Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Everyone Thinks That Automation Will Take Our Jobs. The Evidence Disagrees
Last year, the Japanese company SoftBank opened a cell phone store in Tokyo and staffed it entirely with sales associates named Pepper. This wasn't as hard as it...
From ACM Opinion
It's Past Time For You to Ditch that Fancy Scientific Calculator
Bruce Sherwood, the author of Matter and Interactions, had a question for me when I saw him at the American Association of Physics Teachers conference not long...
From ACM Opinion
The Attack on Global Privacy Leaves Few Places to Turn
Digital privacy has had a very bad summer. As China and Russia move to block virtual private network services, well over a billion people face losing their best...
From ACM Opinion
Letting Cyberattack Victims Hack Back Is a Very nwise Idea
As the rate of cybercrime increases, so too does the intensity of those attacks.
From ACM Opinion
AI Could Revolutionize War As Much As Nukes
In 1899, the world's most powerful nations signed a treaty at The Hague that banned military use of aircraft, fearing the emerging technology's destructive power...
From ACM Opinion
It's Time to Make Code More Tinker-Friendly
We need new tools that let everyone see, understand, and remix today's web. We need, in other words, to reboot the culture of View Source.
From ACM Opinion
AI Will Make Forging Anything Entirely Too Easy
"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," said an exasperated James Comey in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8. Comey's desire reflects a...
From ACM Opinion
It's Too Late to Stop China from Becoming an AI Superpower
Last Thursday, Texas senior senator John Cornyn stood before an audience of wonks at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, and warned that America's...
From ACM Opinion
The Iphone's Turning 10. What Will It Look Like at 20?
You wake up refreshed. Ever since you got that alarm clock that adapts to your sleep cycle, your calendar, and the traffic report, you practically leap out of bed...
From ACM Opinion
Why Net Neutrality Matters Even in the Age of Oligopoly
Next month, Amazon, Netflix, and dozens of other companies and organizations will host a "day of action" aimed at saving net neutrality as we know it.
From ACM Opinion
Humans Can't Expect AI to Just Fight Fake News For Them
Here's some news that's not fake: Not everything you can read on the internet is true.
From ACM Opinion
Who Will Pay For the Future If Not the Robots?
RRobots are taking over the world's workforce—and why shouldn't they?
From ACM Opinion
To Make Your Conspiracy Theory Legit, Just Find an 'expert'
"MIT Professor Exposes 'Egregious Error' & Evidence Tampering in US Report on Syria Sarin Incident." Pretty good headline, right?
From ACM Opinion
If You Can't Retain Women, Don't Recruit Them
Silicon Valley should stop recruiting efforts to hire women.
From ACM Opinion
Want a Better Web? Here's an Idea: Pay For It
What's the best way to foster a better web? Maybe subscriptions.
From ACM Opinion
The Real Threat to Our Government Is Tech Illiteracy
You only have to look to newsworthy FBI investigations to see how pervasive U.S. government leaders' digital illiteracy can be.
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's Race to Link Your Brain to a Computer Might Be nwinnable
"What if you could type directly from your brain?" Regina Dugan said, as the same words appeared on the towering screen behind her, one digital character at a time...
From ACM Opinion
Bill Gates Is Wrong: The Solution to AI Taking Jobs Is Training, Not Taxes
Let's take a breath: Robots and artificial intelligence systems are nowhere near displacing the human workforce.
From ACM Opinion