Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
The Russia Investigations: The U.S. Launches a Digital Offensive, Gently
Everyone knows how to picture the special operations troopers of, for example, the Army's elite Delta Force: Rough-looking customers with custom carbines and advanced...
From ACM Opinion
Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare to a New Domain, Without Humans
Killer robots have been a staple of TV and movies for decades, from Westworld to The Terminator series. But in the real world, killer robots are officially known...
From ACM Opinion
An Ode to Insignificance: Buttons, Touchscreens, and Other Dangerous Technologies
"The future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed," is an often-quoted line from the brilliant science-fiction writer William Gibson.
From ACM Opinion
Computational Propaganda: Bots, Targeting, and the Future
A long time ago, when I was working on my Ph.D. research, I learned to use supercomputers to track the complex 3-D motions of gas blown into space by dying stars...
From ACM Opinion
Learning to Spot Fake News: Start with a Gut Check
Which of these statements seems more trustworthy to you?
From ACM Opinion
Will Algorithms Erode Our Decision-Making Skills?
Algorithms are embedded into our technological lives, helping accomplish a variety of tasks like making sure that email makes it to your aunt or that you're matched...
From ACM Opinion
Before Apple And Facebook, There Was Something More Revolutionary
It's easy to think that the modern era in communication began in the 1990s with the birth of the Internet.
From ACM Opinion
Remembering a Thinker Who Thought About Thinking
The field of educational technology is mourning a visionary whose work was considered 50 years ahead of its time.
From ACM Opinion
If To Err Is Human, Should Technology Help s Shed Some Humanity?
By all accounts, technology has made us safer.
From ACM Opinion
An Npr Reporter Raced a Machine to Write a News Story. Who Won?
Even the most creative jobs have parts that are pretty routine—tasks that, at least in theory, can be done by a machine. Take, for example, being a reporter.
From ACM Opinion
Are We to Become Gods, the Destroyers of Our World?
In the stylish new sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, Frankenstein's old theme re-emerges in a beautifully designed setting: Instead of the Gothic castle we have a spectacular...
From ACM Opinion
What If Web Search Results Were Based on Accuracy?
Imagine, for a moment, that every Web search gave only accurate, verified information.
From ACM Opinion
The World Loves the Smartphone. So How About a Smart Home?
My coffee maker is texting me again. It's scheduled to make coffee tomorrow, the message says, but I need to refill its water tank.
From ACM Opinion
The Turing Test Is Not What You Think It Is
Whether or not you caught wind of the excited announcement that "Eugene Goostman," a computer program ("chatbot") devised by Vladimir Veselov, Eugene Demchenko,...
From ACM Opinion
One niverse, One Life: A Conjecture
Opening Disclaimer 1: Although there may be more than one universe, as per the hypothetical multiverse, we will humbly submit to our own bubble of information,...
From ACM Opinion