Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Supersized AIs: Are Truly Intelligent Machines Just a Matter of Scale?
Gigantic neural networks that write with remarkable fluency have led to suggestions that scaling up will usher in ultimately true machine intelligence
From ACM Opinion
Teaching AIs to Make Mistakes Like Kids Would Help Them Learn Faster
Teaching artificial intelligence to think like children may make them better learners.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Iphone X's Face Id Is a Terrible Way to Secure Your Data
The new iPhone X puts face recognition front and centre. Why? Because it is the quickest and easiest way to unlock your phone.
From ACM Opinion
Who Do We Think We Are?
"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee; Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow; Die not, poor Death...
From ACM Opinion
War By Any Means: The Story of DARPA
Shortly after arriving at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in April 1958, the new chief scientist presented a plan to the agency's director.
From ACM Opinion
Marconi Forged Today's Interconnected World of Communication
At Guglielmo Marconi's grand state funeral in Rome in 1937—orchestrated with military-style pomp by the black-shirted Benito Mussolini—the largest wreath on the...
From ACM Opinion
How Alan Turing Found Machine Thinking in the Human Mind
In 1935, Alan Turing set out to build a reputation by outflanking the world's leading mathematician.
From ACM Opinion
I'm the First Quadriplegic Person to Regain Thought-Control of My Arm
I'm the first quadriplegic person in the world to use my own thoughts to control my own arm. It's a pretty neat experience.
From ACM Opinion
Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever
Before teeing off, I take a few seconds to line up the shot.
From ACM Opinion
The Hot New Job in Silicon Valley Is Being a Robot's Assistant
"I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords." So goes the joke every time artificial intelligence threatens to supersede humans in another job.
From ACM Opinion
The Master Algorithm: A World Remade By Machines that Learn
Pedro Domingos's new book is a compelling but rather unquestioning insider view of the search for the ultimate in machine learning.
From ACM Opinion
Psychiatry Is Reinventing Itself Thanks to Advances in Biology
A revolution is under way in psychiatry. The science underpinning this discipline has in the past shifted from psychology to pharmacology, and now it is changing...
From ACM Opinion
Work in an Age of Robots
What you are about to read was written by a human. Honest.
From ACM Opinion
Fear Artificial Stupidity, Not Artificial Intelligence
It is not often that you are obliged to proclaim a much-loved genius wrong, but in his alarming prediction on artificial intelligence and the future of humankind...
From ACM Opinion
How Big Data Algorithms See s—while They Eat S p
Four years ago I interviewed Sam Yagan, then CEO of OKCupid, about the mathematics underlying his free matchmaking site.
From ACM Opinion
Defending the Grand Vision of the Human Brain Project
"A grass roots effort is under way to stop the project... 'Mediocre science, terrible science policy,' begins the spirited letter…"
From ACM News
Cyborg Angst: 5 Ways Computers Will Perplex S in 2039
Brain chips mean we are struggling to distinguish our own thoughts from ideas implanted by advertisers.
From ACM Opinion
Five Ways to Make Sure We Never Lose a Plane Again
For the past few weeks the world's attention has been focussed on the lost Malaysia Airlines plane and its 239 passengers and crew that has apparently crashed in...
From ACM Opinion
Why a Cyberwar Won't Happen
Exactly two decades ago, the RAND Corporation, an influential think tank, proclaimed that "cyberwar is coming!"
From ACM Opinion
Hands On the Wheel, Mind On the Road–not Cyberspace
Makers of cars and mobile electronics are pushing a tempting vision of the future. It is one in which you can stay fully connected while driving.12