This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Steel and Silicon: The Future of U.S.-EU Innovation On October 8, 2026, the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) hosted “Steel and Silicon: Allied Innovation for the Next Century” at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, DC. The event focused on U.S.–Sweden trade relations, technological advancement, AI policy, and cooperation between the European Union and the United States. With Sweden ranking as the ninth-largest foreign investor in the U.S., the conversation centered on strengthening the two countries’ trade and commercial ties. Congressional AI Priorities The first panel brought together U.S. representatives to discuss technological advancement, particularly in AI. Speakers stressed the urgency of AI development, noting that China is only about six months behind the United States. They described this as a bipartisan concern, pointing to China and Russia as shared challenges. While they viewed AI advancement as essential, they also emphasized safety and security. They highligh...

Reflections from Georgetown's “Magnifica Humanitas” Panel, by Julia Johanna von Rüden.  On September 9, I attended "AI, Catholic Social Teaching, and Pope Leo's Invitation to Dialogue with the World" at Georgetown University, a conversation that impacted my own ethical perspective on AI more than I had expected . The event, convened by Georgetown's new president, Eduardo Peñalver, was moderated by Kim Daniels, director of the university's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. The panel brought together Archbishop Gabriele Caccia (Apostolic Nuncio to the United States), Vilas Dhar (Patrick J. McGovern Foundation), Molly Kinder (Breakwater Initiative), Anna Rowlands (Durham University), and Jasmine Sun (The Atlantic).  The anchor for the discussion was Pope Leo XIV's recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas ("Magnificent Humanity"), which calls on institutions, especially universities, to help ensure that AI serves the common good ra...

As a summer Intern at Creative Investment Research, I recently attended Georgetown University’s webinar, Magnifica Humanitas: AI, Human Dignity, and the Common Good. Leaders in Catholic theology examined Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical on artificial intelligence. The discussion proposed a challenge to listeners to look beyond AI capabilities to judge the morality of how it should be used. One theme from the event stuck with me: the choice between building Babel or building Jerusalem. It expanded the lens with which I view both professional pursuits and healthcare discrepancies.  Babel or Jerusalem?  When asked for her biggest takeaway from Magnifica Humanitas, Argentine Catholic Theologian Emilce Cuda highlighted the call for humanity’s choice in the age of artificial intelligence. We will choose to either build a new Tower of Babel or build the walls of Jerusalem.  The metaphor comparing the formation of Babel to Jerusalem provides a framework for understanding the imple...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its second estimate of first-quarter 2026 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), showing that the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.6% , down from the advance estimate of 2.0%. While growth remains positive, the revision reflects softer consumer spending and weaker investment than initially reported. At the same time, corporate profits continued to rise, highlighting a widening gap between large firms and smaller businesses. For Black- and minority-owned businesses, the latest GDP data paints a mixed picture. Economic growth continues, but the benefits remain unevenly distributed. Slower GDP Growth Means Slower Revenue Growth The downward revision in GDP was driven largely by weaker consumer spending and reduced inventory investment. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, making it the most important source of revenue for many minority-owned firms. This is particularly important because minority-own...

The latest data on U.S. economic growth tells a story that looks strong on the surface—but uneven underneath. First-quarter 2026 GDP growth came in at roughly 2%, with a major driver being a surge in artificial intelligence (AI) investment (1.5%). Data centers, server infrastructure, and software systems are powering a new wave of private-sector expansion, with nonresidential investment rising sharply—up nearly 8.7% in the quarter. This is not a typical business cycle story. It is a structural shift. The question is not whether AI is driving growth. It is who is being left out. AI as a Capital-Intensive GDP Engine AI’s current contribution to GDP is heavily concentrated in capital formation: Massive buildout of data centers Explosive demand for server equipment and chips Increased spending on cloud and AI software infrastructure Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Oracle are leading this expansion. From a GDP accounting standpoint, this shows up as a surge in private in...

The debate over how to regulate artificial intelligence is gaining momentum and yet a coherent path forward remains elusive. Two recent forums, one hosted by Politico and another by Axios, revealed just how divided policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders are. While both events emphasized the US's race against China, they diverged in sentiment. Politico’s arguments centered on ideology, global competition, and free speech, while Axios drilled down on jobs, transparency, and industry responsibility. At the Politico forum, much of the discussion revolved around America’s global standing in the AI race and its ideological battles at home. Sriram Krishnan, President Trump’s AI senior policy advisor, branded himself a “realist,” rejecting both “doomers” and “accelerationists.” Yet his rhetoric leaned accelerationist, as he dismissed California’s push for AI safety laws despite calling his own stance “regulation-first.” Krishnan framed AI as a “Sputnik race,” cautioning how it woul...

As the world struggles to achieve only 35% of its Sustainable Development Goals , a new technological disruption threatens to reshape the very foundations of governance. Dr. Yasar Jarrar's analysis reveals that SDG 16 —functioning government institutions—may be the critical bottleneck preventing progress on all other goals. With AI poised to create both unprecedented innovation and inequality, governments find themselves caught between the promise of technological advancement and the peril of being left behind. The challenge is no longer simply about adopting AI tools for public services, but about fundamentally preparing governmental structures for a world where artificial intelligence becomes ubiquitous.  The timeline for this transformation is alarmingly compressed. By 2040, an estimated 10% of the population will consist of robots, chatbots, and automated systems, potentially displacing entire employment sectors overnight—from taxi drivers to various government roles. Yet most...

Last week, (6/10 and 11) Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosted its AI Expo (AWS Summit Washington, DC - Generative AI solutions) where top tech companies demonstrated how artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping industries. From data organization and legacy code transformation to complex scientific modeling, each firm offered a unique glimpse into how AI is being applied today—and where it might lead us tomorrow. Nvidia had one of the more interesting demos; they're using multiple AI models to handle specific tasks with existing research and data. One example: their software took a set of medical research notes and built a scale model of a protein. IBM showed off a system that updates outdated code to work on modern platforms. Datadog is using AI to boost how it collects and organizes data from websites. Other companies are also finding creative ways to use AI for software protection, data analysis, and development. Takeaway:  With AI’s rapid development, it’s exciting to imagine th...

Connor Stout, left and Gabriel Philipp, right. At the 2025 Politico Energy Summit on June 10th, leading lawmakers, CEOs, policy advocates, and former regulators gathered to dissect the energy future of the United States. Beneath the technical language and party lines, a powerful theme emerged; namely that the U.S. is heading into a period of intensifying energy demand, regulatory turbulence, and geopolitical competition. While consensus formed around some core issues, deep divisions remain over how to meet the moment. The Upcoming Energy Crisis: The unofficial theme of the summit was that the U.S. needs more energy in the upcoming decade. Nearly every speaker touched on the idea that the current energy infrastructure will not be capable of supporting the growth of artificial intelligence, data centers, and onshoring of manufacturing. AI, in particular, dominated the conversation. Industry leaders stressed that without a rapid expansion in power generation the U.S. could lose its techno...

The IRS is on a mission to modernize how it operates, aiming to make the tax experience smoother and more efficient for everyone. They’re focusing on bringing in digital tools, cracking down on fraud, and ensuring everything stays above board in terms of compliance. With a team of over 8,000 dedicated people, the IRS is trying to strike the right balance between pushing forward with innovative ideas and managing the risks that come with them. They’ve laid out a game plan that dives into their goals, the hurdles they’re facing, and how they’re planning to evolve their systems with AI and other digital solutions to better serve taxpayers. Strategic Goals Fraud prevention is right at the top of the IRS's to-do list. They're tapping into AI and data analytics to spot suspicious activity early on and keep taxpayer information safe. But it's not just about security—the IRS also wants to make the tax experience more user-friendly. They're working on digital solutions that ...

Introduction.  As artificial intelligence (AI) advances and permeates various aspects of our lives, the question of how to regulate it becomes increasingly pertinent. To chart the best course for AI regulation, it is essential to learn from past experience with other emerging technologies. In this regard, social media platforms offer valuable lessons on what works and what does not when it comes to developing a legal framework for innovation. In this blog post, we explore four key lessons from social media regulation that can guide the path to regulating AI.  1. Congress Needs to Be More Tech-Savvy. One of the most significant challenges in regulating social media was the apparent lack of technical understanding among policymakers. During the 2018 Senate hearing with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, many senators appeared unable to ask informed questions about the company's data privacy practices (Lapowsky, 2018). This lack of tech-savvy hindered effective regulation, as many la...

Chat GPT is an "artificial intelligence" or AI tool with the ability to create sentences or language expressions that it has not been previously exposed to or "learned." It does this based on constant learning and comprehensive reasoning. Chat GPT can only generate responses based on training data, and the source of training data is not clear. This means relying on  information provided by Chat GPT is a risk.  The main shortcomings of Chat GPT are as follows: Chat GPT lacks creativity because it generates responses based only on training data.  It sometimes exhibits an unclear understanding of human situations despite having a large-scale learning database. It lacks the ability to understand and process using common sense reasoning and knowledge. It has the disadvantage of not knowing recent information because it has been trained on data up to 2021. Chat GPT is promoted as a tool to increase human productivity. In order to properly realize its value, more human kno...