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Amazon Robotics: An Interview With VP And Distinguished Engineer Brad Porter
From ACM Opinion

Amazon Robotics: An Interview With VP And Distinguished Engineer Brad Porter

Brad Porter, Amazon's Vice President and Distinguished Engineer of Robotics, is responsible for driving improvements in the company's worldwide operations.

Three Problems with Facebook's Plan to Kill Hate Speech ­sing AI
From ACM Opinion

Three Problems with Facebook's Plan to Kill Hate Speech ­sing AI

Mark Zuckerberg told the US Congress this week that Facebook will increasingly rely on artificial intelligence to catch hate speech spread on the platform.

The Era of Fake Video Begins
From ACM Opinion

The Era of Fake Video Begins

In a dank corner of the internet, it is possible to find actresses from Game of Thrones or Harry Potter engaged in all manner of sex acts. Or at least to the world...

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...

Here's How the ­S Needs to Prepare for the Age of Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

Here's How the ­S Needs to Prepare for the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Politicians worldwide are stealing one of the US government's best ideas by drawing up ambitious plans to make the most of advances in artificial intelligence. ...

Why 2001: A Space Odyssey's Mystery Endures, 50 Years On
From ACM Opinion

Why 2001: A Space Odyssey's Mystery Endures, 50 Years On

Michael Benson's new book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece offers a fresh look at the making of Stanley Kubrick's...

What '2001' Got Right
From ACM Opinion

What '2001' Got Right

It's a testament to the lasting influence of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's film "2001: A Space Odyssey," which turns 50 this week, that the disc-shaped...

The Ageless Appeal of 2001: A Space Odyssey 
From ACM Opinion

The Ageless Appeal of 2001: A Space Odyssey 

In 1968, film-maker Stanley Kubrick and his screenwriting colleague, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, presented 2001: A Space Odyssey. Half a century later...

Enough With the Trolley Problem
From ACM Opinion

Enough With the Trolley Problem

You know the drill by now: A runaway trolley is careening down a track. There are five workers ahead, sure to be killed if the trolley reaches them.

The Man With the Most Valuable Work Experience in the World
From ACM Opinion

The Man With the Most Valuable Work Experience in the World

Chris Urmson led Google's self-driving car team from its early days all the way until the company shed its Google skin and emerged under the Alphabet umbrella as...

To Protect Artificial Intelligence from Attacks, Show It Fake Data
From ACM Opinion

To Protect Artificial Intelligence from Attacks, Show It Fake Data

AI systems can sometimes be tricked into seeing something that's not actually there, as when Google's software "saw" a 3-D-printed turtle as a rifle.

Intelligent to a Fault: When AI Screws ­p, You Might Still Be to Blame
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.

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly
From ACM Opinion

How to Make A.I. Human-Friendly

For a field that was not well known outside of academia a decade ago, artificial intelligence has grown dizzyingly fast. Tech companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing...

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.
From ACM Opinion

Don't Blame China, Mr. President. Blame the Robots.

Mr. President, if you're looking for someone to demonize for killing blue-collar jobs in your favorite industries, don't blame China and "bad trade deals." Blame...

The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains
From ACM Opinion

The Sublime and Scary Future of Cameras With A.I. Brains

Something strange, scary and sublime is happening to cameras, and it's going to complicate everything you knew about pictures. Cameras are getting brains.

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities
From ACM Opinion

A Framework for Building Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

After decades of promise and hype, artificial intelligence has finally reached a tipping point of market acceptance.

The Limits of Explainability
From ACM Opinion

The Limits of Explainability

When we look at a stack of blocks or a stack of Oreos, we intuitively have a sense of how stable it is, whether it might fall over, and in what direction it may...

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs
From ACM Opinion

Tech Companies Should Stop Pretending AI Won't Destroy Jobs

I took an Uber to an artificial-­intelligence conference at MIT one recent morning, and the driver asked me how long it would take for autonomous vehicles to take...

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious
From ACM Opinion

China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious

For all the particularities of life in China, its big cities offer a familiar cosmopolitanism.

19th-Century Paleontology Was at the Forefront of Big Data
From ACM Opinion

19th-Century Paleontology Was at the Forefront of Big Data

In 1981, when I was 9 years old, my father took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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