The idea for this conversation was born from alarm. At the news that the US Treasury Secretary and the Chair of the Federal Reserve had called a meeting with the CEOs of the twenty largest banks in America to talk about threats to the financial system from emerging frontier AI models, Tim had questions: what about the community banks, the credit unions, and the CDFIs—the financial institutions that serve low-income communities and small businesses in America? When will they be invited to the meetings on how to defend their systems against AIs that can exploit software vulnerabilities with unprecedented ease and speed? And globally, are the regulators in middle-income and developing countries also holding meetings to discuss how they can defend against these threats? Will those meetings include anyone beyond the largest banks?
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The Dysregulation Edition
Editor’s Note: I hadn’t appreciated the role that normalcy plays in allowing me to be sarcastic and jokey about the various topics I write about, until, well, everything stopped being normal. Please allow me some grace as I try to find a tone that is appropriately direct and honest, and still tries to find some humor in these dark days. - Tim
Read MoreThe Designed for Whom? Edition
Editors’ Note: Hi, it’s Laura and Jonathan again. As a reminder, we’re taking the wheel here every other edition and Tim will be back with you in a couple weeks. One question kept surfacing as we assembled this edition. Emergency savings advice built for stable households, child savings accounts that work best for families who already have 529s, and jobs policy that still imagines a mid-20th century labor market—Who are these systems designed for, really? - Laura Freschi and Jonathan Morduch
Read MoreThe Post-Equilibria Edition
Editors’ Note: This was an unusually difficult to organize and write faiV for two reasons--it feels like everything is some combination of AI and politics, and the new things just kept coming so fast, shifting how I was thinking about and grouping items, which is an item in itself. It’s going to get messy from here. If you’re nostalgic for a simpler world, and you happen to be near Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, New York or St. Louis, you should join us for one of our Small Firm Diaries-USA mid-point events in the next few weeks.- Tim
Read MoreWhat’s at Stake Now for Small Business
On November 19, 2025, FAI hosted a faiVLive webinar to introduce the Small Firm Diaries USA study. We shared early observations, and talked with expert panelists about how recent policy and program changes are affecting small businesses and organizations that support them. In this blog we’ve adapted and edited a few of the most interesting discussion points from our conversation. You can still watch the full webinar, here.
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