Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Google, Not the Government, Is Building the Future
One persistent criticism of Silicon Valley is that it no longer works on big, world-changing ideas.
From ACM Opinion
The Trump Administration's War on Science
"Think of the marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our people," President Trump said in his speech to Congress last month, after summoning...
From ACM Opinion
No, Robots Aren't Killing the American Dream
Defenders of globalization are on solid ground when they criticize President Trump's threats of punitive tariffs and border walls.
From ACM Opinion
Silicon Valley Reels After Trump's Election
Silicon Valley's luminaries woke up Wednesday morning to a darkened new global order, one that the ceaseless optimism of their tech-powered visions seemed suddenly...
From ACM Opinion
We Went to the Grace Hopper Celebration. Here's What We're Bringing Back
Members of The New York Times Developers recently made their first group trip to the Grace Hopper Celebration. At 15,000 attendees, GHC is the world's largest gathering...
From ACM Opinion
The Time I Went on Border Patrol in a Virtual Reality World
I found myself on a desolate desert road, in front of a man who was leaning against the hood of a banged-up sedan and next to a United States Border Patrol agent...
From ACM Opinion
Jobs Threatened By Machines: A Once 'stupid' Concern Gains Respect
They replaced horses, didn't they? That's how the late, great economist Wassily Leontief responded 35 years ago to those who argued technology would never really...
From ACM Opinion
To Write Better Code, Read Virginia Woolf
The humanities are kaput. Sorry, liberal arts cap-and-gowners. You blew it. In a software-run world, what's wanted are more engineers.
From ACM Opinion
My 10 Favorite Books: Bill Gates
"Seveneves," Neal Stephenson: This novel about how the human race responds to the end of life on Earth rekindled my love for sci-fi. Some readers will lose patience...
From ACM Opinion
Andy Grove's Warning to Silicon Valley
The praise this week for Andy Grove, who died on Monday at age 79, has been wrapped up in praise for Silicon Valley, where he was a towering figure in the semiconductor...
From ACM Opinion
A Plan in Case Robots Take the Jobs: Give Everyone a Paycheck
Let's say computers come for most of our jobs. This may not seem likely at the moment; computer scientists and economists offer wildly varying ideas for how deeply...
From ACM Opinion
The Light-Beam Rider
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity, the most beautiful theory in the history of science, and in its honor we should take...
From ACM Opinion
Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
College students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected.
From ACM Opinion
With Google as Alphabet, a Bid to Dream Big Beyond Search
Shortly after its founding, Google posted a document on its site called "Ten things we know to be true," an effort to distill its unusual corporate culture into...
From ACM Opinion
'rise of the Robots' and 'shadow Work'
In the late 20th century, while the blue-collar working class gave way to the forces of globalization and automation, the educated elite looked on with benign condescension...
From ACM Opinion
Learning to See Data
For the past year or so genetic scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have been collaborating with a specialist from another universe...
From ACM Opinion
The Math of March Madness
The N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament started Thursday, but for most Americans the real action began days before, as they pored over brackets, competing to make...
From ACM Opinion
Here's What Will Truly Change Higher Education: Online Degrees That Are Seen as Official
Three years ago, technology was going to transform higher education. What happened?
From ACM Opinion
A Future Segregated By Science?
Few women and minorities are getting STEM degrees, although STEM jobs are multiplying and pay more than many other careers. Will our future be delineated by who...
From ACM Opinion