How should utilities and critical infrastructure operators prepare for a world where weather extremes are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more costly?

In this episode of Always On: Reliability in Focus, CRA Principal Matt Moore sits down with Sunny Wescott, Deputy Program Manager for FEMA's National Hurricane Program and Federal Emergency Response Official Chief Meteorologist, to discuss how evolving weather patterns are reshaping risks across the energy sector.

The conversation explores the growing disconnect between today’s weather realities and infrastructure that was designed and built decades ago. Wescott explains that planning based solely on historical weather conditions may no longer be sufficient, and highlights the need to incorporate changing risk profiles into asset management, infrastructure investment, and operational decision-making.

Wescott and Moore also explore the broader challenges utilities face as they adapt to a changing environment, including aging infrastructure, supply chain constraints, evolving insurance considerations, and growing pressure to strengthen system resilience.

Listeners will gain practical insights into emerging weather-related risks, and the strategies organizations can consider to improve reliability, build resilience, and prepare for the future.

AI copyright litigation is still brewing in the courts. The questions about how generative AI models are trained are central into a wave of high-stakes lawsuits involving authors, publishers, and some of the world's largest technology companies.

A historic $1.5 billion settlement by Anthropic delivered the first significant judicial ruling on the issue. The ruling is expected to influence how courts, litigants, and experts evaluate similar claims in the growing number of AI copyright cases working their way through the legal system.

Against this backdrop, the inaugural episode of CRA Sessions: AI in Practice, examines the issues at the center of these disputes.

This episode’s host and Competition Vice President Keler Marku speaks with Abhishek Nagaraj, a CRA academic affiliate and associate professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, about AI training, copyright, and fair use.

Drawing on his research on AI memorization and copyright, Professor Nagaraj explains why training, memorization, reproduction, and market substitution are distinct concepts, and why empirical evidence is critical to evaluating AI-related copyright claims.

The discussion examines the evidence needed to assess claims of market harm in AI copyright litigation. Drawing on economic analysis, empirical testing, and technical understanding of AI systems, the conversation explores how lawyers can develop evidence-based arguments around fair use, substitution, and the impact of AI-generated outputs on copyrighted works.

Tune in to the conversation.

About CRA Sessions: AI in Practice

CRA Sessions: AI in Practice is a podcast series that examines the legal, economic, regulatory, and technical issues emerging from the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence.

Through conversations with CRA experts and leading academics, the series helps counsel, business leaders, and policymakers better understand how AI is reshaping markets, institutions, and strategy.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of their organization and/or employer. The content provided is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice.

In this episode of Always On: Reliability and Focus, CRA’s Andy Dressel speaks with Scott Aronson, former senior vice president at the Edison Electric Institute, about how the electric power sector is navigating a rapidly evolving risk landscape.

After decades of relatively flat demand, the grid is entering a new growth era driven by data centers, electrification, and advanced manufacturing, while also facing increased cyber threats, physical security risks, and climate-related disruptions.

Scott and Andy explore how the industry’s longstanding focus on resilience through redundancy, coordination, and planning is enabling utilities to respond effectively to these challenges, even as the pace of change accelerates.

They also discuss the role of emerging technologies such as AI, which can both strengthen defenses and introduce new risks, and highlight the growing importance of physical security, including the evolving threat posed by low-cost, widely accessible tools like drones.

By the end of the episode, listeners will understand why resilience, not just prevention, is central to the future of the grid, and why building it into new infrastructure today is critical to ensuring reliable, secure power in an increasingly complex operating environment.