Whether they know it or not, consumers are increasingly paying for goods and services priced by algorithms, data, and artificial intelligence.

But can we trust AI to establish fair pricing, especially when critics warn of “surveillance pricing” and algorithmic systems that can be applied to maximize profits through dynamic, personalized prices?

In this episode of CRA Sessions: AI in Practice, host and Competition Vice President Keler Marku speaks with Maxime Cohen, a CRA academic affiliate, McGill University professor, and author of Pricing in the Age of AI, to explore how AI is transforming pricing strategies and what that means for businesses, regulators, and consumers.

Together, Keler and Professor Cohen unpack the evolution of pricing processes, and the concept of surveillance pricing, a term often used to describe pricing systems that rely on consumer data. While public discourse focuses on the risks of these practices, Professor Cohen argues that the implications are more complex. The impact depends not only on the data collected, but also on how that information is used. In many cases, data can be used to improve market access and support fairer outcomes.

A key theme throughout the discussion is that fairness itself is not a single, universally accepted concept. Drawing from his research, Professor Cohen outlines multiple frameworks for evaluating fairness, including equal prices, equal access to products and services, and equal levels of consumer benefit. Achieving one form of fairness can make another impossible to attain, creating difficult trade-offs for businesses and policymakers.

Listen to the full episode to explore how AI is reshaping pricing, and what organizations should consider as personalized pricing becomes increasingly commonplace.

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 expressed in this podcast are the views and opinions of the authors and do not reflect or represent the views of Charles River Associates or any of the organizations with which the authors may be affiliated. Detailed information about Charles River Associates, a trade name of CRA International, Inc., is available at www.crai.com.

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.

In this episode of Always on: Reliability in focus, CRA VP and host Andy Dressel speaks with Willie Phillips, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), about the implications of unprecedented electricity demand growth driven by data centers and other large loads.

After decades of relatively flat demand, the pace and scale of new load are challenging planning frameworks, regulatory processes, and infrastructure development timelines across the US electric system.

Willie, now a partner at Holland & Knight LLP, and Andy discuss recent federal actions aimed at accelerating interconnection and transmission development.

Though progress is being made, both speakers emphasize the importance of flexibility, regional differences, and coordination between federal and state regulators as jurisdictional lines blur.

By the end of the episode, listeners will understand why greater alignment across regulators, markets, and infrastructure sectors is critical to ensuring the grid can support long-term economic growth while maintaining dependable, resilient service.

In the CRA Sessions podcast series Always on: Reliability in focus, CRA VP and host Andrew Dressel talks with Dr. Michael Wara, a leading authority on wildfire and energy policy. Dr. Wara is the Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Senior Director of Policy and Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Together they discuss one of the most pressing challenges facing the energy sector today: the growing threat of utility-caused wildfires and the sweeping changes required to mitigate them.

The conversation dives into critical topics such as aging infrastructure, wildfire mitigation plans, the trade-offs between reliability and safety, and why solving this issue demands a whole-of-society approach and not just utility action.

Listeners will gain insight into the technologies, policies, and cultural shifts, shaping the future of grid resilience in an era of climate-driven challenges.

In the CRA Sessions podcast series Always on: Reliability in focus, CRA Principal and host Matt Moore interviews Jim Robb, President and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), to discuss the emerging risks and challenges facing the reliability of the North American electric grid. Topics include resource adequacy, grid transformation, extreme weather, AI data center characteristics and large loads, and security.

As the head of NERC, Robb emphasizes the importance of grid security exercises, including NERC’s biannual GridEx exercises, and describes load growth due to AI data centers as “the issue of our time.”

The conversation highlights risks to the grid, a recent Department of Energy Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on large load interconnections, and improvements to NERC’s Reliability Standards Development Plan. With respect to the NOPR and large load characteristics specific to AI uses, there is a comparison to the standards and reliability oversight processes of inverter-based resources and the balance of establishing standards and practices that foster reliability without forcing significant changes on legacy equipment.

In this episode of CRA Sessions, Associate Principal Oliver Stover shares his career journey with Vice President and Practice Leader of Energy Jim McMahon. From studying mechanical engineering at Cornell University to working at ExxonMobil, then pursuing a PhD at Vanderbilt University, to now a consultant in CRA’s Energy Practice, Oliver talks about how his passion for data, modeling, and real-world impact led him to CRA. He highlights the collaborative environment, the excitement of working on cutting-edge energy projects, and the satisfaction of mentoring junior colleagues.

For students interested in combining technical skills with strategic thinking, Oliver’s story offers a compelling look at what a career at CRA can offer.