Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2022
From ACM Opinion
It's Time to Open the Black Box of Social Media
Social media cos. need to give their data to independent researchers to better understand how to keep users safe.
From ACM Opinion
Is AI Threatened by Too Little Data?
Knowing when to limit your data dramatically affects the quality of your artificial intelligence.
From ACM Opinion
Blending Computer Science with Culture
Coding with Culture creator Victor Hicks explains how culturally relevant lessons can be included in STEM learning.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin Isn't Going to Change
There's no evidence that Bitcoin's key players are interested in switching from proof-of-work to energy-saving proof of stake.
From ACM Opinion
The Perils of Machine Learning in Designing New Chemicals and Materials
As ML tools become more broadly available when making new compounds and materials, the possibilities of misuse increase and must be guarded against.
From ACM Opinion
My Nightmare Trip into the Metaverse
A reporter dons a VR headset, heads into the metaverse, and witnesses the most disturbing sights of her life.
From ACM Opinion
Book Review: The Future of AI
Cyber analyst James Voorhees reviews The New Fire: War, Peace and Democracy in the Age of AI by Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie.
From ACM Opinion
AI Is Creating a New Colonial World Order
Artificial intelligence is enriching a powerful few by dispossessing communities that have been dispossessed before.
From ACM Opinion
Can AI Improve Road Safety Now?
Well before self-driving cars become a reality, there are simpler approaches that can make roads much safer.
From ACM Opinion
Why It Is So Hard to Make AI Fair and Unbiased
Competing notions of fairness exist, and sometimes they are totally incompatible with each other.
From ACM Opinion
Can Open Source Sustain Itself without Losing Its Soul?
What it means to be an open source contributor or maintainer has changed in recent years.
From ACM Opinion
The AI in a Jar
Exploring a metaphysical argument against artificial intelligence.
From ACM Opinion
How Ukraine Has Defended Itself against Cyber Attacks
As in Ukraine, U.S. organizations should work with U.S. cybersecurity agencies to prepare for and prevent attacks.
From ACM Opinion
The Missing Voices in Natural Language Processing
Who and what is being represented in the data and development of NLP models?
From ACM Opinion
Patterns and Prose
A University of Southern California computer scientist is a coder by trade and a poet at heart.
From ACM Opinion
The AI Illusion
State-of-the-art chatbots are not what they seem.
From ACM Opinion
Our Human Future in an Age of AI
What does it mean to be human in an age where AI agents make decisions that shape human actions?
From ACM Opinion
Unions Have a Long Way to Go after Amazon Victory
Without greater momentum on their side, the New York stunner looks more like chance than pattern.
From ACM Opinion
The Future of AI in Games
Making artificial intelligence a tool of freedom and creativity for everyone.
From ACM Opinion
Hugs to Boring Tech
Don't underestimate the tech that makes your eyes glaze over—it holds us all up.
From ACM Opinion
25 years with cURL
Founder and lead developer Daniel Stenberg discusses looking after cURL and libcurl for the past 25 years.
From ACM Opinion
Timnit Gebru Is Building a Slow AI Movement
Her new organization, DAIR, aims to show a more thoughtful mode of AI research.
From Communications of the ACM
Global Supply Chain Disruption and Resilience
Tracking the myriad factors influencing shifting supply chains.
From Communications of the ACM
Systems Abstractions
Computing professionals use powerful abstractions to tame complexity in large software systems and distributed networks.
From Communications of the ACM
Getting Off the Mad Path
Debuggers and assertions.
From Communications of the ACM
Communications' Digital Initiative and Its First Digital Event
How AI and science are shaping each other.
From Communications of the ACM
Explainable AI
Opening the black box or Pandora's Box?