For artificial intelligence to thrive, it must explain itself

SCIENCE fiction is littered with examples of intelligent computers, from HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey" to Eddie in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". One thing such fictional machines have in common is a tendency to go wrong, to the detriment of the characters in the story. Eddie obsesses about trivia, and thus puts the spacecraft he is in charge of in danger of destruction. In both cases, an attempt to build something useful and helpful has created a monster. Successful science fiction necessarily plays on real hopes and fears.