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Bringing Precision to the AI Safety Discussion
From ACM Opinion

Bringing Precision to the AI Safety Discussion

We believe that AI technologies are likely to be overwhelmingly useful and beneficial for humanity. But part of being a responsible steward of any new technology...

Too Cute For Their Own Good, Robots Get Self-Defense Instincts
From ACM Opinion

Too Cute For Their Own Good, Robots Get Self-Defense Instincts

At a shopping mall here one recent Friday, six-year-old Ruby Dowling made friends with a friendly egg-shaped robot.

For the Golden State Warriors, Brain-Zapping Could Provide an Edge
From ACM Opinion

For the Golden State Warriors, Brain-Zapping Could Provide an Edge

Back in March, James Michael McAdoo, the power forward for the Golden State Warriors, tweeted out a photo of himself in the training room, sporting a pair of slick...

Losing Control: The Dangers of Killer Robots
From ACM Opinion

Losing Control: The Dangers of Killer Robots

New technology could lead humans to relinquish control over decisions to use lethal force.

What Happens If Gps Fails?
From ACM Opinion

What Happens If Gps Fails?

In only took thirteen millionths of a second to cause a whole lot of problems.

Deep Learning Isn't a Dangerous Magic Genie. It's Just Math
From ACM Opinion

Deep Learning Isn't a Dangerous Magic Genie. It's Just Math

Deep learning is rapidly 'eating' artificial intelligence. But let's not mistake this ascendant form of artificial intelligence for anything more than it really...

Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry
From ACM Opinion

Barefoot Networks' New Chips Will Transform the Tech Industry

Nick McKeown and his new startup, Barefoot Networks, just launched out of stealth. That's Silicon Valley-speak for trumpeting the arrival of your new startup in...

What Are the Odds We Are Living in a Computer Simulation?
From ACM Opinion

What Are the Odds We Are Living in a Computer Simulation?

Last week, Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, and other cutting-edge companies, took a surprising question at the Code Conference, a technology...

Dear Apple: Please ­se These Ideas to Modernize the Mac
From ACM Opinion

Dear Apple: Please ­se These Ideas to Modernize the Mac

I took a vacation last month. I traveled some. I read a lot. And I refurbished an old late 2008 MacBook Pro, one of the original aluminum unibody models.

A Strip of Pluto
From ACM Opinion

A Strip of Pluto

I know, that image above doesn't look like much, does it? But go ahead, click it. I dare you.

The Real Reason America Controls Its Nukes with Ancient Floppy Disks
From ACM Opinion

The Real Reason America Controls Its Nukes with Ancient Floppy Disks

America's nuclear arsenal depends on a surprising relic of the 1970s that few of us may recall: the humble floppy disk.

The Woeful Tsa Doesn't Need More Staff. It Needs This Tech
From ACM Opinion

The Woeful Tsa Doesn't Need More Staff. It Needs This Tech

American airport security has never been something to look forward to, but in the past few weeks, it's attained new levels of misery.

Why Seti Researchers Must Change the Way They Announce First Contact
From ACM Opinion

Why Seti Researchers Must Change the Way They Announce First Contact

One of humanity’s most significant events will be the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere in universe. Back in the 1980s, a group of astronomers involved in...

What Are You Trying to Pull?
From Communications of the ACM

What Are You Trying to Pull?

A single cache miss is more expensive than many instructions.

The Risks of Self-Auditing Systems
From Communications of the ACM

The Risks of Self-Auditing Systems

Unforeseen problems can result from the absence of impartial independent evaluations.

To Write Better Code, Read Virginia Woolf
From ACM Opinion

To Write Better Code, Read Virginia Woolf

The humanities are kaput. Sorry, liberal arts cap-and-gowners. You blew it. In a software-run world, what's wanted are more engineers.

Google Doubles Down on AI
From ACM Opinion

Google Doubles Down on AI

Google announced something for everyone yesterday at its 10th annual I/O developer conference.

Peek Into the Weird and Wonderful Age of AI (yes, There's a Chatbot)
From ACM Opinion

Peek Into the Weird and Wonderful Age of AI (yes, There's a Chatbot)

On March 23, Microsoft revealed Tay, a Twitter bot trained to chat like a millennial. It worked … too well.

Doom Is a Gleefully Gory Ballet Set in a Nightmare
From ACM Opinion

Doom Is a Gleefully Gory Ballet Set in a Nightmare

My instinct upon leaping into id Software's hyper-gruesome Doom, a gonzo shooter out May 13 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is to dawdle.

Should We Synthesise a Human Genome?
From ACM Opinion

Should We Synthesise a Human Genome?

At Harvard today, an invitation-only group of about 150 scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs, met to discuss if and how to construct from scratch an entire human...
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