60 Minutes’ new conservative hire ended the show’s season opener with a nod to its controversial changes during a startling warning to viewers.
Ross Douthat, 46, was hired by MAGA-coded CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, despite not having any TV experience. Douthat, a conservative and devout Catholic, spent 17 years as an opinion columnist for The New York Times. His book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, was released last year.
Douthat’s debut on Sunday’s 59th season launch episode saw him appear in the closing segment, “The Last Minute.” In it, he warned viewers of the immediate threat posed by AI, citing a former Anthropic employee who quit the tech company and said artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity within a decade.
“You don’t have to believe that prophecy,” Douthat said in his segment, but said the “narrow window” required to ensure AI is safe for humanity is needed this year, not in the next decade.
But it was one of his closing lines that raised eyebrows online.
“That clock is ticking, and so is ours,” Douthat said, as the show’s trademark ticking sound effect aired under him. “For almost 60 years, it has meant the same thing. Journalism you can trust. Where we’re headed, we’re going to need it.”
The statement was pointed out by CNN’s media analyst Brian Stelter in a post on X.
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment.
The line was the only reference to the show’s controversial changes in the lead-up to the newest season.
Weiss oversaw a major overhaul of 60 Minutes, which led to an exodus of anchors and producers who cited the show’s attempt to please the Trump administration.
Veteran 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley was fired in June after a blow-up with CBS management. He accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes and claimed she had been brought in to dismantle it.
Sharyn Alfonsi had a story on El Salvador prison CECOT pulled by Weiss at the eleventh hour last year, and her contract was not renewed.
Cecilia Vega, who was fired in May, has detailed multiple examples of attempted interference in her stories.
“Never in my career until now have I felt that those edits, those suggestions, came from a place of misinformation or politics,” Vega said in July. “That’s the difference.”
The imminent warnings over AI from Douthat and 60 Minutes fly in the face of President Donald Trump’s latest blasé comments on the technology.
Speaking on Sunday in Ireland, Trump said, “We can put guardrails, we can do this and that, but I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that... shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen,” Trump said, as reported by the Associated Press. “But whoever wins with AI wins.”
The president was questioned about AI again on his way back to the U.S. on Sunday. One reporter asked whether Trump had spoken to tech leaders about the new concerns, suggesting he seemed to “downplay” any fears.
“I’m not downplaying, but it’s going to be more good than bad, by a lot,” Trump said on Air Force One. He then admitted he does use AI, saying he “didn’t want to get into” his particular use of the technology, despite regularly filling his Truth Social feed with AI slop.
Sunday’s series return instantly drew criticism for a softball interview with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the U.S. military’s rescue of a weapons systems officer stranded in Iran.
Comments online saw the interview labeled as “propaganda” and “state TV.”
While Douthat appeared on the season opener, there was no mention of other new additions Sebastian Junger, Gianna Toboni, Trevor Phillips, or Ariel Levy.
In a review of Sunday’s episode, Variety pointed out that “The Last Minute” may have been retained under the show’s new regime because it has a regular sponsor.
One veteran television executive told Status in July that the idea of Douthat serving as a 60 Minutes correspondent was “a joke.”
