Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
A Reality Check For Ibm's AI Ambitions
Paul Tang was with his wife in the hospital just after her knee replacement surgery, a procedure performed on about 700,000 people in the U.S. every year.
From ACM Opinion
China's Tech Moguls Warn of Ai's Troubling Trajectory
China has seen incredible economic and social changes over the past few decades. But could the impact of artificial intelligence take the country by surprise?
From ACM Opinion
Russian Disinformation Technology
On July 17, 2014, as passengers checked in at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, "Necro Mancer"(@666_mancer) tweeted about an unusual...
From ACM Opinion
With Neuralink, Elon Musk Promises Human-to-Human Telepathy. Don't Believe It.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, by way of blogger and cartoonist Tim Urban, has revealed in a 36,400-word illustrated explainer the thinking behind his new...
From ACM Opinion
How to Keep the Government from Breaking the Internet
Telecommunications policy has been in flux since President Trump designated Ajit Pai the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in January.
From ACM Opinion
This Entrepreneur Dares You to Hack His Gadgets
Serial entrepreneur Andrew "Bunnie" Huang believes that consumer product companies should make their hardware designs publicly available so that anyone can study...
From ACM Opinion
Three Touchy Questions For Tech Leaders to Ask Trump
Few in the technology sector besides Peter Thiel had much love for Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.
From ACM Opinion
Mr. Robot Killed the Hollywood Hacker
For decades Hollywood has treated computers as magic boxes from which endless plot points could be conjured, in denial of all common sense.
From ACM Opinion
Today's Artificial Intelligence Does Not Justify Basic Income
Not a day goes by when we do not hear about the threat of AI taking over the jobs of everyone from truck drivers to accountants to radiologists.
From ACM Opinion
The Decline in Chinese Cyberattacks: The Story Behind the Numbers
Last summer, an audience of government officials, military personnel, and foreign ambassadors gathered in Aspen, Colorado, to hear John Carlin, then an assistant...
From ACM Opinion
Mark Zuckerberg's Long March to China
For U.S. Internet businesses, China is the land of moral defeat.
From ACM Opinion
The Internet Is No Place For Public Elections
Despite what your local election officials may tell you, you can’t trust the Internet with your vote.
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's Top Lawyer Becomes a Civil Rights Crusader
When Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to help the FBI get into a mass murderer's iPhone last winter, he was hailed for his boldness in fighting the government on ...
From ACM Opinion
The Do-Not-Call List Has a Gaping Hole
Sure, legitimate telemarketers will refrain from calling you if you've put your phone number on it. But criminal telephone spammers will call you anyway because...
From ACM Opinion
Why Russian Hackers Probably Can't Mess with the .s. Election
State-sponsored Russian hackers appear to be behind attacks on voter databases in Arizona and Illinois.
From ACM Opinion
How to Read Between the Lines of Tim Cook's Epic Interview
To celebrate five years as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook has given a very long, exclusive interview to the Washington Post about his experiences so far. But what he didn’t...
From ACM Opinion
How Copyright Law Stifles Your Right to Tinker with Tech
The CEO of the gadget-repair site iFixit explains why tech groups are suing the U.S. government over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
From ACM Opinion
Basic Income: A Sellout of the American Dream
Matt Krisiloff is in a small, glass-walled conference room off the lobby of Y Combinator’s office in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, shouting distance...
From ACM Opinion