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
There Is a Blind Spot in AI Research
This week, the White House published its report on the future of artificial intelligence (AI)—a product of four workshops held between May and July 2016 in Seattle...
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
Russian Hacking Crisis Tests Obama's Nerve
President Barack Obama came under immediate pressure Friday night to punish Russia for hacking into US political institutions—with calls to rally European allies...
From ACM Opinion
Would It Be Ethical to Implant False Memories in Therapy?
Take a moment to remember an event that you experienced as a child.
From ACM Opinion
The Problem With Google's 'star Trek' Computer
Google is hoping to develop its Assistant, a Siri-like technology to be included on the company's new smartphones and other products, into something like the computer...
From ACM Opinion
An Ode to the Rosetta Spacecraft as It Flings Itself Into a Comet
Today, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will engage its thrusters for one final maneuver: a suicidal plunge toward the comet it has been orbiting...
From ACM Opinion
Y2k 2.0: Is the .s. Government Set to 'give Away the Internet' Saturday?
Remember the projected Y2K bug disaster? The world's computers would supposedly go haywire as the clock ticked to January 1, 2000, thus destroying the world and...
From ACM Opinion
Why Data Is the New Coal
"Is data the new oil?" asked proponents of big data back in 2012 in Forbes magazine. By 2016, and the rise of big data's turbo-powered cousin deep learning, westated Fortune...
From ACM Opinion
Grading the Presidential Candidates on Science
Two weeks ago, Scientific American asked for your help in grading the presidential candidates on their answers to 20 questions about various aspects of scientific...
From ACM Opinion
The Internet Is No Place For Public Elections
Despite what your local election officials may tell you, you can’t trust the Internet with your vote.
From ACM Opinion
What If the Aliens We Are Looking For Are Ai?
For more than a century we have been broadcasting our presence to the cosmos.
From ACM Opinion
Ted Cruz Is Wrong About How Free Speech Is Censored on the Internet
Sen. Ted Cruz wants to engineer a United States takeover of a key Internet organization, ICANN, in the name of protecting freedom of expression.
From Communications of the ACM
Cloud Calipers
Naming the next generation and remembering that the cloud is just other people's computers.
From ACM Opinion
An 'interview' With Google's New Digital Assistant
Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit introduced a new digital assistant Wednesday. Bloomberg News put the system through its paces by asking questions, some of which were...
From ACM Opinion
For the Debaters: What Shall We Do About the Tech Careening Our Way?
Here's a question I’m hoping comes up at Monday's presidential debate: Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump, what would you do about self-driving trucks?
From ACM Opinion
Are the Experts Worried About the Existential Risk of Artificial Intelligence?
If you believe everything you read, you are probably quite worried about the prospect of a superintelligent, killer AI.
From ACM Opinion
The Cold War Is Over. The Cyber War Has Begun.
Contemplating Russian nuclear threats during the Cold War, the strategist Herman Kahn calibrated a macabre ladder of escalation, with 44 rungs ranging from "Ostensible...
From ACM Opinion