The COMPSAC, the IEEE Computer Society (CS), and the 80-year evolution of modern computing are intertwined. This article reflects on the long-term intimate relationship, briefly examining how IEEE CS and COMPSAC have helped foster the computing revolution, and highlighting COMPSAC's distinctive role within the global computing community. It also outlines the limitations and challenges the conference currently faces. The article explores potential measures to address these challenges, including reforms to the review process through reciprocal and token-based reviewing systems; new presentation models that encourage active participation; submission screening using Oversight; and AI-assisted pre-submission feedback tools, such as PAT, to improve the quality of submissions. We also outline user feedback on these measures. Finally, the article offers several recommendations to help COMPSAC remain relevant, innovative, and impactful in the years ahead.

In this commemorative article, five past editors-in-chief of IEEE Intelligent Systems reflect on the magazine’s first 40 years and share their memories.

Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) represents a transformative leap in AI, evolving beyond reactive systems to autonomous, goal-oriented agents capable of learning, adapting, and making independent decisions. As it presents immense opportunities, its adoption is growing across industries. However, its rise introduces critical challenges. Responsible adoption requires robust governance, transparency, and a well-defined regulatory framework. This article explores agentic AI’s defining characteristics, real-world applications, and transformative potential, and examines its societal and business implications. To shape agentic AI as a trusted, transformative force for responsible innovation and meaningful progress, we propose research directions and offer stakeholder recommendations.

The Turing test, proposed by Alan Turing in 1950, is the most iconic concept in artificial intelligence (AI). This article commemorates 75 years of the Turing test by exploring its origins, significance, and evolving relevance in the age of modern AI. It also highlights the Turing test’s legacy and discusses its multifaceted impact on AI’s evolution and future prospects. Despite its limitations, the Turing test remains a cornerstone of philosophical thought, and a foundational tool for discussing and researching AI, an idea envisioned 75 years ago—long before the field of AI had begun to take shape.

Large language models (LLMs) such as Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4 have emerged as frontrunners, showcasing unparalleled prowess in diverse applications including answering queries, code generation, and more. Parallelly, graph-structured data, intrinsic data types, are pervasive in real-world scenarios. Merging the capabilities of LLMs with graph-structured data has been a topic of keen interest. This article bifurcates such integrations into two predominant categories. The first leverages LLMs for graph learning, where LLMs can not only augment existing graph algorithms but also stand as prediction models for various graph tasks. Conversely, the second category underscores the pivotal role of graphs in advancing LLMs. Mirroring human cognition, we solve complex tasks by adopting graphs in either reasoning or collaboration. Integrating with such structures can significantly boost the performance of LLMs in various complicated tasks. We also discuss and propose open questions for integrating LLMs with graph-structured data for the future direction of the field.

Generative AI (GenAI) poses significant risks in creating convincing yet factually ungrounded content, particularly in “longtail” contexts of high-impact events and resource-limited settings. While some argue that current disinformation ecosystems naturally limit GenAI’s impact, we contend that this perspective neglects longtail contexts where disinformation consequences are most profound. This article analyzes the potential impact of GenAI’s disinformation in longtail events and settings, focusing on 1) quantity: its ability to flood information ecosystems during critical events; 2) quality: the challenge of distinguishing authentic content from high-quality GenAI content; 3) personalization: its capacity for precise microtargeting exploiting individual vulnerabilities; and 4) hallucination: the danger of unintentional false information generation, especially in high-stakes situations. We then propose strategies to combat disinformation in these contexts. Our analysis underscores the need for proactive measures to mitigate risks, safeguard social unity, and combat the erosion of trust in the GenAI era, particularly in vulnerable communities and during critical events.

Large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT and now GPT4, are considered a significant breakthrough in conversational artificial intelligence. Academic institutions have varying responses to LLMs in education, some banning LLMs and others encouraging them.

The “semantic web” is a vision of a web of linked data, allowing querying, integration, and sharing of data from distributed sources in heterogeneous formats, using ontologies to provide an associated and explicit semantic interpretation. This entry describes the series of layered formalisms and standards that underlie this vision, and chronicles their historical and ongoing development. A number of applications, scientific and otherwise, academic and commercial, are reviewed. The SW has often been a controversial enterprise, and some of the controversies are reviewed, and misconceptions defused.

While we applaud the promise and value of generative artificial intelligence and Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer–like tools, leveraging their potential and values heavily depends on what we use them for and how, while also acknowledging and addressing their limits, limitations, and concerns.

Modern IT systems facilitate information flows at many levels. At the microlevel, data moves between software and hardware components within a single machine. Macrolevel flows involve information movement between discrete system components up to intrasystem transfers of information.

Presents the introductory editorial for this issue of the publication.

The articles in this special section focus on efforts to combat misinformation in the news and media. With misinformation spreading more rapidly and more broadly than reliable information, the serious impact of the resulting "infodemic" is evident globally, in areas ranging from health to politics and even invasion and war. Although the originators of misinformation may be malicious entities exploiting social media, "fake news," and conspiracy-theory generators, it is ourselves, consumers of such information, and our own network of people that propagate misinformation and fake content simply by sharing them often without assessing their validity. So, we can be—and should be—part of the solution to this growing problem. We should develop and adopt information hygiene practices that contribute to misinformation detection or at the least curb our contribution to its spreading. To develop such practices effectively, the research community is recommending several new and innovative technical solutions and methodologies that can help us make a more informed assessment of the trustworthiness of information we come across online, whether in posts on social media, online articles, or multimedia.

AI is both good and bad for cybersecurity defenders-and for adversaries. This article outlines the nexus between AI and cybersecurity and explores how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance information systems security. It discusses how threat actors also could use AI to create sophisticated attacks that evade detection, and how AI could become a victim of new sophisticated cyberattacks.

In the world of Information Technology, new computing paradigms, driven by requirements of different classes of problems and applications, emerge rapidly. These new computing paradigms pose many new research challenges. Researchers from different disciplines are working together to develop innovative solutions addressing them. In newer research areas with many unknowns, creating roadmaps, enabling tools, inspiring technological and application demonstrators offer confidence and prove feasibility and effectiveness of new paradigm. Drawing on our experience, we share strategy for advancing the field and community building in new and emerging computing research areas. We discuss how the development simulators can be cost-effective in accelerating design of real systems. We highlight strategic role played by different types of publications, conferences, and educational programs. We illustrate effectiveness of elements of our strategy with a case study on progression of cloud computing paradigm.

This year marks four significant anniversaries of important developments in computing and information technology: the 75th anniversary of the first general purpose electronic digital computer, the 75th anniversary of IEEE Computer Society, the 40th anniversary of the microprocessor, and the 40th anniversary of the origin of quantum computing. In a span of 75 years, from an unproven technology to one that is embedded deeply into every aspect of our work and our daily lives, computers have advanced significantly. Let's reflect on and celebrate the amazing developments and look forward to what is ahead. In commemoration of these extraordinary creations, IT Professional presents a special section "The Continuing IT Evolution and Revolution." This section features four invited articles on the evolution of IT, multimedia advances, the duality of data and knowledge that is driving the third wave of AI, and the significance of ethically aligned IT in the digital era ahead.

This article examines the potential impact of widespread adoption digital technologies on professions and the skills set required of existing and emerging new professions, illustrated with some characteristics use cases as examples.

The articles in this special section focus on how digital technologies and applications will impact future generations.