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
Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue
For more than two decades, Tim O'Reilly has been the conscience of the tech industry.
From ACM Opinion
I Helped Create Facebook's Ad Machine. Here's How I'd Fix It
This month, two magnificently embarrassing public-relations disasters rocked the Facebook money machine like nothing else in its history.
From ACM Opinion
Software Has a Serious Supply-Chain Security Problem
The warnings consumers hear from information security pros tend to focus on trust: Don't click web links or attachments from an untrusted sender.
From ACM Opinion
Apple's Faceid Could Be a Powerful Tool For Mass Spying
This Tuesday Apple unveiled a new line of phones to much fanfare, but one feature immediately fell under scrutiny:FaceID, a tool that would use facial recognition...
From ACM Opinion
Sorry, Banning 'killer Robots' Just Isn't Practical
Late Sunday, 116 entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, released a letter to the United Nations warning of the dangerous "Pandora's Box" presented by weapons that...
From ACM Opinion
Everyone Thinks That Automation Will Take Our Jobs. The Evidence Disagrees
Last year, the Japanese company SoftBank opened a cell phone store in Tokyo and staffed it entirely with sales associates named Pepper. This wasn't as hard as it...
From ACM Opinion
It's Past Time For You to Ditch that Fancy Scientific Calculator
Bruce Sherwood, the author of Matter and Interactions, had a question for me when I saw him at the American Association of Physics Teachers conference not long...
From ACM Opinion
The Attack on Global Privacy Leaves Few Places to Turn
Digital privacy has had a very bad summer. As China and Russia move to block virtual private network services, well over a billion people face losing their best...
From ACM Opinion
What Is Ray Kurzweil p To at Google? Writing Your Emails
Ray Kurzweil has invented a few things in his time.
From ACM Opinion
AI Will Make Forging Anything Entirely Too Easy
"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," said an exasperated James Comey in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8. Comey's desire reflects a...
From ACM Opinion
The Iphone's Turning 10. What Will It Look Like at 20?
You wake up refreshed. Ever since you got that alarm clock that adapts to your sleep cycle, your calendar, and the traffic report, you practically leap out of bed...
From ACM Opinion
Humans Can't Expect AI to Just Fight Fake News For Them
Here's some news that's not fake: Not everything you can read on the internet is true.
From ACM Opinion
Who Will Pay For the Future If Not the Robots?
RRobots are taking over the world's workforce—and why shouldn't they?
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's Race to Link Your Brain to a Computer Might Be nwinnable
"What if you could type directly from your brain?" Regina Dugan said, as the same words appeared on the towering screen behind her, one digital character at a time...
From ACM Opinion
How Steve Wozniak Got Over His Fear of Robots Turning People Into Pets
Steve Wozniak is one half of Silicon Valley's most prototypical founder's myth.
From ACM Opinion
The Battle For Top AI Talent Only Gets Tougher From Here
Andrew Ng helped create two of Silicon Valley's leading artificial intelligence labs.
From ACM Opinion
No, Microwave Ovens Cannot Spy on You, For Lots of Reasons
If you've been feeling a little paranoid lately—like even your standing mixer may be spying on you—rest assured that Trump senior counselor Kellyanne Conway shares...
From ACM Opinion