Tepper School Hosts the 2025 Carnegie-Rochester-NYU Conference on Public Policy

The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University hosted the 2025 Carnegie-Rochester-NYU (CRNYU) Conference on Public Policy from May 1-3. This year’s theme was “The Consequences of AI Use on Society and Policy,” bringing together experts to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping public and private sectors. Dr. Ariel Zetlin-Jones, Associate Professor of Economics, organized this year’s conference for the Tepper School. Considering this year’s theme, he reflects, “Given the rapid pace of AI adoption, we brought together experts who can help policymakers understand how AI is reshaping production, trade, labor, and credit markets. Our goal was to share an overview of frontier research into policies that promote the appropriate AI uses while mitigating potential adverse consequences to energy consumption and implications for inequality.”

The event opened with a panel discussion titled “A Policy Agenda for AI." The panel was moderated by Laurence Ales, Professor of Economics and Senior Associate Dean for Education at the Tepper School, and featured Fabio M. Natalucci, Chief Executive Officer of the Andersen Institute for Finance and Economics; Elad Roisman, former Commissioner and Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and Chester Spatt, Pamela R. and Kenneth B. Dunn Professor of Finance at the Tepper School.

The following themes emerged from the panel:

• The Role of Regulation: Panelists explored the crucial question of where AI necessitates regulatory intervention and where it should remain unencumbered. While Roisman cautioned against a "one-size-fits-all" regulatory approach, the consensus advocated for the importance of human oversight in financial markets and policymaking, and that AI should serve as a tool to augment, not replace, human judgment.
   
• Understanding AI's Application: The panel stressed the need for policymakers to understand the current and potential applications of AI across various sectors before proposing regulations. Professor Spatt raised a question regarding the ownership and liability associated with AI algorithms and devices. Roisman also questioned the traditional reactive approach to regulation, often triggered by market events, in the context of rapidly advancing AI technologies.
   
• Global Implications: Natalucci pointed out that the impact of AI regulation is likely to be more pronounced in advanced economies compared to emerging markets. He also raised concerns about potential risks such as cyber threats, the emergence of new market correlations, and the possibility of algorithmic collusion affecting market integrity.

The two-day conference included sessions on the impact that AI has on knowledge work, production work, and cognitive inequality; the effects AI has on job creation and labor markets and social responsibility; and how AI can influence pricing, markets, and consumer welfare.

The CRNYU conferences seek to stimulate policy relevance and empirical research in economic science, encourage the exchange of scientific ideas among analysts with different approaches, and generate greater understanding by academic economists of practitioners' environments. Next year’s conference will be from May 8-9, 2026 at the University of Rochester, New York.