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A Plea for AI That Serves Humanity Instead of Replacing It
From ACM Opinion

A Plea for AI That Serves Humanity Instead of Replacing It

Sixty-two years ago this summer, Dartmouth professor John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence. Joi Ito, director of MIT's Media Lab, has come to think...

Autonomous Vehicles Might Drive Cities to Financial Ruin
From ACM Opinion

Autonomous Vehicles Might Drive Cities to Financial Ruin

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, last week, 125 mostly white, mostly male, business-card-bearing attendees crowded into a brightly lit ballroom to consider "mobility."

Going To the World Cup? Leave the Laptop at Home
From ACM Opinion

Going To the World Cup? Leave the Laptop at Home

A Russian sports official earlier this year estimated that as many as 2 million people would flock to the country during the World Cup, the month-long celebration...

Self-Driving Cars Likely Won't Steal Your Job (­ntil 2040)
From ACM Opinion

Self-Driving Cars Likely Won't Steal Your Job (­ntil 2040)

The self-driving robots are coming to transform your job. Kind of. Also, very slowly.

The Responsibility of Immortality: Welcome to the New Transhumanism
From ACM Opinion

The Responsibility of Immortality: Welcome to the New Transhumanism

In the summer of 1990, I was running a pretty weird nightclub in the Roppongi neighborhood of Tokyo.

How Wired Lost $100,000 in Bitcoin
From ACM Opinion

How Wired Lost $100,000 in Bitcoin

Back in 2013, when you could still mine bitcoins at home, Wired was sent a small, sleek mining device manufactured by the now-defunct Butterfly Labs.

Europe's New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here's How.
From ACM Opinion

Europe's New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here's How.

Starting tomorrow, a new framework for consumer data protection goes into effect in Europe.

Facial Recognition Tech Is Creepy When It Works, And Creepier When It Doesn't
From ACM Opinion

Facial Recognition Tech Is Creepy When It Works, And Creepier When It Doesn't

For the last few years, police forces around China have invested heavily to build the world's largest video surveillance and facial recognition system, incorporating...

Chinese-American Elites Lament a Brewing Trade War
From ACM Opinion

Chinese-American Elites Lament a Brewing Trade War

It's not easy to promote closer US-China ties these days.

AI Can Help Cybersecurity, If It Can Fight Through the Hype
From ACM Opinion

AI Can Help Cybersecurity, If It Can Fight Through the Hype

Walking the enormous exhibition halls at the recent RSA security conference in San Francisco, you could have easily gotten the impression that digital defense was...

When John Doerr Brought a 'Gift' to Google's Founders
From ACM Opinion

When John Doerr Brought a 'Gift' to Google's Founders

On a fall day in 1999, in the heart of Silicon Valley, I arrived at a two-story, L-shaped structure off the 101 freeway. It was young Google's headquarters, and...

Why Police Should Monitor Social Media to Prevent Crime
From ACM Opinion

Why Police Should Monitor Social Media to Prevent Crime

In February, the ACLU of Massachusetts released a damning report detailing prejudice in social media surveillance efforts by the Boston Police Department (BPD)....

The White House Loses Its Cybersecurity Brain Trust
From ACM Opinion

The White House Loses Its Cybersecurity Brain Trust

Today, the White House confirmed that cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce will head back to the National Security Agency, where he previously ran the nation's top...

The Questions Zuckerberg Should Have Answered About Russia
From ACM Opinion

The Questions Zuckerberg Should Have Answered About Russia

Over the last two days, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was questioned for more than 10 hours by two different Congressional committees. There was granular focus on...

The Next Cold War Is Here, and It's All About Data
From ACM Opinion

The Next Cold War Is Here, and It's All About Data

The headlines about the trade wars being touched off by President Trump's new tariffs may telegraph plenty of bombast and shots fired, but the most consequential...

The Blockchain Solution to Our Deepfake Problems
From ACM Opinion

The Blockchain Solution to Our Deepfake Problems

Blockchain has always seemed to me like a solution looking for a problem, which isn't a criticism.

The FCC Should ­se Blockchain to Manage Wireless Spectrum
From ACM Opinion

The FCC Should ­se Blockchain to Manage Wireless Spectrum

The technology at the heart of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin—blockchain—has captured the world's attention, much as the internet, peer-to-peer file transfers, apps...

Med Students Are Getting Terrible Training in Robotic Surgery
From ACM Opinion

Med Students Are Getting Terrible Training in Robotic Surgery

If you think your on-the-job training was tough, imagine what life is like for newbie surgeons.

In ­S v. Microsoft, a Decades-Old Law Leaves Few Good Options
From ACM Opinion

In ­S v. Microsoft, a Decades-Old Law Leaves Few Good Options

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Microsoft, a case that many observers believe could have significant ramifications for how...

The Limits of Explainability
From ACM Opinion

The Limits of Explainability

When we look at a stack of blocks or a stack of Oreos, we intuitively have a sense of how stable it is, whether it might fall over, and in what direction it may...
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