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subjectComputers And Society
authorThe New York Times
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The Robot Artists Aren’t Coming
From ACM Opinion

The Robot Artists Aren’t Coming

Artificial intelligence is making machines more creative — but machines don't make art.

A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans
From ACM Opinion

A Case for Cooperation Between Machines and Humans

A computer scientist argues that the quest for fully automated robots is misguided, perhaps even dangerous. His decades of warnings are gaining more attention. ...

Why Zoom Is Terrible
From ACM Opinion

Why Zoom Is Terrible

There's a reason video apps make you feel awkward and unfulfilled.

Online Learning Should Return to a Supporting Role
From ACM Opinion

Online Learning Should Return to a Supporting Role

Winner-take-all economics and cost-cutting may make many in-person lectures obsolete, but the best education continues to be intensive, expensive, and done in person...

How to (Carefully) Use Tech to Contain the Coronavirus
From ACM Opinion

How to (Carefully) Use Tech to Contain the Coronavirus

The United States can learn from other countries to track the pandemic while still protecting privacy.

Eric Schmidt: I Used to Run Google. Silicon Valley Could Lose to China.
From ACM Opinion

Eric Schmidt: I Used to Run Google. Silicon Valley Could Lose to China.

We can't win the technology wars without the federal government's help.

We're Banning Facial Recognition. We're Missing the Point.
From ACM Opinion

We're Banning Facial Recognition. We're Missing the Point.

The whole point of modern surveillance is to treat people differently, and facial recognition technologies are only a small part of that.

I Invented the World Wide Web. Here’s How We Can Fix It.
From ACM Opinion

I Invented the World Wide Web. Here’s How We Can Fix It.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee wanted the Web to serve humanity. He says it's not too late to live up to that promise.

Why Google's Quantum Supremacy Milestone Matters
From ACM Opinion

Why Google's Quantum Supremacy Milestone Matters

Quantum computing is the first computing paradigm since Turing expected to change the fundamental scaling behavior of algorithms, making certain tasks feasible...

Don't Fight the Robots. Tax Them.
From ACM Opinion

Don't Fight the Robots. Tax Them.

When Bill Gates floated the idea of imposing a tax on robots a couple of years ago, Lawrence Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, called...

The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know
From ACM Opinion

The Two Codes Your Kids Need to Know

A few years ago, the leaders of the College Board, the folks who administer the SAT college entrance exam, asked themselves a radical question: Of all the skills...

How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent
From ACM Opinion

How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent

The average person would have to spend 76 working days reading all of the digital privacy policies they agree to in the span of a year. Reading Amazon's terms and...

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing
From ACM Opinion

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing

Personal technology was so awful this year that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six...

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country
From ACM Opinion

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country

The growing use of work robots and the deployment of artificial intelligence have been most disruptive in just those areas of the country that provided President...

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?
From ACM Opinion

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?

Imagine, if you will (and you should), a big American tech executive being detained over unspecified charges while on a trip to Beijing.

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s
From ACM Opinion

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s

In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson's administration announced a plan to consolidate hundreds of federal databases into one centralized National Data...

The New Radicalization of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The New Radicalization of the Internet

Social media has played a key role in the recent rise of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, including three recent incidents—one in which a man...

How Will We Outsmart A.I. Liars?
From ACM Opinion

How Will We Outsmart A.I. Liars?

During the summer before the 2016 presidential election, John Seymour and Philip Tully, two researchers with ZeroFOX, a security company in Baltimore, unveiled...

At China’s Internet Conference, a Darker Side of Tech Emerges
From ACM Opinion

At China’s Internet Conference, a Darker Side of Tech Emerges

Every year at the World Internet Conference, held since 2014 in the photogenic canal town of Wuzhen near Shanghai, companies and government officials have convened ...

Artificial Intelligence Hits the Barrier of Meaning
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Hits the Barrier of Meaning

You've probably heard that we're in the midst of an A.I. revolution.
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