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Google's Duplex Could Make Assistant the Most Lifelike AI Yet
From ACM Opinion

Google's Duplex Could Make Assistant the Most Lifelike AI Yet

The conversation seems mundane. At least, at first.

How Frightened Should We Be of A.I.?
From ACM Opinion

How Frightened Should We Be of A.I.?

Precisely how and when will our curiosity kill us?

One Space Between Each Sentence, They Said. Science Just Proved Them Wrong.
From ACM Opinion

One Space Between Each Sentence, They Said. Science Just Proved Them Wrong.

In the beginning, the rules of the space bar were simple.  Two spaces after each period.  Every time.  Easy.

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...

Nazis Pressed Ham Radio Hobbyists to Serve the Third Reich, but Surviving Came at a Price
From ACM Opinion

Nazis Pressed Ham Radio Hobbyists to Serve the Third Reich, but Surviving Came at a Price

When people have free and unfettered choices of activities, they both entertain and express themselves through their pastimes—whether stamp or coin collecting,...

When John Doerr Brought a 'Gift' to Google's Founders
From ACM Opinion

When John Doerr Brought a 'Gift' to Google's Founders

On a fall day in 1999, in the heart of Silicon Valley, I arrived at a two-story, L-shaped structure off the 101 freeway. It was young Google's headquarters, and...

Is the Law Ready for Driverless Cars?
From Communications of the ACM

Is the Law Ready for Driverless Cars?

Yes, with one big exception.

Scale or Fail
From Communications of the ACM

Scale or Fail

Moving beyond self-selected computer science education in Switzerland.

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.

'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...

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...

We May Own Our Data, But Facebook Has a Duty to Protect It
From ACM Opinion

We May Own Our Data, But Facebook Has a Duty to Protect It

Two years ago, Jack M. Balkin, a constitutional-law professor at Yale, published a fifty-page article in the U.C. Davis Law Review examining what he called problems...

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...

What '2001' Got Right
From ACM Opinion

What '2001' Got Right

It's a testament to the lasting influence of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," which turns 50 this week, that the disc-shaped...

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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