Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2022
From ACM Opinion
Machine-Learning Robustness, Foundation Models, and Reproducibility
An interview with Percy Liang, associate professor of Computer Science at Stanford University
From ACM Opinion
The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Datasets
Retired and redacted datasets flagged as harmful or biased continue to rear their ugly heads
From ACM Opinion
David Chalmers: Virtual Reality Is as Real as Real Reality
Philosopher explains how virtual worlds shed light on questions such as what is reality and are we living in a simulation
From ACM Opinion
The Strange Allure of the Blockchain
Are we too aggressively looking to replace the danger of unjust financial systems with wildly risky alternative currencies?
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin Is Failing Its Original Mandate
By plenty of standards, Bitcoin is a failure, but that doesn't mean it's worthless
From ACM Opinion
Considering 'Creatively Adequate' AI
The future of artificial intelligence needs less data and can tolerate ambiguity
From ACM Opinion
An Interview with Microsoft's Head of Gaming Ecosystem
Sarah Bond discusses how Microsoft shifted its console-centric gaming business to make the most of its investments in cloud
From ACM Opinion
I've Seen the Metaverse–and I Don't Want It
The metaverse's seductive idea of a virtual utopia looks more like a late-capitalist technocratic nightmare
From ACM Opinion
Why Is Silicon Valley Still Waiting for the Next Big Thing?
Have the big thinkers of tech lost their mojo?
From ACM Opinion
Antitrust Enforcers Are Not Going to Back Down
FTC Chair Lina Khan talks outlines her vision for the future of antitrust enforcement
From ACM Opinion
Open Source Intelligence
Averting strategic surprises requires uncovering secrets hidden in plain sight
From ACM Opinion
The Turing Trap
The promise and peril of human-like artificial intelligence
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft Quantum Computing Exec Sees Progress
Company's novel, risky approach to quantum computing might be ready to put setbacks behind it
From ACM Opinion
Efforts to Rein In Big Tech May Be Running Out of Time
Congressional bills aimed at the tech industry need to be addressed before political attention turns to midterms
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's Unglamorous Mistakes
Facebook's little mistakes have big consequences, too, but only for us
From ACM Opinion
Is LiDAR on Its Way Out?
As automation proliferates, sensing is increasingly moving toward software and away from LiDAR
From ACM Opinion
Avoiding Defects in C Programming
Computer security specialist details tools and techniques developers can use to write secure code in C
From ACM Opinion
The Age of AI-ism
Is artificial intelligence an existenstial risk to humanity?
From ACM Opinion
Why Better AI May Depend on Fake Data
Synthetic data can provide AI with a broader education than real-world data, but challenges exist
From ACM Opinion
The Real Action for Tech Regulation Is Far from Washington, D.C.
Congress doesn't seem ready to take on privacy or competition, but states are refusing to wait around
From ACM Opinion
Why the FTC Attempt to Stop Tech 'Surveillance' Faces Long Odds
Lina Khan's FTC has experienced a series of delays in trying to enact new privacy rules
From ACM Opinion
Dems Will Probably Miss Chance to Shape Crypto Regulation
Both houses of Congress are back in session with a packed agenda, and way down on that priority list is regulating crypto
From ACM Opinion
I Am Therefore I Think
Scientists say social interaction is 'the dark matter of AI'
From ACM Opinion
The Dangers of Treating AI like a God
We should be more critical of those making decisions about how AI is used, says anthropologist Beth Singler
From ACM Opinion
Robot Learning at Google and Generalization via Language
Google Robotics research scientist Eric Jang talks about robotic manipulation and self-supervised robotic learning
From ACM Opinion
Individual AI, a New Technology that Will Change Our World?
Is the next version of AI a technological symbiosis of the human brain and the computer system?
From ACM Opinion
Deep Learning Can't Be Trusted
Brain modeling pioneer Stephen Grossberg explains why his ART model is better
From ACM Opinion
Crypto Means Freedom to Garry Kasparov
The chess grandmaster expects a basket of coins to replace the dollar within a decade.
From Communications of the ACM
Addressing Algorithmic Discrimination
Considering the intersection of technical design and civil rights when building and using classification algorithms.
From Communications of the ACM
The Long Road Ahead to Transition to Post-Quantum Cryptography
Anticipating the output of the competition for new cryptographic algorithms.