Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
AI Should Supercharge Workers, not Compete with Them
The economy could get a boost if machine-learning engineers switched from copying human abilities to augmenting them.
From ACM Opinion
Virtual Reality Stinks Because It Does Not Smell
For VR to feel truly immersive, it needs to start stinking it up.
From ACM Opinion
To Win the Next War, the Pentagon Needs Nerds
Data scientists, coders, and other techies could prove decisive in future conflicts—if Uncle Sam can recruit them.
From ACM Opinion
Who Killed the Robot Dog?
The robotic companion was once a dream of techno-utopianism, but has instead become a terrifying weapon
From ACM Opinion
The Metaverse Is Simply Big Tech, but Bigger
It's a rebrand of Silicon Valley's increasing power and reach, and it's made for companies, not people
From ACM Opinion
Now That Machines Can Learn, Can They Unlearn?
Researchers are testing whether they can remove sensitive data without retraining AI systems from scratch
From ACM Opinion
The Privacy Battle that Apple Isn't Fighting
California has begun enforcing a browser-level privacy setting, but you still can't find that option in Safari or iOS
From ACM Opinion
The FBI Wanted a Backdoor to the iPhone. Tim Cook Said No
In 2016, Tim Cook fought the law—and won.
From ACM Opinion
The Robocall Crisis Will Never Be Totally Fixed
Years into the robocalling frenzy, your phone probably still rings off the hook with "important information about your account," updates from the "Chinese embassy...
From ACM Opinion
Huawei's Problem Isn't Chinese Backdoors. It's Buggy Software
A report on Thursday from a British government oversight group found that Chinese telecom-equipment maker Huawei has basic but deeply problematic flaws in its product...
From ACM Opinion
Will AI Achieve Consciousness? Wrong Question
When Norbert Wiener, the father ofcybernetics, wrote his book The Human Use of Human Beings in 1950, vacuum tubes were still the primary electronic building blocks...
From ACM Opinion
China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the S Has No Plan
You may have heard that China has cornered much of the world's supply of strategic metals and minerals crucial for new technology, including lithium, rare earths...
From ACM Opinion
What Trump's Executive Order on AI Is Missing
President Trump signed an executive order on February 11 meant to shore up our competitive position in the international race for AI supremacy, but it is short...
From ACM Opinion
Trump's Plan to Keep America First in AI
The US leads the world in artificial intelligence technology. Decades of federal research funding, industrial and academic research, and streams of foreign talent...
From ACM Opinion
There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology
In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without...
From ACM Opinion
Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump promised legislation to invest in "the cutting edge industries of the future." But the speech was characteristically...
From ACM Opinion
Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try
You probably know about the digital anonymity service Tor, but for whatever reason you may not actually use it.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Fear the Robot Overlords; Embrace Them as Coworkers
In a chilly warehouse just outside of Boston, the brute toils away. It's 600 pounds of orange and black metal and whirring motors, a massive robotic arm that picks...
From ACM Opinion
What the California Wildfires Can Teach s About Data Sharing
When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant failed, leaking radioactive material...
From ACM Opinion