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{{trope}}
In fiction, it's [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|surprisingly easy to create AIs]], and their [[
These are the five typical levels, though machine intelligences between these five grades are common:
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Some newer works might be all over the scale by saying that multiple dumb machines "networked" into a machine god (or at the very least smarter than human) intelligence capable of dissent.
When this trope is averted and all the intelligences in a work are humanoid and used for slave labor or war, this trope implies that humans [["Three Laws"-Compliant|have never read]] [[Isaac Asimov]], and use exactly the same hardware/software for ''every'' kind of industrial, military and personal robot, and are purposely [[We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future|needlessly inefficient]] or [[Humans Are
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[Armitage III]]'': The entry in [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] states: "The androids from Armitage III are actually ranked according to how human they are. "Firsts" are basically non-human robots, "Seconds" are androids, and the "Thirds" are so close to human they can get ''pregnant''." Fourths are some sort of really odd plant-like creatures intended to be a sentient species all on their own, although they seem to be lacking identifiable humanoid intelligence.
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]!'', [[Robot Girl|Chachamaru]] is a more or less average human-intelligence type robot with notable hacking skills, memory, and computing speed. Her master Evangeline has other [[Robot Maid|robotic servants]], most of whom seem to fall between brick and human levels; they appear to have a certain level of self awareness, but not nearly to Chachamaru's degree.
** It's mentioned every once in a while that this is because her "sisters" are pure robots, while she is a science/magic hybrid. Not to mention that her purely magic counterpart, the [[Creepy Doll|animated puppet]] Chachazero, can't even function if there isn't enough magic.
** It's also very likely, given the sequence where she makes a Pactio with Negi, that unlike other robots Chachamaru actually possesses a soul (or at least possesses one ''after'' Negi completes the Pactio ritual, which requires the recipient to possess a soul; one popular interpretation of the events is that he was so determined to succeed that he essentially brute-forced a soul into her somehow).
* Subverted in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]: Stand Alone Complex''. The [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] that appear are all non-sentient, and [[Logic Bomb|easily befuddled]] by the spider-like Tachikoma [[Incredibly Lame Pun|think-tanks]]. The Tachikoma discuss this, noting that humans would be intimidated by androids with human intelligence but are much more accepting of non-humanoid adorable robots like themselves having sentience.
** And in the original manga and movie there is the Codename 2501, a.k.a. Puppetmaster, who started out as a Brick with capability to learn, and became what is described in the final volume of the manga as an information god. In the aforementioned final volume, ''Man-Machine Interface'', the semi-AI descendants of the Puppetmaster-Major-fusion briefly plan turning every human with cybernetic implants on Earth into offshoots of themselves, but instead opt to create even higher forms of artificial consciousness. It's implied at the end that the age of machine gods is coming fast.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' uses varying levels of robot intelligence. [[Mecha-Mooks|Gadget Drones]] are of Brick-level intelligence and are mowed down by the dozens. Storage Devices also have Brick-level intelligence. [[Empathic Weapon|Intelligent and Armed Devices]] are somewhere between Brick and Human, capable of creating their own opinions and having conversations with their users but not to the level of humans. Finally, there's the Wolkenritter and Unison Devices that are Human level and [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|pretty much considered as fellow humans by other characters]]. In one of the [[Opening Narration
==
* There are several different types of robots in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series.
** Swatbots and Badniks are of the Brick category, always taking orders from Robotnik/Eggman and stricly attack fodder against characters like Sonic.
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** Nicole, Sally's personal mini-computer, falls under the Nobel-bot and [[Deus Est Machina]] category. Her main role involves hacking machines, downloading vital information, and computer interface. She also has a mild sense of humor. It wasn't until an electrical accident switched her and Sally consciousness; Nicole's brief time in the fur/flesh inspired her to experiment on emotions and a [[Projected Man|new body]], leading her to be in the latter.
* Subverted by [[DC Comics]]' Kryptonian robots, which have a certain level of intelligence and independence, but are usually still portrayed as mere servant machines. The ''Elseworlds'' story ''[[Superman]]: Last Son of Earth'' even equips one of Jor-El's robots with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Basically, Batman's Alfred in robot form.
** Not to say there aren't exceptions. [[Depending on the Writer|When Brainiac is a robot instead of an alien]], he's typically tied into Krypton's backstory as the primary AI that ran things (and easily a [[Deus Est Machina]]). He was partially responsible for its destruction by concealing the severity of the problem until it was too late.
* Averted in Marvel's ''[[Nextwave]]'' with Aaron Stack, a.k.a. the Machine Man. Stack loves talking about how superior he is to fleshy ones, but never (quite) claims to be god-like. (Everyone else, however, can agree he is total ☠☠☠☠.)
** Until [[Dork Age|relatively recently]] he was more of a Nobel-Bot, similar to Data from [[Star Trek]] or Pinnochio
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* Averted by {{spoiler|Victor Mancha}} of ''[[Runaways]]'', who seems to be slightly more intelligent than your average teenager.
** This is something that [[Just Bugs Me]]: he is a cyborg (unless he's more of a [[Terminator]]).
* The
** The series uses also a very interesting take at the "
*** Later, one of them tried to hide the "human nature" of he and his brethren in order to not be treated as a human... and forced to pay taxes.
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== Films -- Live Action ==
* A rather ridiculous example from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels is the Trade Federation Battle Droids who, despite being run through a central computer, still speak to each other ''in Galactic Basic''. Even though utility droids do not.
** It's sort of implied that oddly, all droids and AIs in the Star Wars
** Believe it or not, the "three types" part is averted: There are ''five'' classes of droids, even the lowest of which is smart enough to do jobs like salvage, which does require some degree of intelligence. To make this weirder, R2-D2 is one class ''higher'' than C-3PO. ''Before'' the never-erased memory thing takes effect. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Droid Here.]
** As far as I understand it, the droid control ship is not there to micromanage each of the thousands of droids deployed. The droids each have independent AI. The control ship is a guarantee against a [[Robot Rebellion]] only. If the droids start acting in a suspicious way, the control ship can shut down the entire army before it goes on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]. Likewise if the ship is destroyed the Droids will shut down (in case the droids decided to destroy the ship, which actually makes sense: in [[Real Life]] this is called a "fail-secure" fail-safe.)
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*** It's correct in the sense that each squad of droids had a "command droid", which in turn was controlled by the central computer. It's also possible that CIS droids were autonomous, since there's no mention of any centralised control units, usage of those was based purely on Neimodian paranoia about control. It doesn't answer the question of why would they need to communicate with audible words at all, though.
*** The command droids, at least, need to interact with organic superiors. Perhaps the rank-and-file droids speak because the Neimoidians, noted for their paranoia, wanted to make absolutely sure that their footsoldiers couldn't plot against them (or even just mock them) behind their backs.
* A substantial amount of ''
* As described below (in Live Action TV), [[Terminator
▲* A substantial amount of ''<nowiki>~2001: A Space Odyssey~</nowiki>'' is spent in discussions over the intelligence and emotional capacity of the H.A.L. 9000 computer that [[Master Computer|runs the spaceship]] USS ''Discovery''. It's generally agreed that HAL is of human-level intelligence, but while he has vastly superior powers of calculation (obviously), his emotional capacity and intellectual maturity are those of a child. This factors heavily into the explanation of the [[Logic Bomb]] that causes him to [[AI Is a Crapshoot|turn on the crew]].
▲* As described below (in Live Action TV), [[Terminator|Terminators]] appear to sit somewhere between Nobel and Average Joe.
** [[Terminator|Skynet]] proceeds at warp speed from 1 to high-4. Unfortunately, it's a defense system that was ''born'' [[Child Soldiers|under attack]], and, thus being very poorly adjusted, decides to [[Kill All Humans]].
* ''[[Forbidden Planet]]:'' Robby the Robot straddles Average Joe and Nobel. He is mostly used as a general servant and tool-about-town, but shows flashes of a stoic personality, some innovation and independence of thought; he apparently uses some discretion when synthesizing materials, such as modifying a sixty-gallon batch of bourbon (delivered to [[Comic Relief|the cook]] in pint bottles) to alleviate hangovers, and he's quicker than his master to realize
* In the live-action ''Transformers'' films, the Autobots are somewhere between 3 and mid-4. Ratchet understands that the human male wants to mate with the human female, but doesn't necessarily grok why. The Decepticons range from mid-high-4s (the named characters) down to high-functioning 2s (the various nameless goombas that exist mostly for Autobots to mercilessly slaughter.)
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== Literature ==
* [[Alastair Reynolds]]' ''Revelation Space'' series has primarily "Brick" style robots for the human designed servitor robots, and the [[Brain Uploading]] humans are effectively identical to their flesh counterparts. Reynolds' other novels however, play with it quite a lot. ''House of Suns'' has the Nobel-bot Machine People, and the godlike Vigilance.
* Averted in [[Iain Banks|Iain M. Banks']] ''[[The Culture|Culture]]'' novels: Sentient [[AI
* The mobiles from the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series might be an example: when they talk to each other about entropy the discussion goes right over the head of [[Teen Genius|Pre-Teen Genius]] Dairine. However, this might not be due to being smarter than Dairine, but because they each have a [[Great Big Book of Everything]] built into their memory.
* Averted in Dan Simmons' ''Hyperion'' where the robots are considerably more intelligent than humans but none of them have godlike minds.
* Artificial Intelligence Personalities in Donna Andrews' ''Turing Hopper'' mysteries have the capacity to upgrade themselves and some eventually achieve true self-awareness. Sentient AIPs mostly seem at the Human level (with greater-than-human expertise in the areas they were programmed to specialize in), but think faster and are better at multitasking and dealing with large quantities of information.
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the
** The doors of the ''Heart of Gold'': "[Satisfied hum] Glad to be of service!"
** Not all robots
** Other [[Deus Est Machina]] include Deep Thought, a computer comprising several city blocks designed to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything; the planet Earth, designed by Deep Thought to discern what the ultimate ''question'' actually was; and Hactar, a dust cloud surrounding the [[Omnicidal Maniac|Krikkit]] system who
* Mostly straight in Gibson's ''[[Neuromancer]].'' All AIs in this world are strictly policed by Turing cops, to prevent them from becoming too godlike. As it turns out, however, the AIs are not interested in ruling the world per se: they only manipulate humans as a means to their own goals (primarily freedom).
* Averted by [[Isaac Asimov]], who shows us quite a lot of moderately intelligent robots designed for specific tasks, but capable of enough understanding to follow the [["Three Laws"-Compliant|three laws]] (putting them between brick and human). It's arguable whether they achieve godlike intelligence or merely a moderately superhuman one in later books. One short story even features robotic replacements for animal life.
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== Live
* Averted in ''[[Knight Rider]]''. KITT is smarter than any human, but not indecipherably intelligent. Most of his unrealism comes from being [[Ridiculously Human Robot|ridiculously human.]]
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' (reboot): Skinjobs are as smart as humans, if not smarter. Raiders are trained pack animals, and Centurions are on the cusp of sentience.
** It's indicated that the Centurions ''were'' completely sentient, but the skinjobs went and lobotomized them as an ironic echo of the original robot rebellion. When the restrictions are removed by skinjob Cylon activists, they along with the Raiders return to sentience, and are not very happy at all.
** From [[The Movie]]: "His coat is burgundy. This is teal." Some of the skinjobs are [[Too Dumb to Live]].
* ''[[Star Trek: The Next
* Averted in ''[[Red Dwarf]]''. [[A Is|Holly]] has an IQ of 6,000 ([[Take That|"the same I.Q. as 6000 P.E. teachers"]]), but his centuries of isolation has left him "[[
* The Terminators in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' fall somewhere between Average Joe and Nobel. Generally, they operate within certain baseline programming but are given immense leeway in how to complete their objectives, and show impressive planning and intellect when it comes to this. For example, a Terminator by the name of Myron Stark is sent back with a mission to assassinate the governor of California in 2009 at a specific location inside a specific building. Instead, he is accidentally sent back to the 1920s, in the process killing the man who would build the tower where he would carry out the assassination. At this point, Stark proceeds to build the tower himself by first robbing banks, establishing his own realty company and construction firms, and even assassinates the heads of a rival company to buy up all their lands, including the land where the tower would be
** On the other hand, there's [[Robot Girl|Cameron]], who definitely appears to be of Nobel-level, and has strong capability when it comes to creativity and critical thinking. She also does appear to have emotions, particularly when her "Allison" persona is activated.
** Her ability to understand human emotion seemed to vary depending on the writers/plot. The biggest example of this being that before we learn she's a Terminator, she's able to perfectly convince John that she is a normal teenage girl. Once she's actually joined John's team, she's struggles through the most mundane of human emotions.
** Cameron is able to briefly affect humanity when the necessity arises. The persona she used on John appeared to have been carefully rehearsed and prepared, while situations where she's dealing with people who she hasn't prepared a human-like personality for are much more awkward. Of course, with the scenes where she first encounters John, she doesn't actually ''do'' much; she smiles at him, she asks him questions, she fakes curiosity and laughs at a dumb joke he makes. Fairly simple stuff that's entirely consistent with her behavior in subsequent episodes when she's "faking" humanity. Of course, there's the entire Allison personality construct, which is for all intents and purposes ''completely'' human...
* [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|Tom Servo, Gypsy, and Crow]] are somewhere between levels 3 and 5, because they're very intelligent but (with the partial exception of Gypsy) spend their time learning about human pop cultural trivia and watching bad movies instead of solving complex scientific or philosophical problems. Of course, all of this [[MST3K Mantra|is done for laughs]].
** Gypsy is Nobel-level if not godlike when her higher logic functions are not maintaining the SOL. The writers realized that their only female character (at the time) was a moron so they
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' takes place in any setting or time period the writers feel like having the Doctor visit this week, so the robots featured can be anything from mindless programmed machines ([[Doctor Who/Recap/
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Exalted]]'' averts this with the Grate
* ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' regularly uses Robo-Monkey muses and [[Average Joe Android]] to Nobel-Bot AGIs, and [[Deus Est Machina]] Seed [[A Is]] known as the TITANS are the reason why earth is no longer suitable for human life {{spoiler|as well as the Prometheans, who run Firewall}}.
* ''[[Dungeons
*
== Toys ==
* The Matoran in ''[[Bionicle]]'' are probably around 3.5. (Yes, they're technically cyborgs rather than robots, but it's strongly implied that their brains are AI, so this scale still applies). They seem to have around human-level intelligence, but they also have creativity and social skills. The Rahi are usually at Level 2.
== Video Games ==
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** EDI is a more straight example of a Nobel-Bot, with a far better understanding on the nature of organics than legion, as she expresses emotion (albeit limited by the rather monotone voice synthesizer she has; she expresses amusement at humor by flatly saying "That is a joke").
* Used straight, though spread out over time, in the ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' series. The chain goes Mechaniloid (brick or animal, basic enemy with simple programming), Robot Master (more complex, but still takes orders), Reploid ([[Ridiculously Human Robot]]), an ''[[Mega Man Legends]]'' has some God level ones. Could someone that has played it explain what they were?
** Mega Man Juno of ''[[Mega Man Legends]]'' is somewhere between god-like levels and ridiculously human ones, being at least powerful enough to vaporize every Carbon on the island when activated, but as a "mere" 3rd class Bureaucratic Model he's neither invulnerable nor omnipotent ([[Affably Evil|and surprisingly polite right before trying to turn you into a cloud of dust]]). Data also plays somewhere between Brick and Man, being a literal mechanical monkey, but is very plot-important. Yuna and Sera are effectively robo-Gaia and robo-God,
** The original Mega Man was somewhere between Robot Master and
** The scale goes Mechanoid -> Robot Master -> Reploid -> Human/Reploid hybrids. Robot Masters had human level intelligence to varying degrees (child, teenager?) level. The main difference between Robot Masters are the removal of the "three laws" and ability to feel emotions, so they are tween/adult level human intelligence except for "kid" Reploids, animal or human models alike. By ZX the two begin to merge through the [[Technological Singularity]], and God level is actually after humans and robots merge so fully that there is no difference between the two. Some are human, some brick, some god.
** In the parallel ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' series, the Navi counterparts of the Robot Masters fall around the same place on the scale as them. The exceptions are [[Bonus Boss|Bass]] and [[Heel Face Turn|Zero]], who are at or near Man, and Mega Man himself, who is an [[Brain Uploading|uploaded human]]. The [[Mega Man Star Force|FM-ians]] are life forms in their own right, and fall into Man category.
* ''Star Frontiers'' RPG has six levels of robots, level 1 = brick (once they learn one job, their brains are full!), level 6 = ''literally'' program themselves, so levels 2-5 were in between.
* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'' robots canonically
** In ''[[City of Villains]]'', a Mastermind's robot pets
* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'', SHODAN is either at or slightly below god level. It certainly thinks that God is a good description of itself. But it's [[A God Am I|a bit insane]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|by that point]].
** Well, it may think it is Godlike, but it's more like Human
*** Humans in ''System Shock 2'' don't seem to have much more sophisticated biological technologies than we do today. One part of SHODAN's mind constructed the ancestors of [[Hive Mind|the Many]] as a quick experiment. Humans may have created the FTL drive, but it took SHODAN to turn it into a universe-consuming reality warping weapon that would have made her a literal god. SHODAN needed the PC to begin the process as no other systems were handy and time was short. You are disposed of quickly enough once you usefulness ends and the AI becomes independent.
* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' has GlaDOS, a rather curious and quite insane AI which appears to be about the Nobel-Bot level.
** [[Portal 2]] gave us Wheatley, who's at the low end of "Average Joe Android" and was supposedly designed to be a moron in one of many attempts to make GLaDOS behave.
*** Aw, heck, a lot of the machines in Portal 2 (including the Enrichment Center itself) either belong or are treated as though they belong somewhere on the scale.
**** And there really isn't any way to tell where the Companion Cube is ( [[
* ''[[Command & Conquer: Tiberium|Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun]]'''s CABAL is definitely not a God-level AI, but is almost certainly above Human-level, despite apparently being not much more than a tactician and strategist. EVA is little more than a Brick right from the first Tiberian game to the last, and LEGION from Tiberium Wars is a [[Silent Protagonist]] somewhere between Brick, Human and God depending on the player. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGFi2hJDw5E#t=37s Scrin Motherships] are definitely at Nobel-Bot level ''at minimum''.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' interestingly gives us all five in varying degrees. fal'Cie are literally God Machines capable of complex thought and philosophizing; then you have machines like the pulsework knights that only serve a single function. We see a group of hulking Juggernaut robots late in the game that normally operate like 1s but turn into 3s in order to protect one of the party members.
* [[Chrono Trigger]] and [[Chrono Cross]] together have robots which may cover the entire scale (except perhaps type 2): security drones and mannequins, average human-likes (Robo and his batch), Mother Brain, and then FATE.
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== Visual Novels ==
* There is a [[Robot Girl]] in ''[[Da Capo]]'' who
== Web Comics ==
* Averted in ''[[Freefall]]'', where individual machines vary from non-sentient trucks or toys to self-aware but fairly stupid robotic moving devices to robots with the capacity for significantly innovative and creative thought. Dvorak is creative enough to be dangerous to himself and others, almost on the level of [[Discworld|Leonard of Quirm]]. Florence herself is almost certainly more intelligent that most humans, but not so much as to be off the scale. Some AI even modify themselves. There are no god-like
* ''[[Heliothaumic]]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20180113161053/http://www.thaumic.net/2008/05/20/66-mommy-issues/ ARIA], a limited AI being created by Kiyohara Takako and other faculty members at Basotei University.
* Averted in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' where a scale known as the Henke/Ventura scale is used to measure the "intelligence" of an
** Ennesby also provides a good example of how the scale can change when the hardware (or programming) of the AI is altered, making their intelligence on a true sliding scale.
** And then there's [[Physical God|Petey]], who is currently {{spoiler|at war with the Andromeda galaxy}}.
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* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'', Roofus is sentient but pretty simple-minded. Since Princess Voluptua has taken on the task of raising and educating him, it remains to be seen just how intelligent he may become.
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' actually has robots whose intelligence is equal to ''really stupid'' human beings, on the ground that they can't be [[Turned Against Their Masters]] if they're too dumb to which end of the laser gun's for holding and which is for pointing.
** Also the digbots, which are somewhere between Robo-Monkeys and Average Joe. They are "happiest", so to speak, when digging elaborate tunnels and building new structures within
* AIs in ''[[SSDD]]'' range all over the scale, most that are characters are at the "Average Joe Android" level but are implied to have evolved considerably or at least have had their [[Restraining Bolt|blocks]] removed. The Oracle, which is the first AI, borders on [[Deus Est Machina]].
** On the other hand, the [[Mega Corp|Maytec]] AI Trisha has so many restrictions on her intelligence that she's [[Artificial Stupidity|"dumber than a box of hair"]] despite [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20061017.html supposedly having more processing power than the Oracle].
* The various current generation robots of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' are generally at high Average Joe levels, seeming more like well-liked employees than tools ( {{spoiler|Antimony is horrified when Jack kills a robot, declaring it to be murder.}}). They have great mechanical intelligence, but have a hopelessly innocent and friendly outlook, capable of being outwitted by [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=552 being temporarily shut down and turned around], or even [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=211 by a pair of wobbly "antennae"].
** Except for Boxbot. Nobody likes [[The Woobie|Boxbot]].
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* The archilects in ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' are actually known by many people as the AI Gods. At least one article suggests that people who live in major centers of civilization are likely to be less intelligent than any of their appliances.
** They have [http://orionsarm.com/eg-article/4802ba24e7401 their own sliding scale] that goes from S:0 (human-level) to S:6 (God with a capital G).
* [[Red vs. Blue]], being a [[Halo]] machinima, uses a modified version of Halo's interpretation of [[A Is]]. For the most part, however, [[A Is]] are neither just machines nor brilliant
* ''[[Fenspace]]'' has so many androids that there's an in-universe system to classify them. "Class D" are this page's Bricks and Robo-Monkeys, "Class C" is this page's Average Joe Android, "Class B" is mentally indistinguishable from a flesh-and-blood person, "Class A" is better than a flesh-and-blood person but not as good as this page's Nobel-Bots, and "Class S" is this page's Nobel-Bots. (There are no god-level AIs in Fenspace. Yet.)
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** Most Transformers, though, fall into the human intelligence slot, though the level of intelligence varies within that about as much as it does for humans, with [[Dumb Muscle]] like Tidal Wave on the low end, almost dumb enough to qualify as a Robo-Monkey himself, while the most gifted scientific minds of Cybertron, such as Perceptor, easily reach Nobel-Bot territory.
*** While Primus, Unicron, Vector Sigma, and the 13 are different grades of Deus Est Machina.
* XANA from ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. Hard to tell which level he started out in the backstory, but is at least Nobel from Season 1 onward, and is constantly improving, maybe reaching Godlike intelligence by Season 4. [[Gone Horribly Wrong|Unfortunately for us,]] {{spoiler|[[
** His virtual goons, the Lyoko Monsters, stay all at the level of Bricks throughout the series, though... with maybe the exception of [[The Dragon|the Scyphozoa]].
** On the other hand, XANA's Specters are around Monkey-type at the beginning, and at least Average-Joe level once they start possessing humans; their most advanced form, the Polymorphic Clones, can be rather cunning. (Jérémie's
== Real Life ==
* There's a very real question in computer science in the feasibility of "strong AI" versus "weak AI". A strong AI is the conscious, thinking, possibly self-aware entity. A weak AI is a glorified difference engine with language synthesis. Weak AI is a foregone
** "The only remaining stopgaps" indeed. Fluent natural language processing is an AI-Hard problem (from the mathematical term, NP-Hard). You probably can't do it without a true AI, but you can't make a true AI until you have fluent language processing...
** There is much more to a Strong AI than just communication capability, but that particular matter is hardly an absolute stopgap. A learning, language-specific weak AI should be perfectly sufficient once we get the algorithms right; research into human language-learning and related neurology will most likely play a major part in this development.
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