Dear Studio Fam,
Welcome to the first Monday edition of Studio Bytes! Today we bring you news of an April Fools tech birthday, the final chapter in the SBF saga, and an update on the Apple Vision Pro content ecosystem. We also take a look at new AI rules issued by the White House that impact how executive agencies will grapple with the roll out of AI in government tech.
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No Fooling, Gmail Turns 20
Today is the 20th birthday of Google’s venerable email service, Gmail. Originally perceived as a prank when it launched on April Fool’s Day 2004, its launch feature of 1GB of free email storage was 500 times more than its closest competitor Microsoft Hotmail. Other feature firsts included the now ubiquitous “Did you forget to include an attachment?” notification, which makes a lovely appearance in this Google announcement.
SBF Sentenced To 25 Years In Jail
Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX cofounder and former CEO, was sentenced to 25 years in Federal prison for fraud and money laundering. As there is no parole in Federal prisons, he will likely serve the entire sentence. His sentence brings to an end the 18-month saga that revealed SBF had stolen over $8 billion from over one million FTX customers, mostly lower income people who invested with FTX because of its many celebrity endorsements.
Apple Slow To Release New Vision Pro Content
It’s been two months since the launch of the Apple Vision Pro and some customers are wondering whether Apple is truly serious about building an ecosystem around the $4000 device. This week Apple will release the first original content for the AVP that was not included at launch, a five minute teaser video of sports content featuring highlights of Major League Soccer.
Federal Agencies Must Designate Chief AI Officers
The Biden Administration announced new rules for Federal agencies for AI use and regulation, highlighting the need to ensure new technologies don’t infringe civil rights. The rules include a “range of mandatory actions to reliably assess, test, and monitor AI’s impacts on the public, mitigate the risks of algorithmic discrimination, and provide the public with transparency into how the government uses AI,” according to a statement by Vice President Harris, and require Federal agencies like the Department of Education to designate a “Chief AI Officer” from the private sector.