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The AI Researcher Giving Her Field Its Bitter Medicine
From ACM Opinion

The AI Researcher Giving Her Field Its Bitter Medicine

Anima Anandkumar wants computer scientists to move beyond the matrix, among other challenges.

The Computer Scientist Challenging AI to Learn Better
From ACM Opinion

The Computer Scientist Challenging AI to Learn Better

Christopher Kanan is building algorithms that can continuously learn over time—the way people do.

The Computer Scientist Who Parlays Failures into Breakthroughs
From ACM Opinion

The Computer Scientist Who Parlays Failures into Breakthroughs

An interview with Yale University Sterling Professor of Computer Science Daniel Spielman.

How to Write Software with Mathematical Perfection
From ACM Opinion

How to Write Software with Mathematical Perfection

Leslie Lamport revolutionized how computers talk to each other, and now he's working on how engineers talk to their machines.

Anne Carpenter: Her Machine Learning Tools Pull Insights from Cell Images
From ACM Opinion

Anne Carpenter: Her Machine Learning Tools Pull Insights from Cell Images

Computational biologist brings the power of machine learning to researchers seeking answers in mountains of cell images

The Uselessness of Useful Knowledge
From ACM Opinion

The Uselessness of Useful Knowledge

Today's powerful but little-understood AI breakthroughs echo past examples of unexpected scientific progress

How Big Data Carried Graph Theory into New Dimensions
From ACM Opinion

How Big Data Carried Graph Theory into New Dimensions

Researchers are turning to the mathematics of higher-order interactions to better model complex connections in data

The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies
From ACM Opinion

The Computer Scientist Training AI to Think With Analogies

Digital minds will never truly be like ours until they can make analogies.

What Makes Quantum Computing So Hard to Explain?
From ACM Opinion

What Makes Quantum Computing So Hard to Explain?

To understand what quantum computers can do—and what they can’t—avoid falling for overly simple explanations.

A Number Theorist Who Connects Math to Other Creative Pursuits
From ACM Opinion

A Number Theorist Who Connects Math to Other Creative Pursuits

Jordan Ellenberg calls on mathematics to explore everything from Internet fads to voting rights.

Can Machines Control Our Brains?
From ACM Opinion

Can Machines Control Our Brains?

Advances in brain-computer interface technology are impressive, but not close to anything resembling mind control.

Charlie Marcus Knows That Quantum Facts Aren't Complicated
From ACM Opinion

Charlie Marcus Knows That Quantum Facts Aren't Complicated

The secret to making a qubit for future quantum computers might depend on knowing how to tie knots in unusual materials, argues quantum physicist Charlie Marcus...

Professor Advocates Taking AI Research Back to Its Roots
From ACM Opinion

Professor Advocates Taking AI Research Back to Its Roots

To build a general artificial intelligence, we may need to know more about our own minds, argues computer scientist Melanie Mitchell.

A Computer Scientist Who Tackles Inequality Through Algorithms
From ACM Opinion

A Computer Scientist Who Tackles Inequality Through Algorithms

Rediet Abebe uses the tools of theoretical computer science to understand pressing social problems — and try to fix them.

Prepping for a Flood of Heavenly Bodies
From ACM Opinion

Prepping for a Flood of Heavenly Bodies

This is a story of getting the good out of the bad, said Mario Jurić.

To Build Truly Intelligent Machines, Teach Them Cause and Effect
From ACM Opinion

To Build Truly Intelligent Machines, Teach Them Cause and Effect

Artificial intelligence owes a lot of its smarts to Judea Pearl.

A Revealer of Secrets in the Data of Life and the ­niverse
From ACM Opinion

A Revealer of Secrets in the Data of Life and the ­niverse

In statistics, abstract math meets real life. To find meaning in unruly sets of raw numbers, statisticians like Donald Richards first look for associations: statistical...

New Brain Maps With ­nmatched Detail May Change Neuroscience
From ACM Opinion

New Brain Maps With ­nmatched Detail May Change Neuroscience

Sitting at the desk in his lower campus office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the neuroscientist Tony Zador turned his computer monitor toward me to show off...

Wanted: More Data, the Dirtier the Better
From ACM Opinion

Wanted: More Data, the Dirtier the Better

To distill a clear message from growing piles of unruly genomics data, researchers often turn to meta-analysis—a tried-and-true statistical procedure for combining...

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?
From ACM Opinion

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?

In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue system defeated the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.
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