it move forward from here?

>> you are right, the committee does not have the power to indict donald trump. it has made referrals to the department of justice, and it has laid out a roadmap for the department of justice to follow. we know there is a special counsel that has been appointed by the department of justice, and by every indication, they are moving forward with grand jury investigation of donald trump's actions, as it relates to the january 6th insurrection. we also know that georgia continues in its investigation, it's criminal investigation of donald trump, and his efforts to pressure election officials in that state. so, by some estimations, march or april of next year, we may see a former president of the united states actually being criminally indicted. >> this is a huge story, aretha martin, thank you for giving us your analysis. russia's president makes a big statement by using a three letter word. he calls the war in ukraine a war, we explain what that means

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this just in to cnn, south korea is reporting that north korea has fired at least one ballistic missile. military officials in seoul say the official missile landed in the waters between the korean peninsula and japan. this marks the 36th day this year that north korea has conducted a missile launch. ukrainian president zelenskyy says he is delivering the goods after his visit to washington. we are waiting for a confirmation that he is back home, following a trip that involved an address to the u.s. congress. he also secured a new batch of u.s. military aid including the advanced patriot missile defense system. those weapons will be put to use by ukrainian troops on the front lines. >> reporter: ukrainians remain defiant, as heavy fighting continues. russian forces still pounding the area as they have been doing for months, now, driving

most of the residence away. these days, it is eerily quiet, here. silence broken only by rushing soldiers, and russia's deadly bombardment. only a handful have stayed, playing the russian artillery roulette, gathering in underground shelters, power, water, heating, only available at aid stations like this. there is wi-fi, too, a chance to call family or get a warm drink. for dennis, it is this that keeps them going. we are holding on, surviving, he says. his father stayed behind, and so did he, betting on ukraine. we hope our soldiers will defend us, he says. to make sure they are able to do so, president volodymyr zelenskyy traveled all the way to washington. >> to ensure we are not just a stronghold that holds back the russian army, but for the russian army to completely pull

out, more cannons and shells are needed. >> reporter: the ukrainian president thinking the u.s. for its support, and the decision to supply more advanced antiaircraft missiles. >> if your patriots stop the russian terror against our cities, it will let ukrainians work to the foal to defend our freedom. >> reporter: a predictably less enthusiastic response from russia, moscow saying the biden patriots will only prolong the war. this is a rather old system, russian president vladimir putin said. those who are doing this are doing it in anger. >> reporter: biden firing back, releasing a video of sergei schwager reassuring troops in

ukraine. >> reporter: keep calm, he says, everything is fine. everything is fine. zelenskyy seemingly ending the year on a high, with more military aid on the pipeline, but on the front line, no break. still no cause for celebration. cnn, kyiv, ukraine. >> vladimir putin did something that could land average russians in jail. he called the invasion what it really is, which is a war. it is the first time that we know of that he has used that word in public. there is a bit of a debate here about whether it was a slip of the tongue but this person does not make slips of the tongue. >> absolutely. president putin is someone who chooses his words carefully. we have seen that throughout russia's invasion of ukraine, they have consistently referred to this as a military operation, a special military

operation, rather than a war. as you laid out, this is something that could land ordinary russians in jail. censorship lobbying signed by president putin back in march essentially makes it illegal to refer to this invasion as a war, but now president putin appears to have done just that. take a listen. >> translator: our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but on the contrary, to end this war. we have been, and will continue to strive for this. >> and early u.s. assessment of this is that it may well have been a slip of the tongue, that is according to one u.s. official. it may well have been an accident. of course, officials will be watching to see if perhaps it was an accident or if we will see a shift in rhetoric from president putin and the kremlin over the coming days and weeks. of course, this is a concern because it comes just on the back of that landmark meeting between ukraine and president volodymyr zelenskyy, and president biden, providing

ukraine with the long sought after patriot missile defense system. president putin says this is in vain. however, this is a significant development, something that president zelenskyy has been pushing for, for some time now. as we heard from the kremlin, they say this will go no way toward bringing a resolution to the war, but rather, they say, increase the suffering of the ukrainian people. >> a complete change in mindset for a lot of russians who have been indoctrinated, to think of it as a military operation which is different from a war. >> absolutely. this is a huge pr operation, we have to remember that. the russian people have had their media censored. we have seen foreign news agencies being censored over the last few months. this is a bit of a shift, now. the question is whether it is a slip of the tongue, or whether we may see president putin using that terminology going forward, whether the kremlin and now begins to characterize this as a war, and whether that

translates to a shift in tactics. >> thank you. still ahead, airports are slammed as travelers try to beat the bomb cyclone. the number of delayed and canceled flights is already in thousands, and it is climbing. these are live images of chicago right now, where the current windchill factor is minus 33 degrees. better. cough? fever? better. mucicinex all in one relieves 9 symptoms in 1 dose. celelebrate your comeback with $5 cash back.

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an unprecedented winter storm is moving across much of the u.s. right now. more than half of the u.s. population, 170 million people are under windchill and winter weather alert across the country. dangerous frigid temperatures, utterly cold wind and snow and

ice making the treacherous travel conditions ahead of the holiday weekend. the southern border with mexico, officials are warning migrants about the dangers of plunging temperatures. the department of foment security posted a message on social media warning that u.s. borders are not open and that migrants ought not put their lives at risk. a few minutes ago, we said more than 2500 flights in the u.s. were canceled today, now that number tops 2800 flights. leaving travelers stranded with few options other busiest time of the year, we have more details. >> reporter: the delays and cancellations here at chicago international airport keep piling up. more flights keep getting in. new york, l.a., san francisco, the numbers are in the thousands, and will continue on friday. about a quarter of flights have

been canceled here in chicago, which is a crucial airport for connections. it is a major hub for american airlines, it is the biggest hub for united airlines. i got to go behind the scenes with united airlines network operation center. it is working around the clock trying to make sure that the passengers make their connections, listen now to some of the passengers that heeded the advice of airlines to try to change their trips to earlier departures. >> the lines are huge, sir, you know, it takes a lot of time. >> be patient and plan ahead. they are doing the best they can. so far so good for us. we came early enough to hopefully make it and we hope our plane will take out today before we are delayed. >> reporter: did you change your plans at all? >> we pushed our flight up and left the house at least an hour earlier than usual. >> reporter: airlines advise travelers to download the app,

that will give you the latest ups information on delays and cancellations. the final report from the house committee investigating january 6th concludes that donald trump or anyone inciting an insurrection should be disqualified from public office but the panel released its final report on thursday which outlines a coordinated effort by trump and his allies to pressure state election officials, submit fake elect source to congress, and overturn the 20/20 boat. it also says the former president peddled false claims that the election was rigged to raise more than $250 million. let's bring in richard johnson, he is a senior professor of u.s. politics, there was a lot of taken from this report? what is the headline for you? >> we are still digesting it but i think the big headline is that, donald trump is squarely the protagonist in this story. this is not a story about

people around trump, going rogue, going off message, doing things without the presidents knowledge and so on. trump is the one who is driving this entire story. he wants, in a sense, to overturn the election because he is embarrassed that he lost. and that people around him -- there are some who are stringing him along, but also quite a few who know that what he is saying is wrong, what he is doing is wrong, but they are trying to placate him. in a sense, this is -- the most valuable outcome of this is the finger pointed squarely at donald trump. >> according to his supporters that would not be surprising, would it, it placed in his narrative in a way that the establishment is out to get him. you can always use this as part of his campaigning. >> certainly come in the context of this highly partisan

political culture in the united states, that would be a likely response from trump. i think, from the perspective of this report, you know, the house has done what it can do in the context of the partisan environment. it was an achievement to get to republicans under that committee, to cooperate. but, you are right, that the next step, really, whether or not there are steps to criminally prosecute, that is trickier. that will be more politically fraught for the justice department, and they have to tread more carefully then this house committee was able to do. >> the committee effectively says, you know, january 6th wouldn't have happened without donald trump. that is very difficult to prove, isn't it, in a court of law, when he wasn't actually there. >> that's right. and, the standard, of course,

for a court of law is beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a higher standard than this committee which is about weight of evidence. this is an extremely impressive report, this is a report which i think will go -- if not quite to that level, maybe close to the level of the warren commission, you know, over 1000 interviews, extremely extensive inquiry, but, at the end of the day, this is almost from the perspective of prosecutors, this is a symbolic set of evidence. this is not the case that a prosecutor can just put out, prosecutors will have to hold the cards a bit closer to the chest, as time goes on. of course, the timing is out of sync, here, because, the house needs to move on this, because the democrats are about to lose control of the house and the committee would be certainly

wound up if they tried to press on until next month. >> what about the idea of being barred from office because he broke the constitution by essentially prompting an insurrection. that is not a legal decision, is it, that is something politicians will decide. >> that's right period therefore, i think it is going to be rather unlikely, given the republican control of the house of representatives. i think, any kind of statutory response to this, is very unlikely. i suppose that you could possibly see a world where, you know, maybe a decade or two ago, if you republicans could have peeled off and you could've gotten something for you, but now, i think given the sharp partisanship in the house, republicans will be calling the shots there for the next two years, and they are not going to want to do anything to

destabilize donald trump. >> in terms of all the legal challenges facing him right now, which do you think is his most threatening? >> i think that some of the stuff that is going on in new york, some of the tax stuff and business dealings, his tax returns released this week, all of that is embarrassing for him, and i think that he takes some of that quite personally, because he is not -- you know, he is sensitive about the idea that, perhaps his business success is not quite on the level that he wanted to be. some of that will also cost him money, of course, which i think is also going to be damaging for him. in terms of where the political ramifications go on this, i think, with him standing as a candidate, it is going to make things harder for the federal prosecution, for the justice

department and special counsel jack smith, to be really to heavy hitting with him, while we are in the context of this presidential election. and so, if nothing else, his candidacy, at the moment, is almost an insurance option, and it turns out he has pursued that. >> thank you. the u.s. senate passed a massive one point trillion -- $1.7 trillion spending bill which includes about $45 billion in emergency aid to ukraine and nato allies, plus another 38 billion to response to natural disasters within the united states. it also overhauls the electoral count act of 1887 and bands tiktok on federally issued electronic devices. chuck schumer hailed the bipartisan democratic progress. >> most of what we did was bipartisan and i believe that

will continue. i believe that is where the republicans want to be, to try to work with us where they can figure does not mean we will always agree with them or get everything we want but i think you will find bipartisanship continuing in the next congress, more than prognosticators believe. i think you're going to be surprised by how much poll there is on regard -- once he is elected, to move to the middle, rather than to the hard right. and if he is a smart politician he will know that is the right place to go. >> the house must sign off on the bill before government funding runs out at the end of the day today. republican leader kevin mccarthy could delay a vote on the spending bill, but the measure is expected to pass. an unprecedented wave of covert it is spreading across china, with hospitals and crematorium's overwhelmed by bodies. white experts why experts warning this could be trouble for the u.s. and rest of the world.

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after nearly 3 years of stringent cobit lockdown, china relaxes its zero covert strategy and health experts warning the rest of the world should brace for the arrival of any new variants that could prove new gained more dangerous than previous ones. christie, how is china dealing with this latest spike? >> it has been scenes of chaos as china unwinds from years of zero covert policy and now concern is rising over the true scale of covid-19 infection across the country because official figures in china are unreliable for a number of reasons. one of them is that china is carrying out less testing as it takes this u-turn on its zero covert strategy, but also, it recently narrowed the definition of what constitutes a covert related death. for this month so far, china has officially reported only eight covert related deaths. that is it. it is a remarkably low number, especially given the mounting

evidence of surging cases and surging death across the country. in beijing, you have scenes like this, hospitals overwhelmed with patients but also, our team in beijing has filmed evidence of a cramped and crowded crematorium, there. is billowing plumes of smoke billowing over the furnaces, they also filmed and witnessed piles upon piles of body bags and containers there. there are reports that medical professionals across the country are now going to beijing to help out, medicines are running out of supply, and residents are concerned and scared. one resident, there's a statement, shares her concerns with us. she said within the past five days, i have had many symptoms, medication to treat sore throat, coughing and fever, none of the medications are available, she tells cnn.

u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is calling on china and other countries to provide information about covid-19 outbreaks. he says he has a number of concerns, economic and public health concerns and also he is deeply concerned about the possibility of new variants are merging. this is what the u.s. top diplomat said. he said anytime the virus is spreading or moving around there is the possibility that a new variant develops. that variant spreads even further and comes and hits us with other countries around the world. secretary blinken spoke to the foreign minister of china over the phone about the covid-19 outbreak in china as well as other issues, and we just got a statement, back from china's ministry of foreign affairs, they said this, china has always shared relevant information with the international community and it will continue to do so. back to you, max. >> is there a sense that this was almost inevitable when you have such a widespread lockdown, when it eases, you are going to have the spread of viruses, aren't you?

>> china was not ready for this. look at the reasons why it held onto the zero covert policy for so long. medical instructor capacity was not there, especially in more rural parts of the country, in addition to that, relatively low vaccination rates, especially among vulnerable populations like the elderly. if they were vaccinated, they were vaccinated with china's homegrown vaccines, which have a measure of efficacy but they are not targeted to deal with the omicron variant like messenger rna vaccines are. pfizer biontech shipped a collection of vaccines to china, intended for the german ex-pat population there. there are people happy the opening is taking place,

revenge spending like the world has never seen before, but in the meantime, we are going through this very difficult period . we should keep in mind that temperatures in the northern hemisphere, especially in the north, very cold right now. people are prone to respiratory diseases, and respiratory diseases are prone to spread. this is a very vulnerable season for the zero covert policy to be suddenly let loose. a huge population is not properly vaccinated, they don't have the booster shots they need to ride out this wave of infection spreading through the country. >> chrissy, thank you for joining us. imagine technology that does all the thinking for you, just ahead, a look at the next generation of artificial intelligence, some of the pros and cons. stick with us. dancining crew. trip for two. nail the final interview. buy or lease? masterpiece. insiside joke. arartichoke. game with h doug. brand new mug. come here, kid. gimme a hug.

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artificial intelligence is here, it is called chat gpt, which can provide humanlike, if sometimes inaccurate responses to questions. it already has more than 1 million users after debuting just a few weeks ago. tom foreman takes a look. >> reporter: allowing cars to drive themselves, composing songs that mimic popular artists, and producing this digital painting which took the top award at a colorado art show. this is all the work of artificial intelligence. computers which don't just do what they are told, but in a sense, think, learn, and create. right now, chat gpt is rattling the ai world, turning out stunningly humanoid writing. just ask douglas rushkoff, a renowned professor of media culture. >> it is writing better than most of my students right, at this point. college freshman.

so, i am impressed with that. >> reporter: how does it work? chat gpt has been filled, in a sense, with a massive amount of information. imagine the biggest library you can, then programmed and trained by humans to process and spit it out in conversational phrases. so, ask for 1000 words in the early days of automobiles, and in seconds, it responds, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, automobiles were relatively primitive by today's standards and were primarily used by wealthy individuals or businesses. ask it to write a sonnet in the style of jerry seinfeld? i'm just a standup comic telling jokes on stage. i make them laugh and that is all i do. but sometimes, life is a joke. it hits me low and i take the mic and say, who knew. it's not perfect, but it can debate, compose essays, solve math problems. well, that looks right. write computer code, answer follow-up questions, and even admit mistakes. all that means chat gpt, or

more advanced ai like it could replace people in all sorts of positions. >> this could potentially save time and resources, but it could also lead to a loss of personal connections and a decline in the quality of these types of interactions. >> reporter: we know that because everything rushkoff said right there was written by chat gpt, when asked about the potential problems with itself. >> the answer that it gave me about the dangers of gpt, that sounded like a pretty good television guest, timmy. >> reporter: sometimes, it makes mistakes and just gets things wrong. it's knowledge so far only goes up to 2021. so, if you ask it something from six months ago, it has no idea what you're talking about. but, as it continues to update and improve, this is likely to change our world in a very dramatic way. tom foreman, cnn, washington.

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