Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
Obama's Concerned an AI Could Hack America's Nukes
During his eight years in office, President Barack Obama has seen hackers grow into a threat no president has faced before.
From ACM Opinion
The Feds Will Soon Be Able to Legally Hack Almost Anyone
Digital devices and software programs are complicated. Behind the pointing and clicking on screen are thousands of processes and routines that make everything work...
From ACM Opinion
The Next President Will Decide the Fate of Killer Robots, and the Future of War
The next president will have a range of issues on their plate, from how to deal with growing tensions with China and Russia, to an ongoing war against ISIS.
From ACM Opinion
At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality
Twenty-five years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee unleashed the World Wide Web, publishing the first public webpage. Well, maybe.
From ACM Opinion
How One Journalist ses Social Media to Get Inside the Minds of Isis
Rukmini Callimachi is arguably the best reporter on the most important beat in the world. As a New York Times correspondent covering terrorism, her work explores...
From ACM Opinion
Wikileaks Has Officially Lost the Moral High Ground
What the heck is going on at WikiLeaks?
From ACM Opinion
Werner Herzog's Web
Werner Herzog gazes solemnly at the metal exoskeleton. The set of robotic arms lies slumped in a laboratory on the UCLA campus, surrounded by empty cardboard boxes...
From ACM Opinion
The Return of Arthur C. Clarke's Fantastic Vision of Jupiter
The Juno space probe is now in orbit around Jupiter, meaning space buffs around the world are eagerly awaiting whatever new data the probe sends back.
From ACM Opinion
Cozmo Is an Artificially Intelligent Toy Truck That's Also the Future of Robotics
Hanns Tappeiner types a few lines of code into his laptop and hits "return."
From ACM Opinion
Why a Killer Robot Was Likely the Only Option For Dallas Police
When a police robot killed suspect Micah Johnson in Dallas early Friday morning, it was likely an unprecedented event.
From ACM Opinion
After Orlando, the Homemade Ar-15 Industry Surges
In the wake of the worst mass shooting in US history, many Americans want to ban civilians from buying the AR-15, that ultra-popular, all-American killing tool.
From ACM Opinion
Orlando Shows the Limits of Facebook's Terror Policing
Both leading up to and during his deadly assault on Orlando night club Pulse, Omar Mateen accessed his Facebook account.
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...
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.
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.
From ACM Opinion
Okcupid Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science
On May 8, a group of Danish researchers publicly released a dataset of nearly 70,000 users of the online dating site OkCupid, including usernames, age, gender,...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Encryption Is in These Politicians' Hands
Encryption is complicated. Legislating for it, even more so.
From ACM Opinion
700 Million People Just Got Encryption That Congress Can't Touch
Last month, WhatsApp, the hugely popular messaging service that Facebook owns, made end-to-end encryption the default for its 1 billion users. On Tuesday, Viber...
From ACM Opinion
You Pay to Read Research You Fund. That's Ludicrous
In 2011, developer and researcher Alexandra Elbakyan launched Sci-Hub, an online archive that shares research articles freely and openly without paywalls or restrictions...
From ACM Opinion