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He Helped Create the 'google Brain.' Here's What He Thinks About AI Now
From ACM Opinion

He Helped Create the 'google Brain.' Here's What He Thinks About AI Now

Trucks that can drive themselves along delivery routes. Computers capable of defeating world champions in a notoriously complex game. Apps that can translate sentences...

The Gadget Apocalypse Is ­pon ­S
From ACM Opinion

The Gadget Apocalypse Is ­pon ­S

Remember gadgets?

Earth, the Final Frontier
From ACM Opinion

Earth, the Final Frontier

On April 1, 1960, the newly established National Aeronautics and Space Administration heaved a 270-pound box of electronics into Earth orbit.

Silicon Valley Reels After Trump's Election
From ACM Opinion

Silicon Valley Reels After Trump's Election

Silicon Valley's luminaries woke up Wednesday morning to a darkened new global order, one that the ceaseless optimism of their tech-powered visions seemed suddenly...

How Data Failed ­S in Calling an Election
From ACM Opinion

How Data Failed ­S in Calling an Election

It was a rough night for number crunchers. And for the faith that people in every field—business, politics, sports and academia—have increasingly placed in the...

What We've Learned About the Media Industry During This Election
From ACM Opinion

What We've Learned About the Media Industry During This Election

When the 2016 campaign began, legacy news organizations already faced dim industry projections.

Time to Dump Time Zones
From ACM Opinion

Time to Dump Time Zones

We will awaken Sunday to yet another disturbance in the chronosphere—our twice-yearly jolt from resetting the clocks, mechanical and biological.

We Went to the Grace Hopper Celebration. Here's What We're Bringing Back
From ACM Opinion

We Went to the Grace Hopper Celebration. Here's What We're Bringing Back

Members of The New York Times Developers recently made their first group trip to the Grace Hopper Celebration. At 15,000 attendees, GHC is the world's largest gathering...

Who Oversees Data Brokers Selling Your Personal Info? No One
From ACM Opinion

Who Oversees Data Brokers Selling Your Personal Info? No One

You probably already know that you have precious little privacy, and that shadowy data brokers have built the buying and selling of people’s personal information...

A.i. Inspiration: The Science Fiction That Frames Discussion
From ACM Opinion

A.i. Inspiration: The Science Fiction That Frames Discussion

Science fiction comes up often in serious discussions about artificial intelligence and weapons.

If They Google You, Do You Win?
From ACM Opinion

If They Google You, Do You Win?

Are voters misleading pollsters? Are there hidden Donald Trump supporters who could throw the election his way?

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year's Big Loser Is Email
From ACM Opinion

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year's Big Loser Is Email

Every four years, pundits race to anoint this or that newfangled tech trend as the next disruptive force to forever alter the mechanics of American democracy.

Ron Wyden Discusses Encryption, Data Privacy and Security
From ACM Opinion

Ron Wyden Discusses Encryption, Data Privacy and Security

Ron Wyden, U.S. senator from Oregon and a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, recently talked about the privacy-versus-security debate.

Surveillance in the Post-Obama Era
From ACM Opinion

Surveillance in the Post-Obama Era

During his 2008 campaign, President Obama vowed to assert greater oversight of the massive surveillance apparatus built in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, arguing...

The Problem With Google's 'star Trek' Computer
From ACM Opinion

The Problem With Google's 'star Trek' Computer

Google is hoping to develop its Assistant, a Siri-like technology to be included on the company's new smartphones and other products, into something like the computer...

For the Debaters: What Shall We Do About the Tech Careening Our Way?
From ACM Opinion

For the Debaters: What Shall We Do About the Tech Careening Our Way?

Here's a question I’m hoping comes up at Monday's presidential debate: Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump, what would you do about self-driving trucks?

The Time I Went on Border Patrol in a Virtual Reality World
From ACM Opinion

The Time I Went on Border Patrol in a Virtual Reality World

I found myself on a desolate desert road, in front of a man who was leaning against the hood of a banged-up sedan and next to a United States Border Patrol agent...

How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics For Artificial Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics For Artificial Intelligence

For years, science-fiction moviemakers have been making us fear the bad things that artificially intelligent machines might do to their human creators.

Can We Trust Julian Assange and Wikileaks?
From ACM Opinion

Can We Trust Julian Assange and Wikileaks?

The release of a cache of emails from the Democratic National Committee by WikiLeaks last month has raised a great many questions—about the role of the D.N.C. in...

Make Algorithms Accountable
From ACM Opinion

Make Algorithms Accountable

Algorithms are ubiquitous in our lives.
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