Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Get Your Kid an Internet-Connected Toy
For last-minute shoppers, tech toys hold a special appeal.
From ACM Opinion
Augmented Reality's Real Power Will Come From Substance, Not Flash
Last week the pilot light for my water heater went out. I tried to relight it by following the instructions pasted on the side of the heater, but they were as inscrutable...
From ACM Opinion
The Bitcoin Boom: In Code We Trust
You don't need brilliant financial analysis skills to notice that Bitcoin is in a bubble.
From ACM Opinion
Goodbye Internet: How Regional Divides pended the World Wide Web
So, there you have it: 2017 was the year that finally broke the internet.
From ACM Opinion
Five Priorities For Weather and Climate Research
Meteorology is entering a new era. Demand is growing worldwide for forecasts of storms, floods and droughts.
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Is Killing the ncanny Valley and Our Grasp on Reality
There's a revolution afoot, and you will know it by the stripes.
From ACM Opinion
How AI Changes The Stakes For Pharma
Can drug developers leverage AI to reverse the decline in R&D productivity that has persisted in the face of other IT technologies?
From ACM Opinion
Beyond Bitcoin: How Technology Could Help Fix Our Broken Financial System
On a spring day more than 5,000 years ago in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, a foreign merchant sold his wares in exchange for a large bundle of silver.
From ACM Opinion
As AI and Robots Rise Up, Do Humans Need an Upgrade Too?
There is a chip implanted in my hand. I'm serious.
From ACM Opinion
The Tax Overhaul Could Cripple the .s. as a Leader in Science
The graduate education system in the United States is rightly considered the best in the world. But Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed a bill...
From ACM Opinion
Why These Friendly Robots Can't Be Good Friends to Our Kids
Jibo the robot swivels around when it hears its name and tilts its touchscreen face upward, expectantly.
From ACM Opinion
A nified Theory of Meme Death
Memes aren't built to last. This is an accepted fact of online life.
From ACM Opinion
Quantum Computing Is the Next Big Security Risk
The 20th century gave birth to the Nuclear Age as the power of the atom was harnessed and unleashed.
From ACM Opinion
Bitcoin Mining Guzzles Energy and Its Carbon Footprint Just Keeps Growing
A somewhat neglected issue in discussions of bitcoin is the tremendous increase in power consumption used by miners. The rising power required to mine bitcoin conflicts...
From ACM Opinion
What I Learned from the People Who Built the Atom Bomb
When I began my career in elementary particle physics, the great figures who taught and inspired me had been part of the Manhattan Project generation that developed...
From ACM Opinion
Could Intelligent Machines of the Future Own the Rights to Their Own creations?
Intellectual property may be the legal term for creations, including literary or artistic, but there is something inherently human about it as well.
From ACM Opinion
The F.c.c. Wants to Let Telecoms Cash In on the Internet
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to let Comcast, Verizon and other broadband companies turn the internet into a latter-day version of...
From ACM Opinion
Connectivity Hacking Back Makes a Comeback—but It's Still a Really Bad Idea
In spite of the billions of dollars companies collectively spend each year on cyberdefenses, hackers keep defeating them.
From ACM Careers
Google, Amazon Find Not Everyone Is Ready For AI
Executives at ascendant tech titans like Amazon and Google tend to look down on their predecessor IBM.
From ACM Opinion