AI agent offers rationales using everyday language to explain its actions

The agent also uses everyday language that non-experts can understand. The explanations, or "rationales" as the researchers call them, are designed to be relatable and inspire trust in those who might be in the workplace with AI machines or interact with them in social situations. "If the power of AI is to be democratized, it needs to be accessible to anyone regardless of their technical abilities," said Upol Ehsan, Ph.D. student in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech and lead researcher. "As AI pervades all aspects of our lives, there is a distinct need for human-centered AI design that makes black-boxed AI systems explainable to everyday users. Our work takes a formative step toward understanding the role of language-based explanations and how humans perceive them."