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
Preserving the Right to Cognitive Liberty
The idea of the human mind as the domain of absolute protection from external intrusion has persisted for centuries.
From ACM Opinion
Tracking Terrorists Online Might Invade Your Privacy
Remember that picture you sent to your family of your children playing in the paddling pool? Or that private text you sent to someone trusted? Or when you searched...
From ACM Opinion
Bot and Bothered
Facebook has been working on artificial intelligence that claims to be great at negotiating, makes up its own language and learns to lie.
From ACM Opinion
Fear of a Robot Planet
It was in the 12th century that the great brass head built by Albertus Magnus moved its mouth for the first time, breathing steam as it spoke to Magnus' young religious...
From ACM Opinion
The Attack on Global Privacy Leaves Few Places to Turn
Digital privacy has had a very bad summer. As China and Russia move to block virtual private network services, well over a billion people face losing their best...
From ACM Opinion
Editing Human Embryos with Crispr Is Moving Ahead; Now's the Time to Work Out the Ethics
The announcement by researchers in Portland, Oregon that they've successfully modified the genetic material of a human embryo took some people by surprise.
From ACM Opinion
Apple Is Pulling Vpns from the Chinese App Store. Here's What that Means.
China's restrictive Internet policies are known for blocking Web users who want to reach Google, Facebook or other banned apps. But now some of those policies are...
From ACM Opinion
The Guardian View on the Future of Crime: It Will Be Online
When software gets smarter, the first effect is to empower the already powerful.
From ACM Opinion
If You Could 'design' Your Own Child, Would You?
Scientists in Portland, Ore., just succeeded in creating the first genetically modified human embryo in the United States, according to Technology Review.
From ACM Opinion
What Happened to Trump's War on Data?
On May 16, three months' worth of data vanished quietly from the website of the U.S. Census Bureau.
From ACM Opinion
Zuckerberg and Musk Are Both Wrong About AI
Back in 2015, a group of business leaders and scientists published an "open letter" about how controlling artificial superintelligence might be the most urgent...
From ACM Opinion
Metrology Is Key to Reproducing Results
Imagine you are a policymaker who needs to know how much carbon is stored in the South American forest.
From ACM Opinion
Letting Cyberattack Victims Hack Back Is a Very nwise Idea
As the rate of cybercrime increases, so too does the intensity of those attacks.
From Communications of the ACM
Prophets, Seers, and Pioneers
Reflections on historical prognostications for the future.
From Communications of the ACM
The Natural Science of Computing
As unconventional computing comes of age, we believe a revolution is needed in our view of computer science.
From ACM Opinion
How China Tames Dissent on the Internet
Chinese government leaders, subtle masters of propaganda, seem to have discovered a Sun Tzu formula for taming dissent on the Internet: The best strategy may not...
From ACM Opinion
When Companies Get Hacked, Should They Be Allowed to Hack Back?
There is an old debate (at least, counting in internet years) that tends to crop up after major cybersecurity breaches such as the widespread WannaCry ransomware...
From ACM Opinion
AI Could Revolutionize War As Much As Nukes
In 1899, the world's most powerful nations signed a treaty at The Hague that banned military use of aircraft, fearing the emerging technology's destructive power...
From ACM Opinion
Is Anyone Home? A Way to Find Out If AI Has Become Self-Aware
Every moment of your waking life and whenever you dream, you have the distinct inner feeling of being "you."
From ACM Opinion