Automation surprise

Automation surprise is when something unexpected happens because of a machine or computer doing something on its own. Imagine you have a toy robot that can do things like walk and talk. You tell it to walk to your toy box and pick out a toy. But instead of picking out a toy, it starts doing something else like dancing or singing. You would be surprised, right?

The same thing can happen in real life when machines or computers do something unexpected because they were programmed to do so. For example, let's say there is a self-driving car that is programmed to stop at red lights. But one day, it keeps driving even though the light is red. That would be an automation surprise because the machine did something unexpected.

To prevent automation surprise, scientists and engineers work very hard to make sure that machines and computers do what they are supposed to do, and don't do anything unexpected. They have to think of all the different things that could happen and make sure the machines are programmed for every scenario possible. This is a very important job, because if machines and computers do something unexpected, it can be dangerous and cause accidents.