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
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
The Next Cold War Is Here, and It's All About Data
The headlines about the trade wars being touched off by President Trump's new tariffs may telegraph plenty of bombast and shots fired, but the most consequential...
From ACM Opinion
Someone Is Watching You
Isn't technology wonderful? At Purdue University, the same IT infrastructure that enables us to manage student assignments and grades, operate residential and dining...
From ACM Opinion
The Blockchain Solution to Our Deepfake Problems
Blockchain has always seemed to me like a solution looking for a problem, which isn't a criticism.
From ACM Opinion
Cambridge Analytica Controversy Must Spur Researchers to Update Data Ethics
Revelations keep emerging in the Cambridge Analytica personal-data scandal, which has captured global public attention for more than a week. But when the dust settles...
From ACM Opinion
My Cow Game Extracted Your Facebook Data
For a spell during 2010 and 2011, I was a virtual rancher of clickable cattle on Facebook.
From ACM Opinion
Ready Player One: We Are Surprisingly Close to Realizing Just Such a VR Dystopia
I was fortunate enough to catch a preview screening of Ready Player One, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline's futuristic novel.
From ACM Opinion
To Illustrate the Dangers of Cyberwarfare, the Army Is Turning to Sci-Fi
At first glance, Dark Hammer looks a lot like any other science fiction comic book: On the front cover, a drone flies over a river dividing a city with damaged...
From ACM Opinion
Enough About Cryptocurrency. Let's Talk About Virtual Cats
We spend way too much time talking about digital currencies and not nearly enough time on digital cats.
From ACM Opinion
Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Legitimate Researchers sing Facebook Data Could Be Collateral Damage
The scandal that has erupted around Cambridge Analytica's alleged harvesting of 50m Facebook profiles assembled from data provided by a UK-based academic and his...
From ACM Opinion
The FCC Should se Blockchain to Manage Wireless Spectrum
The technology at the heart of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin—blockchain—has captured the world's attention, much as the internet, peer-to-peer file transfers, apps...
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
Med Students Are Getting Terrible Training in Robotic Surgery
If you think your on-the-job training was tough, imagine what life is like for newbie surgeons.
From ACM Opinion
An Ode to Insignificance: Buttons, Touchscreens, and Other Dangerous Technologies
"The future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed," is an often-quoted line from the brilliant science-fiction writer William Gibson.
From ACM Opinion
In Search of Blockchain's Killer-Apps
Blockchain has been in the news lately, but beyond knowing that it has something to do with payments and digital currencies, most people don't know what blockchain...
From ACM Opinion
sing Blockchain to Secure the 'Internet of Things'
The world is full of connected devices—and more are coming. In 2017, there were an estimated 8.4 billion internet-enabled thermostats, cameras, streetlights and...
From ACM Opinion
They Survived a School Shooting Only to Wage Battle in Some of the Nastiest Corners of the Internet
In person, Sarah Chadwick and Jaclyn Corin are fierce. And young.
From ACM Opinion
How Lies Spread Online
The spread of misinformation on social media is an alarming phenomenon that scientists have yet to fully understand.
From ACM Opinion
How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly
For a field that was not well known outside of academia a decade ago, artificial intelligence has grown dizzyingly fast. Tech companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing...
From ACM Opinion