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Why a Killer Robot Was Likely the Only Option For Dallas Police
From ACM Opinion

Why a Killer Robot Was Likely the Only Option For Dallas Police

When a police robot killed suspect Micah Johnson in Dallas early Friday morning, it was likely an unprecedented event.

Meet the Smartest, Cutest AI-Powered Robot You've Ever Seen
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Smartest, Cutest AI-Powered Robot You've Ever Seen

Boris Sofman taps his phone, and the robot on the conference room table in front of him wakes up. Not in that gadget-y way, like when a laptop screen turns on,...

Deep Learning Isn't a Dangerous Magic Genie. It's Just Math
From ACM Opinion

Deep Learning Isn't a Dangerous Magic Genie. It's Just Math

Deep learning is rapidly 'eating' artificial intelligence. But let's not mistake this ascendant form of artificial intelligence for anything more than it really...

Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry
From ACM Opinion

Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry

Nick McKeown and his new startup, Barefoot Networks, just launched out of stealth. That's Silicon Valley-speak for trumpeting the arrival of your new startup in...

Peek Into the Weird and Wonderful Age of AI (yes, There's a Chatbot)
From ACM Opinion

Peek Into the Weird and Wonderful Age of AI (yes, There's a Chatbot)

On March 23, Microsoft revealed Tay, a Twitter bot trained to chat like a millennial. It worked … too well.

Okcupid Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science
From ACM Opinion

Okcupid Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science

On May 8, a group of Danish researchers publicly released a dataset of nearly 70,000 users of the online dating site OkCupid, including usernames, age, gender,...

Making the Web Just a Second Faster Would Be a Big Deal
From ACM Opinion

Making the Web Just a Second Faster Would Be a Big Deal

The web is too damn slow.

700 Million People Just Got Encryption That Congress Can't Touch
From ACM Opinion

700 Million People Just Got Encryption That Congress Can't Touch

Last month, WhatsApp, the hugely popular messaging service that Facebook owns, made end-to-end encryption the default for its 1 billion users. On Tuesday, Viber...

Synthetic Biology Is … Complex. But This Exhibit Makes It a Blast
From ACM Opinion

Synthetic Biology Is … Complex. But This Exhibit Makes It a Blast

It takes at least a master's degree to fully understand synthetic biology, but grasping its importance requires far less.

The Senate's Draft Encryption Bill Is 'ludicrous, Dangerous, Technically Illiterate'
From ACM Opinion

The Senate's Draft Encryption Bill Is 'ludicrous, Dangerous, Technically Illiterate'

As Apple Battled the FBI for the last two months over the agency's demands that Apple help crack its own encryption, both the tech community and law enforcement...

Feds Set a Risky Precedent By Indicting 7 Iranian Hackers
From ACM Opinion

Feds Set a Risky Precedent By Indicting 7 Iranian Hackers

This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) created a potentially dangerous precedent when it indicted seven Iranian hackers involved in attacks on the US financial...

Self-Driving Cars Won't Work ­ntil We Change Our Roads—and Attitudes
From ACM Opinion

Self-Driving Cars Won't Work ­ntil We Change Our Roads—and Attitudes

Autonomous vehicles will join human drivers on our roads sooner than most people think.

How the Feds Could Get Into Iphones Without Apple's Help
From ACM News

How the Feds Could Get Into Iphones Without Apple's Help

It's a showdown that has the country mesmerized.

Apple's Fbi Battle Is Complicated. Here's What's Really Going On
From ACM News

Apple's Fbi Battle Is Complicated. Here's What's Really Going On

The news this week that a magistrate ordered Apple to help the FBI hack an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooter suspects has polarized the nation—and...

Obama's Cybersecurity Plan Is Meant to Secure His Legacy
From ACM Opinion

Obama's Cybersecurity Plan Is Meant to Secure His Legacy

The end of White House terms are often about trying to shape historic legacies, and President Obama is out to build his in the new area of cybersecurity.

AI Is Transforming Google Search. The Rest of the Web Is Next
From ACM Opinion

AI Is Transforming Google Search. The Rest of the Web Is Next

Yesterday, the 46-year-old Google veteran who oversees its search engine, Amit Singhal, announced his retirement. And in short order, Google revealed that Singhal's...

To Make AI More Human, Teach It to Chitchat
From ACM Opinion

To Make AI More Human, Teach It to Chitchat

Tom was discussing the film star Tang Wei with a chatbot named XiaoIce, and the bot was excited: "A goddess! She stole my heart … and then went off and married!"...

Forget Ai—the Human-Friendly Future of Computing Is Already Here
From ACM Opinion

Forget Ai—the Human-Friendly Future of Computing Is Already Here

For many of us, the concept of artificial intelligence conjures up visions of a machine-dominated world, where humans are servants to the devices they created.

Space Mining Could Set Off a Star War
From ACM Opinion

Space Mining Could Set Off a Star War

Space is lousy with profits.

Security's Biggest Winners and Losers in 2015
From ACM Opinion

Security's Biggest Winners and Losers in 2015

This year, lawmakers surprised us by taking initial steps—albeit, baby ones—to rein in some of the NSA's mass spying and provide better oversight of the intelligence...
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