White House Lays Out Key Science and Technology Priorities
President Trump recently sent a letter to Michael Kratsios, the newly confirmed head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, underscoring key science and tech priorities for the Administration, including securing our nation’s position as the “world leader in critical and emerging technologies—such as artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and nuclear technology.” Additional details about these priorities can be found in coverage here.
Judge Rules that Google is a Monopoly in Online Advertising
In a closely watched antitrust case, U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in online advertising. The case was brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states. It follows a separate ruling last year that found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in search. The Trump administration has made it clear that it will continue to pursue competition cases against large technology companies.
Secure Future Initiative (SFI) Strengthens Cybersecurity
Microsoft recently released a progress report on its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), which is the largest cybersecurity engineering project in history. Thus far, the company has invested the equivalent of 34,000 engineers working full-time for 11 months to mitigate risk and improve security. The company also supports government-led cybersecurity initiatives, such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) Secure by Design pledge. For highlights of the SFI report, see this Microsoft Security blog.
Stanford Releases 2025 AI Index Report
Underscoring the rising importance of AI, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI) released its 2025 AI Index Report, which showed the impact of AI on worker productivity. The report also revealed gaps in AI educational opportunities. The report is discussed in this Microsoft on the Issues blog, as well as in coverage from VentureBeat.
Washington State Budget Update
On April 27—the last day of the legislative session—lawmakers approved an operational budget of $77.8 billion over two years. While lawmakers did not create a new payroll tax or wealth tax, they did increase the state’s main business tax—the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax. Coverage can be found from KING 5, MYNORTHWEST, and the Washington State Standard.
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