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Human-Like Programs Abuse Our Empathy
From ACM Opinion

Human-Like Programs Abuse Our Empathy

It is easy to be fooled by the mimicry, but consumers need transparency about how such systems are used.

'Yeah, We're Spooked', Says Expert about AI's Potential Impact
From ACM Opinion

'Yeah, We're Spooked', Says Expert about AI's Potential Impact

Professor Stuart Russell says field of AI needs to grow up quickly to ensure humans remain in control

Google at 20: How Two 'Obnoxious' Students Changed the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Google at 20: How Two 'Obnoxious' Students Changed the Internet

In the summer of 1995, a second-year grad student called Sergey Brin was giving a tour of Stanford University to prospective students. Larry Page, an engineering...

Teleportation: Will It Ever Be a Possibility?
From ACM Opinion

Teleportation: Will It Ever Be a Possibility?

Star Trek has a lot to answer for.

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?
From ACM News

Has Dopamine Got ­s Hooked on Tech?

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that the social network was founded not to...

Cyberwar: An ­rgent Problem
From ACM Opinion

Cyberwar: An ­rgent Problem

In the desperate scramble to rearm before the second world war there was always an undercurrent of pessimism.

The Guardian View on the Future of Crime: It Will Be Online
From ACM Opinion

The Guardian View on the Future of Crime: It Will Be Online

When software gets smarter, the first effect is to empower the already powerful.

Google, Democracy and the Truth About Internet Search
From ACM News

Google, Democracy and the Truth About Internet Search

Here's what you don’t want to do late on a Sunday night. You do not want to type seven letters into Google. That's all I did.

Why Data Is the New Coal
From ACM Opinion

Why Data Is the New Coal

"Is data the new oil?" asked proponents of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, and the rise of big data's turbo-powered cousin deep learning, westated Fortune...

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?
From ACM Opinion

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?

There are not many occasions when one can give an unqualified thumbs-up to something the government does, but this is one such occasion.

Y'all Have a Texas Accent? Siri (and the World) Might Be Slowly Killing It
From ACM Opinion

Y'all Have a Texas Accent? Siri (and the World) Might Be Slowly Killing It

It was a simple enough question, at least in this part of the world.

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?
From ACM News

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?

There are not many occasions when one can give an unqualified thumbs-up to something the government does, but this is one such occasion.

Artificial Intelligence: 'homo Sapiens Will Be Split Into a Handful of Gods and the Rest of ­s'
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence: 'homo Sapiens Will Be Split Into a Handful of Gods and the Rest of ­s'

If you wanted relief from stories about tyre factories and steel plants closing, you could try relaxing with a new 300-page report from Bank of America Merrill which...

16 Trends That Will Define the Future of Video Games
From ACM Opinion

16 Trends That Will Define the Future of Video Games

Hundreds of game developers, publishers and analysts recently descended on Brighton for the annual Develop conference.

Ad Tech Is Killing the Online Experience
From ACM Opinion

Ad Tech Is Killing the Online Experience

There's something so wonderfully easy about reading this column in a physical newspaper.

Artificial Intelligence Will Not Turn Into a Frankenstein's Monster
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Will Not Turn Into a Frankenstein's Monster

The singularity—or, to give it its proper title, the technological singularity. It's an idea that has taken on a life of its own; more of a life, I suspect, than...

Stop Complaining About the Facebook Study. It's a Golden Age For Research
From ACM Opinion

Stop Complaining About the Facebook Study. It's a Golden Age For Research

Several years ago, my student and I studied anonymous email server data from 40,000 students, faculty and staff at a large university.

Secrets, Lies and Snowden's Email: Why I Was Forced to Shut Down Lavabit
From ACM Opinion

Secrets, Lies and Snowden's Email: Why I Was Forced to Shut Down Lavabit

My legal saga started last summer with a knock at the door, behind which stood two federal agents ready to to serve me with a court order requiring the installation...

Nsa Surveillance: A Guide to Staying Secure
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Surveillance: A Guide to Staying Secure

Now that we have enough details about how the NSA eavesdrops on the Internet, including today's disclosures of the NSA's deliberate weakening of cryptographic systems...

The Problem with Algorithms: Magnifying Misbehaviour
From ACM Opinion

The Problem with Algorithms: Magnifying Misbehaviour

By the time you read these words, much of what has appeared on the screen of whatever device you are using has been dictated by a series of conditional instructions...
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