Communications of the ACM
Digital Contact Tracing May Protect Privacy, But It Is Unlikely to Stop the Pandemic
Considering the potential benefits versus the risks of privacy-enhancing technologies.
From ACM Opinion
I Competed Against An AI
Marc Zao-Sanders, founder and CEO of Filtered, squared off against magpie, the set of algorithms that recommends learning content to people looking to pick up new...
From ACM Opinion
Don't Fear the Terminator
The fear that artificial intelligence machines could become our overlords — or perhaps wipe us out altogether — reflects a misunderstanding of AI.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Let Robots Pull the Trigger
The killer machines are coming. Robotic weapons that target and destroy without human supervision are poised to start a revolution in warfare comparable to the...
From ACM Opinion
AI's Big Challenge
The recently signed executive order establishing the American AI Initiative correctly identifies artificial intelligence as central to American competitiveness...
From ACM Opinion
Clicks, Lies and Videotape
This past April a new video of Barack Obama surfaced on the Internet. Against a backdrop that included both the American and presidential flags, it looked like...
From ACM Opinion
What Worries People about Future Science and Tech Innovations?
Many Americans see the future crowding into the present and some of the innovations ahead unnerve them, especially as they reshape ideas about human dominion.
From ACM Opinion
Are We Ready for the Future of Warfare?
Warfare has always been about exerting political will.
From ACM Opinion
Google's Duplex AI Scares Some People, but I Can't Wait for It to Become a Thing
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote. That line must have zoomed through 5,000 audience brains...
From ACM Opinion
The Erosion of Reality
Let me say this upfront: I'm not convinced that 'superintelligent' AI are the most pressing threat from coming generations of deep learning machines.
From ACM Opinion
So, mm, Google Duplex's Chatter Is Not Quite Human
Google's Duplex voice assistant drew applause last week at the company's annual I/O developer conference after CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated the artificially intelligent...
From ACM Opinion
Alexa, How Do We Take Our Relationship to the Next Level?
As useful as it would be to interact with smartphones and other gadgets by chatting casually with them, the technology to enable such a simple but meaningful back...
From ACM Opinion
What the History of Math Can Teach s About the Future of AI
Whenever an impressive new technology comes along, people rush to imagine the havoc it could wreak on society, and they overreact. Today we see this happening with...
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
For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em
American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Every artist was first an amateur." He likely never thought those words would apply to machines.
From ACM Opinion
Can Robots Tighten the Bolts on a Rickety Caregiver Sector?
In 2015 I was watching a dress rehearsal for a play about love, loss and aging. In a climactic scene, the lead actress gesticulated and shouted, while her co-star...
From ACM Opinion
How Nasa's Search For Et Relies on Advanced AI
The biggest knock against sending robots to explore the solar system for signs of life has always been their inability to make intuitive, even creative decisions...
From ACM Opinion
Magical Technologies Just Over the Horizon
We the people have always been helplessly drawn to the concept of magic: the notion that you can will something to happen by wiggling your nose, speaking special...
From ACM Opinion
Profile of Claude Shannon, Inventor of Information Theory
Claude Shannon couldn't sit still.
From ACM Opinion