☕️ Techpresso: Google warns about Bard, Reddit controversy grows, Virgin Galactic announces spaceflights, Amazon acquires iRobot for $1.7B, Google sells Domains to Squarespace

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Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:
🤖 Google warns employees about chatbots, including Bard
🔥 Reddit's CEO sparks controversy over moderators as it threatens to replace them
🚀 Virgin Galactic announces imminent commercial spaceflights
💸 Amazon's $1.7B iRobot acquisition approved by UK regulator
🌐 Google sells Domains business to Squarespace

🤖 Google warns employees about chatbots, including BardLINK

Alphabet, Google's parent company, has warned its employees about the risks of oversharing information with AI chatbots, including its own Bard, and advised them not to enter confidential information into such services.

Companies including Samsung, Amazon, and Apple have imposed restrictions on the use of ChatGPT due to incidents of sensitive data being shared, potential data leak risks, and privacy issues; still, 43% of professionals reported using AI tools for work-related tasks, often without informing their supervisors.

Bard, Alphabet's own chatbot, has faced challenges since its launch, with reports of generating inaccurate responses, being labelled as a "pathological liar" by Google employees, and its European launch being postponed due to privacy concerns.

🔥 Reddit's CEO sparks controversy over moderators as it threatens to replace themLINK

Reddit CEO, Steve Huffman, remains firm on the company's decision to charge for access to its API despite widespread protests, claiming that it is unfair for developers to access the data for free as it incurs costs for Reddit.

Many moderators have made their forums "dark" or inaccessible in protest against these changes, with some of the most popular third-party apps like Apollo announcing they will shut down due to the new fees making their operations unsustainable.

Reddit has suggested that protesting moderators could be removed from their roles, and it has not ruled out invoking "rule 4" which mandates that moderators must be active in the communities they run, potentially using it to replace protestors with new moderators who would bring the forums back online.

🚀 Virgin Galactic announces imminent commercial spaceflightsLINK

Virgin Galactic announced that it will begin commercial spaceflight services at the end of June, starting with scientific research missions, before moving to monthly flights and starting to address the backlog of ticket holders.

The first private astronaut flight (Galactic 02) will carry a mix of wealthy individuals, influencers, and potentially a charity spot for a student, although the passenger list has not yet been announced.

Despite several setbacks and delays, Virgin Galactic has perfected its high-altitude launch method, dropping a spacecraft from a custom carrier jet, and aims to increase the frequency of flights and reduce costs in the future.

💸 Amazon's $1.7B iRobot acquisition approved by UK regulatorLINK

The UK's antitrust regulator has approved Amazon's proposed $1.7 billion acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot, stating that the deal will not lead to competition concerns in the UK.

Despite the approval in the UK, the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the US are yet to make their decisions, with the former's verdict due by July 6.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority's clearance is primarily based on iRobot's modest market share in the UK, the presence of several rivals, and a lack of incentive for Amazon to disadvantage iRobot's competitors on its platform due to the small size of the UK robot vacuum cleaner market.

🌐 Google sells Domains business to SquarespaceLINK

Google is selling its domain registration service, Google Domains, to Squarespace, which includes transferring about 10 million domains owned by Google customers to Squarespace.

The agreement guarantees that customers will get the same renewal prices for the next 12 months and Squarespace will be the exclusive domain provider for Google's Workspace enterprise platform customers for at least three years.

The deal, reportedly worth $180 million, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023, with the actual transfer of domains taking place in "2024 and beyond."

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