If Hal went all out, he could win anyone of [the mathematical games]; but that would be bad for morale. So he had been programmed to win only fifty percent of the time, and his human partners pretended not to know this.
2001: A Space Odyssey (Arthur C. Clarke)
this just tickles me. it’s so true, though, we feign a lot of ignorance about the capabilities of our electronic friends. the credit we give them and the credit we don’t is, I’m sure, a fascinating study.