Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
May 2022
From ACM Opinion
Code Breaker: Meet the Man Who Virtually Invented Computer Art
Herbert W. Franke's digital work is finally being recognized as revolutionary after being rejected and scorned in the 1950s.
From ACM Opinion
We Should Not Try to Make Conscious Software—Until We Should
Eventually, the most ethical option might be to divert all resources toward building very happy machines.
From ACM Opinion
Why All Cryptocurrency Should "Die in a Fire"
Computer scientist Nicholas Weaver thinks cryptocurrency is a terrible idea that will end in disaster.
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence Is Breaking Patent Law
Inventions devised by machines require their own intellectual property law and an international treaty.
From ACM Opinion
AI's Threats to Jobs and Human Happiness Are Real
But short-term job chaos will give way to long-term prosperity, says artificial intelligence expert Kai-Fu Lee.
From ACM Opinion
Crashing Crypto: Is This Time Different?
Beyond speculation, cryptocurrency's value in economic transactions is hard to discern.
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.
From ACM Opinion
Claims That Girls Have a 'Natural' Aversion to Physics Are Harmful
Girls are just as capable as boys in science and mathematics, but ingrained attitudes are stopping female students from engaging.
From ACM Opinion
The Woman Who Brought Female Representation to Games
The year-long search for Wabbit creator Van Mai comes to a happy conclusion.
From ACM Opinion
The Problem with Blaming Robots for Taking Our Jobs
For decades, the effects of automation have been fiercely debated. Are we missing the bigger picture?
From ACM Opinion
U.S. Needs New 'Manhattan Project' to Avoid Cyber Catastrophe
Without dramatic action, a cyber catastrophe is nearly inevitable.
From ACM Opinion
Mark Zuckerberg on His Big Metaverse Bet
Meta CEO explains why he is committed to the metaverse and able to make bets that others will not.
From ACM Opinion
Lessons From Deploying Deep Learning to Production
Peter Gao, an early engineer at Cruise, reflects on his experience deploying deep-learning models into production.
From ACM Opinion
Can Large Language Models Be Democratized?
The very nature of large language models is undemocratic and in favor of the companies that publicize them.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Be Dazzled by Claims of Artificial Intelligence
Media coverage must hold tech companies to account over claims about AI.
From ACM Opinion
Computers Have Memories Too
Simons Foundation Junior Fellow Sebastian Wolff discusses his quest to simplify the switch between the two deletion processes.
From ACM Opinion
Turning a Million-Qubit Quantum Computing Dream into Reality
Intel's director of quantum hardware talks about quantum computing's reliance on the next generation of chips.
From ACM Opinion
AI Companies Are Massively Faking the Loophole in the Turing Test
Claims that an AI has achieved human levels of understanding should be approached with skepticism until it can be shown that humans were not involved.
From ACM Opinion
Future of Computer Science Is in Its Application to Daily Life
Microsoft India CTO Shivkumar Kalyanaraman believes computer science's future will be based on how it can be applied as a utility.
From ACM Opinion
Beyond Interpretability: Developing a Language to Shape Our Relationships with AI
Wouldn't it be nice if we could ask AI questions to learn how and why it makes its predictions?
From ACM Opinion
Designing Software for Research Ethics
Ph.D. candidate Jonathan Zong found a lack of systems that earn and maintain public trust in large-scale online research, so he made one.
From ACM Opinion
Tech Companies Are Not Ready for a Post-Roe Era
The mortal threat to Roe was not taken seriously by many in corporate America, and that apathy will now come back to haunt them.
From ACM Opinion
To Win the Next War, the Pentagon Needs Nerds
Data scientists, coders, and other techies could prove decisive in future conflicts—if Uncle Sam can recruit them.
From ACM Opinion
To Make AI Fair, Here's What Must Be Done
AI developers need to collaborate with social scientists and the people affected by its applications.
From ACM Opinion
It Is Okay to Opt out of the Crypto Revolution
The crypto industry is investing heavily in getting more people to buy in, but that does not mean you have to.
From ACM Opinion
How Language-Generation AIs Could Transform Science
University of Michigan's Shobita Parthasarathy warns that software designed to summarize, translate, and write like humans might exacerbate distrust in science.
From ACM Opinion
Nobody Knows Where the Red Line Is for Cyberwarfare
Is offense the best defense? Or would threats of retaliation keep an enemy in check?
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Linux
Fedora project leader Matthew Miller weighs in.
From Communications of the ACM
Two Paths for Digital Disability Law
Understanding the legal drivers of efforts to make technology accessible.
From Communications of the ACM
Cybersecurity as Illuminator for the Future of Computing Research
Considering the shifting fundamentals of cybersecurity research.