Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2023
From ACM TechNews
Using Language to Give Robots a Better Grasp of Open-Ended World
The Feature Fields for Robotic Manipulation method helps robots identify nearby objects by forming three-dimensional scenes from two-dimensional images and vision foundation models.
From ACM News
Earbuds to Monitor Brain, Body
These earbuds listen to you, to determine if your brain and/or body are working at peak efficiency.
From ACM News
Datacenter Waste Energy to Heat Homes in 'U.K.-First' Scheme
The London scheme is the U.K.'s first large-scale project to use datacenter waste heat to power homes.
From ACM TechNews
5G-Powered Robots Clean Singapore's Rivers
Singapore-based Weston Robot is supplying uncrewed surface vessels to clean Singapore's rivers by collecting garbage and monitoring water quality.
From ACM TechNews
Kids with Disabilities Are Gamers, Too
Students developed prototype assistive technologies that could enable children with cerebral palsy to play video games.
From ACM TechNews
Doctors Wrestle with AI in Patient Care
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of artificial intelligence tools has raised doubts among doctors about their ability to improve patient care.
From ACM News
OpenAI Announces Bigger, Badder, and Weirder Chatbots
GPTs promises to let users create their own fully-customizable chatbots with zero coding experience required.
From ACM News
Bengio Receives Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering
The award is given annually to an individual whose body of work, conducted in Canada in the natural sciences or engineering, has demonstrated persistent excellence and influence.
From ACM News
AIrtist: Co-creativity and Computer-Human Collaboration in the Arts
Far from being threatened by artificial intelligence, many creative practitioners are already embracing it—with some novel and unexpected results.
From ACM TechNews
Vision via Sound for the Blind
Scientists have created "acoustic touch" technology that uses sound to help blind people "see."
From ACM TechNews
Smart Scalpel Helps Doctors Hone Surgical Skills
A smart scalpel developed by researchers at the U.K.'s University of Edinburgh measures the amount of force applied during surgical procedures and could facilitate surgical training.
From ACM TechNews
UMD-Led Research Powers Montgomery County's Prosecution Data Dashboard
University of Maryland researchers helped the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office roll out the state's first Prosecution Data Dashboard to clarify its handling of cases.
From ACM News
Chatbots May 'Hallucinate' More Often Than Many Realize
When summarizing facts, ChatGPT technology makes things up about 3% of the time, according to research from a new start-up. A Google system's rate was 27%.
From ACM TechNews
As a Teen, She Loved Video Games. Now She's Using A.I. to Try to Quash Malaria
In Senegal, Rokhaya Diagne is using artificial intelligence to help the world eradicate malaria by 2030.
From ACM TechNews
Checking for Counterfeit Medication Using a Smartphone
The SmartID barcode system developed by researchers at a group of Germany's Fraunhofer research institutes allows users to verify a medical product is genuine using a smartphone.
From ACM TechNews
As Baby Boomers Retire, German Businesses Turn to Robots
As Germany's baby boomers retire, exacerbating the country's labor shortage, many companies are filling job openings with robots.
From ACM News
The Bletchley Declaration by Countries Attending the AI Safety Summit
We welcome relevant international efforts to examine and address the potential impact of AI systems in existing fora and other relevant initiatives.
From ACM TechNews
Gallaudet's Latest Technological Innovation Is a Helmet
Hearing-impaired football players could benefit from a prototype helmet that provides visual displays of plays.
From ACM TechNews
Nvidia Piloting a Generative AI for Its Engineers
Nvidia's Bill Dally said the company is testing whether it can increase the productivity of its chip designers using generative artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
Keeping Secrets in a Quantum World
Cryptographers are working on data-encryption schemes strong enough to withstand attacks from future quantum computers.
From ACM News
The Beatles' New Song 'Now and Then' Used AI to Lift Out John Lennon's Voice
Technology has come a long way since the last time Paul McCartney released new Beatles tracks.
From ACM News
Researchers Simplify Switching for Quantum Electronics
Exploiting a quantum effect electrically brings it closer to practical use.
From ACM News
Global Leaders Warn A.I. Could Cause 'Catastrophic' Harm
At a U.K. summit, 28 governments, including China and the U.S., signed a declaration agreeing to cooperate on evaluating the risks of artificial intelligence.
From ACM TechNews
Milestone Achieved in New Quantum Computing Architecture
Scientists have extended the coherence time for a unique class of quantum bit (qubit) to 0.1 milliseconds, topping the previous record by nearly 1,000-fold.
From ACM TechNews
Japan Show Provides Glimpse of Robots as Future of Rescue Efforts
The Japan Mobility Show highlighted robotic technologies that could help address the nation's aging population and worker shortage.
From ACM TechNews
NASA's Dragonfly Preparing to Fly Through Titan's Atmosphere
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it conducted tests to prepare its Dragonfly rotorcraft lander to explore Saturn's moon Titan.
From ACM News
Sexual Harassment, Gender Bias Against Women in STEM Remains Rife, Study Finds
Two-thirds of women STEM professionals surveyed report earning less than their male counterparts.
From ACM News
Department of Commerce to Establish U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute to Lead Efforts on AI Safety
The U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute will support the responsibilities assigned to the Department of Commerce in the executive order President Biden signed earlier this week.
From ACM News
News Group Says A.I. Chatbots Heavily Rely on News Content
The News Media Alliance, a trade group that represents newspapers, says that A.I. chatbots use news articles significantly more than generic content online.
From ACM TechNews
U.N. Secretary-General Launches High-Level Advisory Body on AI
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisory Body on risks, opportunities, and international governance of AI.