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
Validate Personal Air-Pollution Sensors
The public is increasingly aware of the health and economic costs of air pollution.
From ACM Opinion
Obama's Top Scientist Talks Shrinking Budgets, Donald Trump, and His Biggest Regret
John Holdren is no stranger to the spotlight. Over his long career in science, Holdren—a physicist by training—has worked on controversial issues such as climate...
From ACM Opinion
If To Err Is Human, Should Technology Help s Shed Some Humanity?
By all accounts, technology has made us safer.
From ACM Opinion
Documentary Explores The Cyber-War Secrets Of Stuxnet
Alex Gibney's new documentary, Zero Days, looks at the Stuxnet worm—a cyber weapon developed by the U.S. and Israel.
From ACM Opinion
The Tesla Didn't Really Crash Itself
Tesla's Autopilot feature is now under investigation after the first known fatality involving a Tesla car using "Autopilot" mode was reported. The car automation...
From ACM Opinion
Waiting For Gödel
In June of 1975, the Office of the White House Press Secretary announced President Gerald R. Ford’s picks for the National Medal of Science. One went to the Austrian...
From ACM Opinion
How the Computer Beat the Go Player
The victory in March of the computer program AlphaGo over one of the world's top handful of go players marks the highest accomplishment to date for the burgeoning...
From ACM Opinion
How Alan Turing Found Machine Thinking in the Human Mind
In 1935, Alan Turing set out to build a reputation by outflanking the world's leading mathematician.
From ACM Opinion
How to Stop Robocalls … or at Least Fight Back
"This is a final notice from the IRS."
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Smartest, Cutest AI-Powered Robot You've Ever Seen
Boris Sofman taps his phone, and the robot on the conference room table in front of him wakes up. Not in that gadget-y way, like when a laptop screen turns on,...
From ACM Opinion
How Risky Are the World Economic Forum's Top 10 Emerging Technologies For 2016?
Take an advanced technology. Add a twist of fantasy. Stir well, and watch the action unfold.
From Communications of the ACM
Inverse Privacy
Seeking a market-based solution to the problem of a person's unjustified inaccessibility to their private information.
From Communications of the ACM
Turing's Red Flag
A proposal for a law to prevent artificial intelligence systems from being mistaken for humans.
From ACM Opinion
Machines that Talk to S May Soon Sense Our Feelings, Too
After great promise in the 1960s that machines would soon think like humans, progress stalled for decades. Only in the past 10 years or so has research picked up...
From Communications of the ACM
Big Data Analytics and Revision of the Common Rule
Reconsidering traditional research ethics given the emergence of big data analytics.
From Communications of the ACM
How Charles Bachman Invented the DBMS, a Foundation of Our Digital World
His 1963 Integrated Data Store set the template for all subsequent database management systems.
From Communications of the ACM
Apple v. Samsung and the Upcoming Design Patent Wars?
Assessing an important recent design patent infringement court decision.
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
Self-Driving Cars Could Flip the Auto Insurance Industry on Its Head
As the driverless car gets closer to reality, so too does the dilemma of how to insure the car and its owner.
From ACM Opinion