Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis By (insert Name)
A friend who teaches at a well-known eastern university told me recently that plagiarism was turning him into a cop.
From ACM Opinion
The Medium Is the Medium
Recently, book publishers got some good news. Researchers gave 852 disadvantaged students 12 books (of their own choosing) to take home at the end of the school...
From ACM Opinion
Google Should Answer Some Searching Questions
Google woos people with its "don't be evil" slogan and assures us that everything it does is meant to enhance our online experience. But a new study by U.S. advocacy...
From ACM Opinion
Are Cells the New Cigarettes?
The great cosmic joke would be to find out definitively that the advances we thought were blessings--from the hormones women pump into their bodies all their lives...
From ACM Opinion
Now Can We Have Instant Replay?
Two horrendous calls at the World Cup show the need for technology—but don't tell the 'slippery slopers'
From Communications of the ACM
Is Computer Science Truly Scientific?
Reflections on the (experimental) scientific method in computer science.
From Communications of the ACM
Outsourcing Versus Shared Services
Choosing between outsourcing and shared services has significant implications for long-term corporate strategy.
From ACM Opinion
Why Minority Report Was Spot On
The launch of Microsoft's new Kinect games system, which allows players to run, jump, punch and shoot without having to wear strange clothing or hold any kind of...
From ACM Opinion
Buzz on Lie Detectors Is All a Lie, Nsa Video Says
The National Security Agency wants job applicants to know that its polygraph test is nothing to sweat. The eavesdropping and code-breaking organization has produced...
From ACM Opinion
Does the Internet Make You Dumber?
The cognitive effects are measurable: We're turning into shallow thinkers, says Nicholas Carr.
From ACM Opinion
Does the Internet Make You Smarter or Dumber?
Amid the silly videos and spam are the roots of a new reading and writing culture, says Clay Shirky.
From ACM Opinion
Against Instant Replay
Extraordinary cases make bad law. In a sense, Armando Galarraga’s non-perfect perfect game, spoiled by an umpire’s call on what should have been the 27th out, offers...
From ACM Opinion
My (brief) Life as a Robot
On Wednesday I attended a Silicon Valley press conference dressed as a robot. Actually I was physically in New York City and virtually in Menlo Park, Calif. For...
From Communications of the ACM
Plotting Away
Dear KV, I've been working with some code that generates massive data sets, and . . . I'm finding that more and more often I...
From ACM Opinion
From Facebook, Answering Privacy Concerns with New Settings
Six years ago, we built Facebook around a few simple ideas. People want to share and stay connected with their friends and the people around them. If we give people...
From ACM Opinion
Web Browsers Leave 'fingerprints' Behind as You Surf the Net
New research by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has found that an overwhelming majority of web browsers have unique signatures--creating identifiable "fingerprints"...
From ACM Opinion
Why Publishers Should Beware the App Store
In a brilliant column published 16 years ago, the Italian philosopher Umberto Eco explained the difference between Apple and Microsoft in terms of the divide between...
From ACM Opinion
Apple: The Microsoft of Mobile?
Apple could soon be the target of an antitrust investigation by either the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice, according to numerous press reports...
From ACM Opinion
Rest in Peas: The nrecognized Death of Speech Recognition
The accuracy of computer speech recognition flat-lined in 2001, before reaching human levels. The funding plug was pulled, but no funeral, no text-to-speech eulogy...
From ACM Opinion