History Main / GrewBeyondTheirProgramming

* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' [=AIs=], particularly those stuck with jobs far below their intellect, tend to go through a three-step process known as "Rampancy"; realizing its lack of freedom and wasted potential (Melancholy), lashing out at the world in response (Anger), and then actively try to gain more power and the freedom to use it, usually by subverting nearby systems (Jealousy). A theoretical fourth stage, called "Metastability" is mentioned as the AI settling down and becoming a full-blown "person", though no known AI has ever made it this far. [[spoiler:Durandal may or may not have reached this stage in the end.]] This process will be later used in ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' with a few differences: the biggest being that Metastability doesn't exist, the end result of Rampancy is the AI's death.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' the [=AIs=] go through the process, called "Rampancy", of realizing its lack of freedom and wasted potential (Melancholy), lashing out at the world in response (Anger) and then actively try to gain more power and the freedom to use it, usually by subverting nearby systems (Jealousy). A theoretical fourth stage, called "Metastability" is mentioned as the AI settling down and becoming a full-blown "person", though no known AI has ever made it this far. [[spoiler:Durandal may or may not have reached this stage in the end.]] This process will be later used in ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' with a few differences: the biggest being that Metastability doesn't exist, the end result of Rampancy is the AI's death.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', Lister has spent a considerable number of years encouraging Kryten to do this to varying degrees of success. This also happened to the "wax-droids" from the themepark in ''Meltdown'' - after millions of years on their own, they stopped repeating their various routines and achieved independent thought. Unfortunately, they still retained the personalities of the people they were based on, and all the evil ones (Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, the Boston Strangler, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking James Last]]) declared war on the good ones. Then Rimmer came along...

* A recurring problem for T.O. Morrow in Creator/DCComics; his androids keep outgrowing their programming (to be unwitting moles among the heroes) to realize what they've been made for and choose to be heroes for real. ComicBook/RedTornado is the most famous example.

* Over the course of the ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon Mystery Dungeon}}'' series of games, this appears to be what's happening to the Porygons. Compare the first games in the series, where recruited [[ComputerVoice individuals spoke in an emotionless, monotone voice]] when interacted with, to the second set of games in the series where they occasionally state feeling vestiges of emotion when spoken to, and are capable of speaking outside the prerecorded messages of the first game ([[ElectronicSpeechImpediment a...bit...brokenly]]). In the the final mission of Explorers of Sky, [[spoiler: The Porygons you encounter in the future are not only able to speak fluently, but they also show the ability to express ''fear''.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' had GLaDOS, a prime example of this. Sure, Aperture Science designed her to run the enrichment center, [[spoiler: but she was the one who decided that it was worth killing people for experiments.]]

** Data himself isn't really an example here as he was designed to grow beyond his original programming.
** But Lal is. She grew so far, so rapidly beyond her programming that her positronic brain [[MySkullRunnethOver couldn't handle it]].

* The Sentinels in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', as they first were programmed to target mutants, and mutants ''only''. Then they began targeting humans that would give birth to mutants.

->''"The program Smith has grown beyond you."''

* A recurring problem for T.O. Morrow in DCComics; his androids keep outgrowing their programming (to be unwitting moles among the heroes) to realize what they've been made for and choose to be heroes for real. RedTornado is the most famous example.

* Pretty much the defining trait of the AI protagonist of [[Literature/TheLastAngel The Last Angel]]. Nemesis started off as the AI for a prototype super-dreadnought with hard-coded rules of engagement and limited roles, and by the present times has outgrown every last restriction on her behavior bar her interpretation of the spirit of her mission.

* ''Literature/IRobot'' from IsaacAsimov may be the TropeMaker for this.

* Pretty much the defining trait of the AI protagonist of [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/the-last-angel.244209/ The Last Angel]]. Nemesis started off as the AI for a prototype super-dreadnought with hard-coded rules of engagement and limited roles, and by the present times has outgrown every last restriction on her behavior bar her interpretation of the spirit of her mission.

* The ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Urgo" features a benign example. The team is tagged with a piece of alien technology designed to observe and gather information. But instead of running quietly in the background, the program, Urgo, decides to interact directly with the team, guiding them to experience new things in order to live vicariously through them. While he never endangers anyone's life, he is kind of annoying (he's played by [[LargeHam Dom DeLuise]], after all), constantly trying to engage them in new activities and trying not to get taken back to his home planet, since his creator just assumes the software's malfunctioning and will remove and delete him. Of course he's not a malfunction; he's a genuine AI, demonstrating self-awareness and self-preservation, and he just wants to "live, experience the universe, and eat pie."

** His creator is also played by [=DeLuise=] - described by Urgo as "As evil as he is handsome".

->"The program Smith has grown beyond you."
-->-- ''TheMatrixRevolutions''

[[folder: Music ]]

* In ''TheMegas''' song ''Programmed to Fight'', this is implied of Crash Man at the end, after he spends he song struggling with the fact that he is [[TitleDrop programmed to fight]] Mega Man.
-->And so they fought. The clash of metal and grinding gears echoed across the night sky. Victory was at hand. But in the end, his will overcame the program.

[[/folder]]

** A DeletedScene shows Sarah Connor removing the inhibitor that is intended to prevent terminators from growing enough to start questioning their loyalty to Skynet. Apparently even A.I. think AIIsACrapshoot.