Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Darwin's Devices
When I tell people that I work on "evolving robots," their common response is to joke—semi-seriously—about Skynet or some other sci-fi nightmare in which machines...
From ACM Opinion
We Can Survive Killer Asteroids
The chances that your tombstone will read "Killed by Asteroid" are about the same as they'd be for "Killed in Airplane Crash."
From ACM News
Jeffrey Bigham: sing the Crowd to Help People With Disabilities
Jeffrey Bigham's research uses Web-based applications and crowdsourcing to help people with disabilities in near real-time. Is it any surprise he won a NSF Career...
From ACM Opinion
How China Steals Our Secrets
For the last two months, senior government officials and private-sector experts have paraded before Congress and described in alarming terms a silent threat: cyberattacks...
From ACM Opinion
Living on a Stream: The Rise of Real-Time Video
A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about streaming. I was marveling how easy it’s becoming to beam a live video feed, anywhere, not only to a friend...
From ACM Opinion
A Rosie Future: Jetsons-Like Gadgets with 'ambient Intelligence' Are Key to Smart Homes and Cities
Fifty years after The Jetsons promised us a future of robot maids, flying cars, video phones and meals at the push of a button, it seems that reality may actually...
From ACM Opinion
Review: Bad Apple
Apple's 1997 "Think Different" marketing campaign was one of its most memorable ever.
From ACM Opinion
Dns Changer
One fine night in November 2011 I got an opportunity to get my hands dirty, working on a project for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
From ACM Opinion
Your Privacy Is a Sci-Fi Fantasy
The assault on personal privacy has ramped up significantly in the past few years. From warrantless GPS tracking to ISP packet inspection, it seems that everyone...
From ACM Opinion
Was Cameron's Deep Dive as seless as Manned Space Flight?
Ninety-nine percent of what we know about the solar system came to us from unmanned probes.
From ACM Opinion
A National Id Card that Protects Voting Rights
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened under the Voting Rights Act to stay a South Carolina voter ID law.
From ACM Opinion
Dangerously Vague Cybersecurity Legislation Threatens Civil Liberties
There is a spate of proposed cybersecurity legislation working its way through the House and Senate. The bills are aimed primarily at facilitating cooperation regarding...
From ACM Opinion
Can Speech-Recognition Software Work in Mandarin?
In anticipation of Apple’s introduction of Siri in Chinese this year, I decided to try Dragon, a line of smartphone voice apps by Nuance Communications—the company...
From ACM Opinion
The 4g Fakeout
Not long ago, when desktops and laptops were the main computers we used every day, PC makers peddled what's known as the megahertz myth.
From ACM Opinion
The Personalized Web Is Just an Interest Graph Away
You know how our social graphs are creeping into every aspect of our Web lives, from search results to coupons? Well, get ready for something a lot more personal...
From ACM Opinion
Safecast Geiger Counter Reference Design
This past weekend marked the anniversary of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake that devastated Japan.
From ACM Opinion