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Tony Fadell: What Will Google's $3.2bn Guru Do Next?
From ACM Opinion

Tony Fadell: What Will Google's $3.2bn Guru Do Next?

When Google paid $3.2bn (£2.1bn) to buy Tony Fadell's start-up Nest in 2014, it got much more than just an internet-connected thermostat and smoke detector.

The Truth About the Turing Test
From ACM Opinion

The Truth About the Turing Test

Alan Turing made many predictions about artificial intelligence, but one of his lesser known may sound familiar to those who have heard Stephen Hawking or Elon...

What Is a 'computer' Anymore?
From ACM Opinion

What Is a 'computer' Anymore?

People used to be computers.

The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car, Chapter 2
From ACM Opinion

The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car, Chapter 2

Summer is one of the most dangerous times of the year on U.S. streets, as many of us spend more time behind the wheel, heading out for long road trips or local...

How Worried Should You Be About Artificial Intelligence?
From ACM Opinion

How Worried Should You Be About Artificial Intelligence?

Intelligent machines come in myriad forms, so which ones pose a danger to us, and how likely are they to actually happen?

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Was A Bust
From ACM Opinion

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Was A Bust

It's been close to a month since the DARPA Robotics Challenge wrapped up. That's time enough to face facts. The biggest and most well-funded international robotics...

The Very Best Ideas For Preventing Artificial Intelligence from Wrecking the Planet
From ACM Opinion

The Very Best Ideas For Preventing Artificial Intelligence from Wrecking the Planet

The Boston-based Future of Life Institute, backed by a $10 million donation from Elon Musk, recently announced its list of 37 winners of research grants in the....

Meet Our Future Robosimian Heroes
From ACM Opinion

Meet Our Future Robosimian Heroes

Not all robots are built for war and destruction.

Is Star Trek Tech Possible?
From ACM Opinion

Is Star Trek Tech Possible?

My friend Veronica Belmont is pretty cool. Nerd, writer, TV host… and now she’s doing an online video series with Engadget called "Dear Veronica," where she answers...

Stephen Hawking Asks a Big Question of Mark Zuckerberg
From ACM Opinion

Stephen Hawking Asks a Big Question of Mark Zuckerberg

Stephen Hawking woke up Tuesday morning and immediately summoned his handlers.

Should a Driverless Car Decide Who Lives or Dies?
From ACM News

Should a Driverless Car Decide Who Lives or Dies?

The gearheads in Detroit, Tokyo, and Stuttgart have mostly figured out how to build driverless vehicles. Even the Google guys seem to have solved the riddle.

Humans Are Tech's Next Big Thing—and That Could Be Risky
From ACM Opinion

Humans Are Tech's Next Big Thing—and That Could Be Risky

Internet companies make billions of dollars by capturing one of the world's most precious commodities: your attention.

The Moment I Decided Robots Were As Interesting As Humans
From ACM Opinion

The Moment I Decided Robots Were As Interesting As Humans

When I was little, I was enamored with the idea of being a pioneer; I was drawn to the thought that I could be the first to do something—be a trailblazer, the forerunner...

Beware the Listening Machines
From ACM Opinion

Beware the Listening Machines

One of my great pleasures in life is attending conferences on fields I'm intrigued by, but know nothing about.

Who Will Own the Robots?
From ACM News

Who Will Own the Robots?

The way Hod Lipson describes his Creative Machines Lab captures his ambitions: "We are interested in robots that create and are creative."  

No One Questions Google's Ability to Innovate, So Why Do Its Moonshots Look Like Money Pits?
From ACM Opinion

No One Questions Google's Ability to Innovate, So Why Do Its Moonshots Look Like Money Pits?

Consider a question that we have been puzzling over at the World Economic Forum.

Stop Laughing at Those Clumsy Humanoid Robots
From ACM Opinion

Stop Laughing at Those Clumsy Humanoid Robots

The humanoid robot, built like a linebacker with an oversized head, tiptoes on two feet through the dirt.

Why Robots and Humans Struggled with Darpa's Challenge
From ACM Opinion

Why Robots and Humans Struggled with Darpa's Challenge

When some of the world's most advanced rescue robots are foiled by nothing more complex than a doorknob, you get a good sense of the challenge of making our homes...

Lust and the Turing Test
From ACM Opinion

Lust and the Turing Test

By and large, we watch movies to be entertained, not to be provoked into deep thought. Occasionally, a film does both.

Immortal But Damned to Hell on Earth
From ACM Opinion

Immortal But Damned to Hell on Earth

Imagine a supercomputer so advanced that it could hold the contents of a human brain.
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