Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Apple Is Pulling Vpns from the Chinese App Store. Here's What that Means.
China's restrictive Internet policies are known for blocking Web users who want to reach Google, Facebook or other banned apps. But now some of those policies are...
From ACM Opinion
The Guardian View on the Future of Crime: It Will Be Online
When software gets smarter, the first effect is to empower the already powerful.
From ACM Opinion
If You Could 'design' Your Own Child, Would You?
Scientists in Portland, Ore., just succeeded in creating the first genetically modified human embryo in the United States, according to Technology Review.
From ACM Opinion
What Happened to Trump's War on Data?
On May 16, three months' worth of data vanished quietly from the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.
From ACM Opinion
Zuckerberg and Musk Are Both Wrong About AI
Back in 2015, a group of business leaders and scientists published an "open letter" about how controlling artificial superintelligence might be the most urgent...
From ACM Opinion
Metrology Is Key to Reproducing Results
Imagine you are a policymaker who needs to know how much carbon is stored in the South American forest.
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 Communications of the ACM
Prophets, Seers, and Pioneers
Reflections on historical prognostications for the future.
From Communications of the ACM
The Natural Science of Computing
As unconventional computing comes of age, we believe a revolution is needed in our view of computer science.
From ACM Opinion
How China Tames Dissent on the Internet
Chinese government leaders, subtle masters of propaganda, seem to have discovered a Sun Tzu formula for taming dissent on the Internet: The best strategy may not...
From ACM Opinion
When Companies Get Hacked, Should They Be Allowed to Hack Back?
There is an old debate (at least, counting in internet years) that tends to crop up after major cybersecurity breaches such as the widespread WannaCry ransomware...
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
Is Anyone Home? A Way to Find Out If AI Has Become Self-Aware
Every moment of your waking life and whenever you dream, you have the distinct inner feeling of being "you."
From ACM Opinion
Spreading Fake News Becomes Standard Practice For Governments Across the World
Campaigns to manipulate public opinion through false or misleading social media postings have become standard political practice across much of the world, with...
From ACM Opinion
The Russians Will Be Back. Will We Be Ready?
In recent days, our nation's response to the continued threat of foreign meddling in American elections has taken something of a surprising turn.
From ACM Opinion
Please Prove You're Not a Robot
When science fiction writers first imagined robot invasions, the idea was that bots would become smart and powerful enough to take over the world by force, whether...
From ACM Opinion
Why Haven't Reporters Mass-Adopted Secure Tools For Communicating With Sources?
In the months since Donald Trump took office, Washington has been leaking like a sieve.
From ACM Opinion
Teddy Roosevelt Wouldn't nderstand the E.u.'s Antitrust Fine Against Google
Back in 1980, Milton Friedman, the University of Chicago economist, starred in a public-television series called "Free to Choose," in which he presented his free...
From ACM Opinion
Asimov's Laws Won't Stop Robots Harming Humans So We've Developed a Better solution
How do you stop a robot from hurting people?
From ACM Opinion