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AI Can Help Cybersecurity, If It Can Fight Through the Hype
From ACM Opinion

AI Can Help Cybersecurity, If It Can Fight Through the Hype

Walking the enormous exhibition halls at the recent RSA security conference in San Francisco, you could have easily gotten the impression that digital defense was...

Forging Voices and Faces: The Dangers of Audio and Video Fabrication
From ACM Opinion

Forging Voices and Faces: The Dangers of Audio and Video Fabrication

In 1963, before he could give the speech he'd prepared for his trip to Dallas, U.S. president John F. Kennedy was assassinated. In March 2018, a company re-created...

Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare to a New Domain, Without Humans
From ACM Opinion

Autonomous Weapons Would Take Warfare to a New Domain, Without Humans

Killer robots have been a staple of TV and movies for decades, from Westworld to The Terminator series. But in the real world, killer robots are officially known...

The March Into the Black Hole of Complexity
From Communications of the ACM

The March Into the Black Hole of Complexity

Addressing the root causes of rapidly increasing software complexity.

 The Illusion of Time
From ACM Opinion

The Illusion of Time

According to theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, time is an illusion: our naive perception of its flow doesn't correspond to physical reality.

A Brand-New Version of Our Origin Story
From ACM Opinion

A Brand-New Version of Our Origin Story

For over a decade, National Geographic's Genographic Project has been collecting saliva samples from willing participants, analyzing small pieces of their mother's...

'2001: A Space Odyssey': What It Means, and How It Was Made
From ACM Opinion

'2001: A Space Odyssey': What It Means, and How It Was Made

Fifty years ago this spring, Stanley Kubrick's confounding sci-fi masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey," had its premières across the country.

If (Virtual) Reality Feels Almost Right, It's Exactly Wrong
From ACM Opinion

If (Virtual) Reality Feels Almost Right, It's Exactly Wrong

We can all remember the crisply beveled edges of our cheery-yellow No. 2 pencil, the cool, smooth feel of a chalk-powdered blackboard, the gritty red bricks of...

Why Silicon Valley Shouldn't Work With the Pentagon
From ACM Opinion

Why Silicon Valley Shouldn't Work With the Pentagon

Is Silicon Valley going to war?

Here's How Hackers Could Cause Chaos in This Year's ­S Midterm Elections
From ACM Opinion

Here's How Hackers Could Cause Chaos in This Year's ­S Midterm Elections

On November 6, Americans will head to the polls to vote in the congressional midterm elections. In the months before the contest, hordes of foreign hackers will...

What the History of Math Can Teach ­s About the Future of AI
From ACM Opinion

What the History of Math Can Teach ­s About the Future of AI

Whenever an impressive new technology comes along, people rush to imagine the havoc it could wreak on society, and they overreact. Today we see this happening with...

Regulate Artificial Intelligence to Avert Cyber Arms Race
From ACM Opinion

Regulate Artificial Intelligence to Avert Cyber Arms Race

Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, sophisticated and destructive. Each day in 2017, the United States suffered, on average, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks...

Three Problems with Facebook's Plan to Kill Hate Speech ­sing AI
From ACM Opinion

Three Problems with Facebook's Plan to Kill Hate Speech ­sing AI

Mark Zuckerberg told the US Congress this week that Facebook will increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to catch hate speech spread on the platform.

The Era of Fake Video Begins
From ACM Opinion

The Era of Fake Video Begins

In a dank corner of the internet, it is possible to find actresses from Game of Thrones or Harry Potter engaged in all manner of sex acts. Or at least to the world...

Bitcoin Would Be a Calamity, Not an Economy
From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin Would Be a Calamity, Not an Economy

Earlier this year, Jack Dorsey, cofounder of Twitter and CEO of Square, declared that Bitcoin would become the world's "single currency" within a decade.

Here's How the ­S Needs to Prepare for the Age of Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

Here's How the ­S Needs to Prepare for the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Politicians worldwide are stealing one of the US government's best ideas by drawing up ambitious plans to make the most of advances in artificial intelligence. ...

Einstein, Bohr and the War Over Quantum Theory
From ACM Opinion

Einstein, Bohr and the War Over Quantum Theory

All hell broke loose in physics some 90 years ago. Quantum theory emerged—partly in heated clashes between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr.

The Ageless Appeal of 2001: A Space Odyssey 
From ACM Opinion

The Ageless Appeal of 2001: A Space Odyssey 

In 1968, film-maker Stanley Kubrick and his screenwriting colleague, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, presented 2001: A Space Odyssey. Half a century later...

It's Not My Fault, My Brain Implant Made Me Do It
From ACM Opinion

It's Not My Fault, My Brain Implant Made Me Do It

Mr. B loves Johnny Cash, except when he doesn't. Mr. X has watched his doctors morph into Italian chefs right before his eyes.

Enough With the Trolley Problem
From ACM Opinion

Enough With the Trolley Problem

You know the drill by now: A runaway trolley is careening down a track. There are five workers ahead, sure to be killed if the trolley reaches them.
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