Communications of the ACM
From ACM Opinion
Avengers: Infinity War and the CG Effects Behind Thanos
Avengers: Infinity War is packed with dozens of beloved characters we've watched and loved over 10 years of Marvel movies. But one character stands—literally—head...
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia Founder Says Internet sers Are Adrift in the 'Fake News' Era
At any given moment, volunteers and paid workers are writing fictional narratives that they present online as news stories, and some of those will get picked up...
From ACM Opinion
Alexa, How Do We Take Our Relationship to the Next Level?
As useful as it would be to interact with smartphones and other gadgets by chatting casually with them, the technology to enable such a simple but meaningful back...
From ACM Opinion
A Revealer of Secrets in the Data of Life and the niverse
In statistics, abstract math meets real life. To find meaning in unruly sets of raw numbers, statisticians like Donald Richards first look for associations: statistical...
From ACM Opinion
New Brain Maps With nmatched Detail May Change Neuroscience
Sitting at the desk in his lower campus office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the neuroscientist Tony Zador turned his computer monitor toward me to show off...
From ACM Opinion
Why 2001: A Space Odyssey's Mystery Endures, 50 Years On
Michael Benson's new book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece offers a fresh look at the making of Stanley Kubrick's...
From ACM Opinion
The Man With the Most Valuable Work Experience in the World
Chris Urmson led Google's self-driving car team from its early days all the way until the company shed its Google skin and emerged under the Alphabet umbrella as...
From ACM Opinion
To Protect Artificial Intelligence from Attacks, Show It Fake Data
AI systems can sometimes be tricked into seeing something that's not actually there, as when Google's software "saw" a 3-D-printed turtle as a rifle.
From ACM Opinion
Intelligent to a Fault: When AI Screws p, You Might Still Be to Blame
Artificial intelligence is already making significant inroads in taking over mundane, time-consuming tasks many humans would rather not do.
From ACM Opinion
Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human (and Neanderthal) History
Geneticist David Reich used to study the living, but now he studies the dead.
From ACM Opinion
Supreme Court Skeptical of Microsoft's Ireland E-Mail Privacy Claims
It is not unusual for tech companies to spar with law enforcement over access to customer data. Most cases, however, do not go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court...
From ACM Opinion
This 'Gray Hat' Hacker Breaks Into Your Car, to Prove a Point
Cybercrime is expanding beyond computers and cellphones. Cars, washers and dryers, and even toasters are going online—an evolution of technology called the ...
From ACM Opinion
The Father of the Internet Sees His Invention Reflected Back Through a 'Black Mirror'
In 1984, two men were thinking a lot about the Internet. One of them invented it. The other is an artist who would see its impact on society with uncanny prescience...
From ACM Opinion
His 2020 Campaign Message: The Robots Are Coming
Among the many, many Democrats who will seek the party's presidential nomination in 2020, most probably agree on a handful of core issues: protecting DACA, rejoining...
From ACM Opinion
What It's Like to Fly in the Bermuda Triangle of Space
"Before I became an astronaut, I had seen stories of astronauts who had seen white flashes from radiation while they flew in space," says Terry Virts, a former...
From ACM Opinion
Is Tech Dividing America?
When Americans consider how technology has changed their lives, they tend to focus on how the internet and smartphones have altered how they watch TV, connect with...
From ACM Opinion
How to Design a New Chip on a Budget
We recently had an interesting exchange with bunnie Huang, hardware guru and creator of Chumby, NetTV, and the Novena laptop, among other things. He's also theHacking...
From ACM Opinion
Making Sense of Bitcoin and Its Wild Price Ride
The initial price of Bitcoin, set in 2010, was less than 1 cent.
From ACM Opinion
Google Boss Says AI Is 'more Profound Than Electricity'
Google CEO Sundar Pichai believes artificial intelligence could have "more profound" implications for humanity than electricity or fire, according to recent comments...
From ACM Opinion