Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Google's China Plan Isn't Just Evil, It's Bad for Business
Google is proposing a new Faustian bargain with the Chinese government that isn't just morally wrong; it's also terrible for business. Experience has shown that...
From ACM Opinion
Programmers Need Ethics When Designing the Technologies that Influence People's Lives
Computing professionals are on the front lines of almost every aspect of the modern world.
From ACM Opinion
Google's Duplex AI Scares Some People, but I Can't Wait for It to Become a Thing
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote. That line must have zoomed through 5,000 audience brains...
From ACM Opinion
Why Westerners Fear Robots and the Japanese Do Not
As a Japanese, I grew up watching anime like "Neon Genesis Evangelion," which depicts a future in which machines and humans merge into cyborg ecstasy.
From ACM Opinion
AI Can Be Sexist and Racist; It's Time to Make It Fair
When Google Translate converts news articles written in Spanish into English, phrases referring to women often become "he said" or "he wrote."
From ACM Opinion
How to Tell If You're Talking to a Bot
Twitter recently took drastic action as part of an effort to slow the spread of misinformation through its platform, shutting down more than two million automated...
From ACM Opinion
How to Combat China's Rise in Tech: Federal Spending, Not Tariffs
At the heart of the trade war between the United States and China lies a profound and unsettling question: Who should control the key technologies that will rule...
From ACM Opinion
Alexa: Don't Let My 2-Year-Old Talk to You That Way
Parents, your child may have a new secret friend: your smart speaker.
From ACM Opinion
This Is How the Robot Uprising Finally Begins
The robot arm is performing a peculiar kind of Sisyphean task.
From ACM Opinion
The .S. Once Again Has the World's Fastest Supercomputer. Keep p the Hustle.
The United States has knocked China out of the No. 1 position in supercomputing.
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...
From ACM Opinion
The Erosion of Reality
Let me say this upfront: I'm not convinced that 'superintelligent' AI are the most pressing threat from coming generations of deep learning machines.
From ACM Opinion
What Are These 'Levels' of Autonomous Vehicles?
As automated and autonomous vehicles become more common on U.S. roads, it's worth a look at what these machines can—and can't—do.
From ACM Opinion
Automated Health Care Offers Freedom from Shame, But Is It What Patients Need?
A few years ago, Timothy Bickmore, a computer scientist at Northeastern University, developed an artificial-intelligence program to help low-income patients at...
From ACM Opinion
So, mm, Google Duplex's Chatter Is Not Quite Human
Google's Duplex voice assistant drew applause last week at the company's annual I/O developer conference after CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated the artificially intelligent...
From ACM Opinion
How Tech Can Turn Doctors Into Clerical Workers
There are times when the diagnosis announces itself as the patient walks in, because the body is, among other things, a text.
From ACM Opinion
How the Enlightenment Ends
Three years ago, at a conference on transatlantic issues, the subject of artificial intelligence appeared on the agenda. I was on the verge of skipping that session—it...
From ACM Opinion