stuart: good morning, everyone, and welcome to "varney & company." an escalation in the u.s.-russia

confrontation. a "wall street journal" reporter has been dethe towned many moscow -- detained in moss how cow, accused of espionage. journal is a sister publication of fox business. the journal says, quote, we vehemently deny the allegations. we'll deal with that the in a moment, but the rally appears to continue. bank jitters beginning to fade althoughst the not entirely plain sailing ahead. the dow was up 300 yesterday, up another 200 the thursday morning. the nasdaq is up the same amount, two-thirds of 1%. green on the board this morning. check interest rates. the 10-year treasury now yielding firmly above 3.5%, 3.58, to be precise. the 2-year, very much very well above 4 percent, you're looking at 4.16 now. as for bitcoin, back above $28,000, 28,6, to be precise. oil, let's go through the fast,

$73 a barrel on oil. keeps on moving up. and gas, that that keeps on moving up as well. $3.48 is now the national average on regular, that's up another 2 cents overnight. all right, that's the markets. politics. a bombshell from democrat senator joe manchin. in an op-ed in the "wall street journal," he rails against president biden. he feels cheated after agreeing last summer to tackle our massive debt and our energy security, manchin writes a that bidenen is now going the other way. that could spell trouble for bidenen's tax and spend and go green policies in the senate. new fox polls spell trouble for the president, more than half disapprove of his policies and just over half want to replace him on the 2024 the ticket with somebody else. maybe that's why the president has issued a glowing tweet corrected at vice president harris. he calls her a remarkable woman. china takes another step many if its bid ore place america as the leading global

power. they have a trade deal with brazil to the use china's currency instead of the dollar the, and we're all waiting to see what china does as taiwan's president visits america. it is the thursday the, march 30th, 2023. it's opening day. all 30 teams play today, first time that's happened since 196 #. and keith hernandez will be with us later in the show. lauren: what's your team? stuart: what's my team? the astros, they keep winning. "varney & company" is about to begin. [laughter] ♪ ♪ stuart: all right. fox news alert, let's get right to it, russia has detained a reporter from the "wall street journal." his name is evan and he's being i -- accused of espionage. what many do we have on this? lauren: he will be dedetained until may 029th, information

constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the russian military industrial complex. if you read his last article in the "wall street journal" on tuesday, service the blistering. russia's economy is starting to come undone. he said the western sanctions are killing the russian economy and with that putin's ability to improve the quality of life for the people living in russia. if he is convicted, that's 20 years many if jail. and just to put this in the broad scheme of things, this is the first journalist with an american outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in russia since the cold war. stuart: looks like retaliation from that article, but let's not go any further than that. thanks very much, indeed. new fox polls show 56 of voters do not approve -- 56% of voters do not approve of biden's policies. mike huckabee, former governor of arkansas, joins me now.

governor, what cothese polls tell you about 20 to 24 thesome. >> my mother used to be very careful that she never said curse words, but she would sometimes say this is a mell of a hess. and that's what i would say for democrats. the truth is if you ask democrats, 81% of them say joe biden's doing a great job which is dramatically different than the rest of the country. 56% say he's not doing a good job. but here's the interesting twitter, if 81% of -- twist. if 81 president say he's doing a good job, how can only 52% want him to run again? overall in the country he's so underwater that that it's almost impossible for him to be reelected unless his numbers dramatically improve. stuart: another fox poll shows mr. trump's levered desantis, governor desantis, that is growing. 54% of republicans now support him. do you think that the possible

indictment has helped trump, governor? >> well, it hasn't helped him personally, but i think politically it has because people see through this. they realize that donald trump is the most persecuted, prosecuted person in political history. nobody has had to face the headwinds he has faced, and he's like that little punching dummy that we used to play with as kids. you'd hit it, it'd pop back up. that's trump. he doesn't give up, he count quit. and i think it's one of the things people admire about him. he's willing to fight the deep state, fight harold, and he just count give in to this kind of ridiculous and very, very politicized, weaponized pressure from government agencies and the deep state. stuart: got it. governor, thank you very much for being with us, and mell of a hess will live many -- in my head for a long time to come. [laughter] you're all right, governor. thanks a lot. >> thanks. stuart: the late read on the economy came in about an hour

ago, half hour ago. lauren, this is the fourth quarter of 20 the 2 #, right? lauren: so it's the old -- stuart: looking backwards. lauren:st the important because of the banking situation we have now. for the end of last year, growthic thed down 2.6% growth in the fourth quarter. consumer spending dropped off, a gain of just 1%. now you have banks right thenning lending and consumers -- tightening lending and consumers who might have pulled back at the end of last year might have a hard time getting crept, so they might cut back even more. stuart: 2. 6% annual growth in the economy looking backwards. okay, got that. now, looked at futures this morning, very much in the green again today. dow's up about 186 odd points and the nasdaq's up 81. ryan payne with us to watch the market this morning. you know, i'm seeing a lot of green in stocks recently. do you think we've started a new bull market? >> your show last october, just for the record -- [laughter] and, stuart, i'm not sure whose purple tie is more handsome

today, mine or yours. stuart: mine. no question about it. >> wow. no debate. stuart: get on with this for the bull market. what have we got? >> bottom line is, look, all the selling that was done, you pretty much saw that exhausted last year. the banking crisis that we've seen has been contained for the most part. this isn't like the great financial crisis. the fed basically backed pretty much every deposit in the country which gave the kind of sablization we need because the market's been going up through this banking crisis. and it all comes down expectations. expectations have been so low, stuart, if you look at sentiment, it's just been so bearish, and meanwhile, companies have cone relatively well. their profit margins have slunk a little bit -- >> rusk a little bit, but that should abate when you except to the later in this year. so earnings this year, i think, are going on the pretty good based on expectations, and you've got $1.8 trillion sitting on the sidelines of investors just sitting in cash, waiting, not listening to what i've been

saying every week on your show. so i think at this point, you're going to get some fomo, money's going to come back into the market. stuart: we've9 got countless tech the companies announcing layoffs, just about across the board. does that set them up for getting better profits and a higher stock price later in the year? lay off now, reap the benefits later? >> well, i think they're reaping the benefits now, because if you look at the tech sector the, ironically,st it's been the best sector so far this year. nasdaq's up 15, 16% for the year. but valuations in tech are still extremely high, and i would argues it's very dangerous for investors to put the investment back into tech the, i'd be very careful here. i'd diversify around tech. i think they're in a longer term recession even with the cutting right now and the stocks aren't cheap. stuart: you're killing me, ryan. look at microsoft, it's up another $3 this morning. >> enjoy the ride while it lasts, brother. lauren: meta's up 75 percent the

year, the nasdaq is in a new bull market. stuart: okay, i'll ache that. we're -- i'll take that. we're out of time. lauren: that means i win. [laughter] >> everybody's winning today but me. stuart: thank you, ryan are. good stuff. it's opening day for major league baseball. there are 15 games today, and abby hornacek is in houston, the home of the astros. set the scene for us, please. >> reporter: well, stuart, the energy here is absolutely electric. people are excited about march madness, but being here in the city of the reigning world series champions, the houston astros the, people are even more excited. we've got first pitch coming up later today, this is the first time since 1968 that all 30 teams will be playing on the same day, and i am lucky enough to to be joined by two members of the shooting stars, we have stephanie and she's going to tell me more about what's happening later. chanel, tell me about first pitch. >> we have a lot of exciting

people coming out tonight. megan thee stallion is throwing the first pitch, mark wahlberg. we're very excited tonight. >> reporter: and what is street fest? i keep hearing about this. >> hey, houston. tonight the our game starts at 6:08 p.m. central, get out to minute maid earlier because- 3-6 we're going to have the a big pep rally for the houston astros. we're defending our championship title, so they're going to have the live bands, food trucks, inflatables for the kids, face painting, balloons, you name it. >> reporter: can adults go in the inflatables too? >> they absolutely can, but you do have of a game ticket to get into street fest. get out there 3-6. >> reporter: you guys are on the sidelines, right by the dugout. what is the energy like in minute maidsome. >> we're up on the dugout, and our fans really don't need help. houston comes and they show out every single night. >> reporter: we'll see if they show up tonight, and you can

start watching these games on fox sports on saturday, so a lot to look forward to, stuart. stuart: indeed, there is. abby hornacek, thank you very much, indeed. opening day. later in the show i'm going to be the talking to two-time world series champ keith her man if december, roughly 10:40 on show this morning. look at futures again, till got that green. good week so far. cow's up 170, nasdaq up 80 points. coming up, senator ed the cruz, boy, did he slam dhs secretary mayorkas. roll tape. >> he may be the worst witness i've ever seen. he will not answer a single question. it shows contempt not just for congress, but for the american people. stuart: i've got to go back to the, mayorkas couldn't even explain what the cartel wristbands were. didn't even know about them, so he says. foreman acting dhs secretary the chad wolf will be with us shortly.

general mark milley warns that china is on a disturbing path to becoming militarily superior, so why do we have a defense budget with swamped by inflation? congressman mike waltz joins us next. ♪ up against the wall, there's something about it all. ♪ when today knock to you down, you're going to get back up ♪ the new chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam who make...? ...everyday products... ...designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder - that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that... ...i need a breakthrough card... like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more... plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases! and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas... ...a brilliant reality! the new ink business premier card from chase for business. make more of what's yours.

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the president has been here many times before, so don't overreact. here's john kirby. >> the people's republic of china should not use the transit as a pretext to step up any aggressive activity around the taiwan strait. the united states and china have differences when it comes to taiwan, but we have managed those differences for more than 40 years. president biden and this administration has been keeping the lines of communication open with beijing. we want to see that the don't on this issue -- we want to see that continue on this issue and other issues across the board. lauren: i question how open the lines of communication are here. the taiwan president will meet with the house speaker next week in california. how will china retaliate to that? will it be aggression in the taiwan strait? will they sanction mccarthy or refuse to talk to the u.s.? because that's what happened the last time. stuart: yep. diplomatic confrontation all over again, it's gonna happen.

lauren: we're prepared. stuart: let's get back to the "wall street journal" reporter detained in russia, gentleman on the left-hand side of your screen, congressman mike waltz is with us. congressman, this looks like escalation in the u.s.-russia is shah fight, so how should we respond to this? >> well, i tell ya, stu the, what we shouldn't have done -- [laughter] is reward russia for when they took a celebrity basketball player to then give them in exchange an international arms dealer known for arming cartels, criminal groups and terrorists all over the world. so when russia sees nothing but upside whenever they get a win, that means they just move on to the next american. and, by the tway, we can't -- the way, we can't forget poor paul whale withen who was left -- paul whelen who was left behind in the deal. terrorist groups see nothing but

upside and no if consequences for illegally detaining americans. they're going to keep doing it because at end of the day, they always get something for it. stuart: okay. let's move on to china. joint chiefs' chair mark milley warning that our military is in danger of being eclipsed by china's. watch this. >> we are probably not going to be the able to do anything to stop, slow down, interrupt, interdict or destroy the chinese nuclear development program that they have projected out over the next 10-20 years. they have a national goal to be a global, to be the global co--equal of the united states, superior militarily by mid sent9ly. they're on that path to do that, and that's really disturbing. that's really bothersome. stuart: congressman, why is biden's defense budget not keeping up with inflation that will effectively cut our defense spending? why are they doing that? >> stu, i agree with general milley that the chinese military is starting to eclipse us in key

areas like hypersonics. their navy is larger than ours, their space force is launching more than us and the rest of the world combined, but i disagree there's nothing we can do to stop it. you and i have talked about that they are financing this military buildup on our money. that they are resource aring it with our intellectual property that they're stealing left and right from academia, research institutions and through cyber. i think there's actually a lot we can do, and they're using our components to put into their missiles. so i think there's actually a lot we should and could do and we have to do to slow down their military buildup, because they're doing it, again, on our money. and the other piece is we need a world war ii-style investment into our industrial base, ship shipbuilding, wrench turning, electronics. this is no time for defense cuts on either side of the aisle. stuart: i doubt that you're holding your breath to get that kind of increases in defense

spending from this administration, but i've got to the end it there. >> well, we've got the pursestrings. they have, you know, constitutionally it's on us. stuart: got it. congressman mike waltz, always good. thanks for joining us, always appreciate it. >> thank you. stuart: the air portion secretary is warning about -- air force secretary is warning about it. what did he say? lauren: he's worried about china's growing nuclear arsenal. >> i don't think i've seen anything more disturbing many if my career than the chinese expanse, ongoing exchance of their nuclear -- expansion of their nuclear force. for decades they were quite comfortable with an arse arsenalling of a few hundred nuclear weapons to act as a deterrent. can and the the expansion that they're undertaking puts us into a new world where you have three great powers, essentially, with large arsenals of nuclear weapons. lauren: china, russia and the u.s.

defense department estimates china will have 1500 warheads by 2035, and he -- talking about keeping the lines of communication open -- he says right now you need to keep talking with china. stuart: i saw retired four-star general is jack keane on our air this morning on fox news saying, look, if the russians and the chinese amalgamate their nuclear force or they're combined, they have far more nukes than we coand nuclear superior i. lauren lauren and iran and north korea. you have a big, new axis of evil. stuart: back to futures, please. dow's up about 200, that's premarket. green on the screen. the opening bell is next. ♪ ♪

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stuart: tree and a half minutes to the opening bell, and it looks like we're going to have something of a rally. meanwhile, d.r. barton is here with us watching the market this morning. all right, d.r., same question i'm going to the ask everybody today, is this the the start of

a new bull market? >> well, stuart, it might be the continuation of the new bull market. i like to think maybe last fall, in october, we might have hit that, hit that low that we're seeing in the market. and i told you that a few times, that i would be very surprised if we went back and eclipsed that low. so, yeah, i like this as the start of a new bull market. there's a lot of good things, reasons why i thinking the continue. -- i think it can continue. stuart: why are you buying mastercard? >> i think heading into the summer we are going to see one big item that gives me some hope for the market as well, 5.1 trillion in money market mutual funds, stuart. that's higher than even at the top peak level back in the covid easy money days. so we've got a whole bunch of cash that's still on the

sidelines that i think can come into consumer spending -- hence, the mastercard pick -- and also to keep the market buoyed here which is a big surprise to the a lot of people, that we've kept going up despite the banking crisis. so i think those are two tailwinds that can help us a lot. stuart: give me your reasoning again on why you think the existing bull market, the one we've just entered maybe, whyst the going to continue. give me the reasoning. >> well, i think that you're right, stuart, that we have just entered it. in the nas darks it closed up -- nasdaq, it closed up 20% off its lows yesterday. why do we continue? the fed is looking like we're getting to the end of rate increases. not maybe in the next cycle, but maybe by june. and also, stuart, we have a ton of cash on the sidelines, more money in money market mutual funds than we've had at any point in history.

stuart: okay. nothing on the banking scene that worries you about the immediate future? >> i think in the near future, stuart, we could see another stumble or two because the fed has raised rates until they broke something. they had -- svb and all of the other bank problems that we've had are the result of that. raising so quick, so fast. and background be -- it could be an issue, but i think, again, you hit the nail on the head. near term, not for the intermediate and longer term. i think the fed has cone a good job of backstopping that banking problem. stuart: d.r., thank you very much is. they're clapping and cheering, and we're about to open this market. we're going to go up again, at least if the futures are anything to believe. we're looking at a gain for the dow, and now we just have started trading. guy presses the button and off we go. you're looking at green across the board. dow at this point, with not if

all the dow 30 open, it's still up a half percentage point, 172 points. 32,890. at this moment, 27 of the dow 30 on the upside. only mcdonald's ask one i can't read is on the downside. united health. only two losers. the rest are winners. how about the s&p 500? up again, .62% right there. and well above the 4,000 level too. nasdaq, well above the 12 is the ,000 level -- 12,000 level, a gain of .70%. big tech across the board on the upside except for meta and alphabet. alphabet's down 1 is.3% but amazon's up 1%, microsoft up 1%, apple reaching 161 this morning. there's start with apple. we know they've got a big developers' conference coming up, i think it's early june. lauren: june 5th. stuart: is this where they release virtual whatever it is? lauren: that that's the expectation the, that they could release a mixed reality headset,

or so that's augmented and virtual reality together. even more dizzying, if you ask me, because you see the physical if world and then the immersive world kind of payment. stuart: that's guaranteed seasickness. lauren: yeah. and it's a play on the metaverse. my question is if meta is pulling out a little bit of their big pivot and some other companies like disney are saying we're bailing on the metaverse, why is apple going all in? but this would be their first if major hardware that they would be selling in eight years since the watch, and it's the real estate for companies to come in and sell their apps and their content. stuart: i'm sure it'll be good, i just wonder about people wearing goggles. stuart: apple seems -- lauren: apple seems to do things better than rivals. if they can perfect it and make it ease of use, more comfortable, i'm with you, it's a little uncomfortable. stuart: show me netflix. they're going to expand their video game service.

lauren: this is a bloomberg report. they looked at the code, and netflix actually has a small mobile gaming unit, and heir planning to do that on television. and then your remote control could, your tv remote control or your phone, rather, could work as the game remote control. it's kind of cool. i think the reason the stock is up 3% is something that i was told last week. a bank of america report said in other countries netflix is really cracking down on password sharing, and it's working. the no one's bailing. they're just paying to continue with the service. and wells fargo said something similar today. so i think they have strength in their subscriber base and their con contented -- content. stuart: and let's not forget mark mahaney on this program said netflix goes to $400 a share. how about electronic arts? another video game organization. they've announced job cuts, and i believe, lauren, they're also cutting office space.

lauren: they are. they did not specify where. you can assume san francisco, but they kid not say that. obviously, real estate is expensive. so are employees. and is the video game industry slowing? i thought it was recession-proof but maybe not. so this is the senate because electronic arts -- this is significant because they're the first video game publisher to announce these layoffs. 800. if you look at tech in general, 536 tech companies have laid to off 157,000 workers. it's still more. stuart: and they're well paid folks too. look at boeing, please. i know they were planning their first the as central launch. is that still on? lauren: it's delayed until july 21st at the earliest. they're partnering with nasa to send the starliner flight crew into space. they kid this back many 0 the 1, no crew, unmanned. apparently, there's issues with the parachute system. yeah, if i was going up into

space, i'd want the parachute to work. it's not just a regular parachute. stuart: you're in space. [laughter] let's have a look at disney, please. we know that they're cutting 7,000 jobs. i understand that 300 of these job cuts will be in the streaming business in china. lauren: isn't that interesting? because you can't stream disney+ in china, yet they have workers there, and 300 of them from that unit are being laid off. it's all about part of that $5.5 billion restructuring plan that bob iger has announced. he wants disney+ to be profitable. it's lost $10 billion since its inception, and he wants it profitable basically a year from now. stuart: got it. layoffs -- here we go. lauren: more. stuart: roku, i think this is their second round of layoffs. lauren: you're right. it keeps trickling in. this is another round, 200 now, 200 in november, that's 400 workers. like electronic arts, they're also closing some of their office space. they have office space right

here in times square and in california. they came out and told you exactly why, advertiser dollars. everyone's cutting back, and there are consequences of that. tiewfort stuart every time these companies announce layoffs, tech companies, the stock seems to go up because investors think they're positioning themselves very well for when the economy start to expand and cobetter at the end of the year. set yourself up now, the stock goes up. it happens across the board these days. lauren: bad news is good news. stuart: okay. five minutes into the session, let's look at the big board, 165 points higher, almost exactly one-half of 1%. dow winners, who are they this morning? i'll tell you, intel. whoa, it's on the move. $32 a share. disney at 98. walmart, 146. ibm, 131. no big tech on the temperature top of the dow list. pay com software on the s&p, i don't know many of these -- oh, philip morris and carnival.

why don't we have a cruise line on there? of course we do. jd.com, china stock, etc., etc. net flux. they appeared on that -- netflix, they appeared on that list. lauren: and amd. stuart: yep, okay. chip stock doing well. the 10-year treasury, where's that yield in whoa, going up, 3.57%. gold, where is it? anywhere near $2,000? closing in, 1985. bitcoin, $28,000 the, just a little more than that. oil, $73, 74, $73 per barrel right now. nat gas still -- $2.15 per million british thermal units. my goodness me, we thought it was going to be a lot higher than that. but we had a mild winner. the average price for a gallon of gas up 2 cents overnight, up 5 cents in the last two days. $3.48, is your number. california, $4.82. coming up, president biden tweeted a glowing review of his vice president, kamala harris.

he call her a remarkable woman who has shattered barrier after barrier. what does that mean for the biden-harris team in 2024? bill hemmer's going to take that on. the world health organization says hell healthy kids and and teens, you don't need covid shots. that's a complete reversal. we have a doctor to clear it up. the tech world warns that new a.i. could pose a risk to society. an mit physicist is one of them. he signed the let or calling for an a.i. pause. haas he's going to be on the show, and i'm going to ask him, what are you worried about? we'll be back. ♪ ♪

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stuart: yeah, let's talk tiktok, shall we? senator rand paul announced he will try to block his colleague, senator josh hawley's, bill to the ban tiktok. what is the problem? lauren: senator rand paul says banning tiktok mean we're acting just like china. >> there are the two main reasons why we might not want to do this. the one would be the first amendment to the constitution. speech is protected whether you lake it or not. i think -- like it or not. i think we should beware of those who use fear to coax americans to relinquish our liberties, to regulate our first amendment rights. >> would the senator from kentucky entertain a question? >> i object. >> i have never before heard on this floor a defense of the right to spy. i didn't realize that the first amendment contained a right to espionage. lauren: yep. perfectly said. stuart: yeah. lauren: they both make points,

but the question is, now what, right? you do have another bill by senators mark warner and john thune that would ban other technologies from other countries in addition to tiktok in the china, so it count just single out one -- it doesn't just single out one country. stuart: i don't know the significance of this, but seinfeld actor jason al alexander is threating to leave twitter. lauren: he doesn't want to pay for that but check mark april 18th when these changes are set to go into effect. here's his tweet, without the blue check mark, anyone can allege to be me. so if i lose that check, i will leave this platform. hmm, are other people going to refuse and leave, all the people that you want to be tweeting because of their pull, their, you know, their stature? so -- go ahead. stuart: well, musk is taking a big gamble here. if he insists on that, people will leave. lauren: i'm going to give rare

criticism right now. he says i need to do this because i need to get rid of the bot swarm on tiktok, but is that, i mean, really? or is he really saying you only have a voice on social media if you pay to have a voice on social media? stuart: if you pay and get the blue mark, that means nobody can imitate you. lauren: technically, yes, that's the goal, but already the other ways that that people can imitate you and get the blue check mark. stuart: he's taking a gamble, that's the way it is. stuart: only time will tell. elon musk says tech the leaders need to take a pause in the development of artificial intelligence. he claims they are locked in an out of control race. grady trimble on capitol hill. you speak to the lawmakers there. are they looking to to regulate artificial intelligence? can they regulate it? >> reporter: well, stu, it's certainly something they're looking at, though it's not exactly clear what artificial intelligence regulation would look like.

lawmakers do question though whether a 6-month pause which is, of course, what elon musk, steve wozniak and other tech the leaders are calling for, they wonder whether that's necessary or even possible to mandate. >> that's a call from industry leaders to other members of industry. that's not something that congress -- what would that look like for congress to say stop working on a.i.? that's not a law that you can pass. >> reporter: so that's congressman that used chatgpt to deliver a speech on the house floor to highlight the need for safe and ethical a. i. research. if congress does move to regulate a.i., lawmakers warn it should do so in a way that doesn't stifle innovation and allow other countries, particularly china and russia, to get ahead of us. >> saying that we're going to completely stop development of a.i., i think, is a little shortsighted. we know that unscrupulous actors seeking economic gain are going

to continue that development. we know foreign adversaries seeking gains over our national security are going to continue that developmentment -- development. >> reporter: you might question whether lawmakers will be able to tackle a.i., stu, when they haven't been able to regulate other areas of big tech. i can tell you that some members of congress share that kept sit. stu? stuart: understood. thanks, grady. mit's max tegmark joins me now on the phone, he signed a letter with elon musk to pause 56789i. development -- a.i. development. can you explain in plain, non-technical english what scares you about a.i. development? >> sure thing. this letter does not call for stopping a a.i. development. it should continue, it should do all the great stuff, it just calls for stopping systems that are more powerful than -- [inaudible] crypts ever more powerful --

creates ever more powerful systems that are ever harder to control concern. stuart: well, what worries you about ever more powerful systems? what could they do to us, our society? >> the ceo of open a.i. said himself in the "wall street journal" yesterday that, kind of speaking to the choir because he's been for a long time also saying there are real threats here. you know, we are trying to build machines that are ultimately smarter than humans in all ways, that's the goal. and if you talk to other species and ask them what's it like to have to share planet with a species that that's smarter than you and doesn't care about you, you know, you could ask your me beyonder that would friends -- neanderthal friends,st the inconvenient. [laughter] and we have so much wonderful stuff that we can cowith the a.i. that's not smarter than humans, that's dumber than us. stuart: honestly, can we concern

you're asking for a pause in the development of more powerful machines, more powerful, okay, got that. can you do that? wouldn't you have to get all big tech companies like microsoft involved and say, okay, we agree to the pause if? do you think microsoft would pause? they just spent $10 billion on artificial intelligence. >> absolutely. sam altman himself and other tech leaders there, they have all said that at some point when they get too close to human a.i., they want to pause and make sure that it's done safely. but the thing is no company can pause alone because competition will just eat their lunch. and by putting pressure on them from outside, it makes it possible for them all to slow down a little bit together so that we can get on the upside of this and not go off the cliff. stuart: okay. >> and also for society. you know, i love the free market, so i really don't like 40 monopolies. and what's going to happen if a

company gets to superhuman intelligence before anyone else is we're boeing to get the biggest monopoly history has ever known. stuart: okay. >> and democracy as we know it, and i think this is something i just don't want to -- stuart: i asked what you were scared of, and you told me. it's a threat to democracy as we know it. very interesting. max, come back soon, please. we want more on this, and i think you know a lot about it. mit's max tegmark. next, sharis trump, no relation to the president, says students' free speech is under threat on college campuses. >> students face an ever growing, ever present threat on campuses, administrators working to chill and silence their speech. our universities are failing miserably at the one thing they are being paid posh about the amounts to do -- exorbitant amounts to do. stuart: i'll agree with that, but look at the outrage at stanford. maybe the tide is turning, i hope so.

sharis trump will be here later. sam bankman-fried back in court accused of a $40 million bribe to chinese officials. we're live outside the courthouse with the latest on that, and we'll be back. my husband and i have never been more active. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome

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is back many court odd the over allegedly bribing chinese officials. connell mcshane's outside the courthouse. take us through the new charges please, connell. >> reporter: yeah, serious stuff on the top of everything else. as you say, bribery-related charges and the jail time, when you add everything up, that that sam bankman-fried is facing now is really starting to add up. by our count we're up to 160 years, the possibility of 160 years behind bars for sbf. now, let's put up -- and you're look now at these charges, these new ones. accusations that he paid a $40 million bribe to chinese government officials. now, prosecutors say the purpose of that was so so they would unfreeze a billion dollars in crypto that was in his hedge fund. so that would be a violation of federal anti-corruption law. altogether, bottom of the screen, you're up to a 13-count indictment stemming from the collapse of ftx in november. that's why he's back here in new york or will be this morning,

we're waiting for him at the courthouse. about an hour from now, 11 a.m. ian time, is when he'll be making the appearance and hear about these new charges from u.s. district court judge louis kaplan in his courtroom. it was judge kaplan who also agreed to new bail terms for sbf designed to make witness tampering a little more challenging for him. for example, he's been issued a new cell phone but it doesn't have internet capabilities, one of those flip phones, just texts and calls. also has a laptop, or but they have monitoring software on it to make sure there's no funny business tried there. plus he's not allowed to use his parents', you know, phones or my of their electronics. -- any of their electron is. remember, he's been say thing there in home confinement. and i think some people have been wondering how this 31-year-old who's been facing all these charges and apparently lost everything, can pay his legal bills. "forbes" has reported he gave his father back in 2021 more

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