Why Do We Need Intelligent Systems?

This is my last editorial before moving on to other things. The IEEE Computer Society has a policy, which I strongly applaud, of term limits for editors in chief, and I’ve reached the end of mine. Four years has been long enough to put my stamp on the magazine’s direction, but not so long as to cast it permanently into concrete. I have great faith that the magazine will be in good hands and that the incoming editor in chief, Fei-Yue Wang, will help it grow in new and important ways. Before I leave, however, I want to reflect on an issue important to the future of this magazine and the field it represents. It’s an issue that all Computer Society editors in chief face: should their magazine continue to be published?