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His 2020 Campaign Message: The Robots Are Coming
From ACM Opinion

His 2020 Campaign Message: The Robots Are Coming

Among the many, many Democrats who will seek the party's presidential nomination in 2020, most probably agree on a handful of core issues: protecting DACA, rejoining...

Why Cops Won't Need a Warrant to Pull the Data Off Your Autonomous Car
From ACM Opinion

Why Cops Won't Need a Warrant to Pull the Data Off Your Autonomous Car

Lt. Saul Jaeger, who commands the traffic unit at the Mountain View Police Department, remembers the first time a few years ago when he was given a demo of Waymo's...

Want Awesome Robots? You'll Have to Best These Challenges
From ACM Opinion

Want Awesome Robots? You'll Have to Best These Challenges

We are living in the midst of a profound technological restructuring of human society. The machines that once only frolicked in science fiction have begun to infiltrate...

Technology to Watch in 2018
From ACM Opinion

Technology to Watch in 2018

For all the excitement surrounding the gene-editing tool CRISPR, it is not that efficient or precise. It's hard to make many changes at once.

For AI to Get Creative, It Must Learn the Rules, Then How to Break 'em
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.

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence's 'black Box' Is Nothing to Fear

Alongside the excitement and hype about our growing reliance on artificial intelligence, there's fear about the way the technology works.

China's Breathtaking Transformation Into a Scientific Superpower
From ACM Opinion

China's Breathtaking Transformation Into a Scientific Superpower

The National Science Foundation and the National Science Board have just released their biennial "Science & Engineering Indicators," a voluminous document describing...

Google Boss Says AI Is 'more Profound Than Electricity'
From ACM Opinion

Google Boss Says AI Is 'more Profound Than Electricity'

Google CEO Sundar Pichai believes artificial intelligence could have "more profound" implications for humanity than electricity or fire, according to recent comments...

Forget the Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let's Talk About the Multiplicity
From ACM Opinion

Forget the Robot Singularity Apocalypse. Let's Talk About the Multiplicity

For a species that's conquered Earth and traveled through space and invented the Slapchop, we humans sure are insecure when it comes to technology.

Can Robots Tighten the Bolts on a Rickety Caregiver Sector?
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...

In 2018, Voice Assistants Will Make the Leap Out of Your Home
From ACM Opinion

In 2018, Voice Assistants Will Make the Leap Out of Your Home

At one section of Google's giant outdoor booth at CES was an impromptu, carney-style one-man show, with a guy wearing dark sunglasses and a white Google Assistant...

The Big Tech Trends to Follow at Ces 2018
From ACM Opinion

The Big Tech Trends to Follow at Ces 2018

Imagine this: When you leave the house, your air conditioner and lights turn off automatically. Then when a motion sensor detects a person in the house, like your...

8 Overly Confident, Mostly Pessimistic Predictions About Tech in 2018
From ACM Opinion

8 Overly Confident, Mostly Pessimistic Predictions About Tech in 2018

It was a very strange year for technology companies. They have become a "bipartisan whipping boy," a new sexist institution, responsible for the muddying of the...

10 Ways Tech Will Shape Your Life in 2018, For Better and Worse
From ACM Opinion

10 Ways Tech Will Shape Your Life in 2018, For Better and Worse

Is the outlook for technology in 2018 exciting—or slightly terrifying? Flip a coin. You'd be right either way.

How Nasa's Search For Et Relies on Advanced AI
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...

Driverless Cars Could Make Transportation Free For Everyone, With a Catch
From ACM Opinion

Driverless Cars Could Make Transportation Free For Everyone, With a Catch

As self-driving cars inch closer to everyday reality, journalists, futurists, economists, and ethicists have weighed in with numerous predictions about autonomous...

Artificial Intelligence Is Killing the ­ncanny Valley and Our Grasp on Reality
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Is Killing the ­ncanny Valley and Our Grasp on Reality

There's a revolution afoot, and you will know it by the stripes.

How AI Changes The Stakes For Pharma
From ACM Opinion

How AI Changes The Stakes For Pharma

Can drug developers leverage AI to reverse the decline in R&D productivity that has persisted in the face of other IT technologies?

As AI and Robots Rise Up, Do Humans Need an Upgrade Too?
From ACM Opinion

As AI and Robots Rise Up, Do Humans Need an Upgrade Too?

There is a chip implanted in my hand. I'm serious.

Why These Friendly Robots Can't Be Good Friends to Our Kids
From ACM Opinion

Why These Friendly Robots Can't Be Good Friends to Our Kids

Jibo the robot swivels around when it hears its name and tilts its touchscreen face upward, expectantly.
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