History Main / SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence

* There are three types of robot in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' Robots are good at mining but not much else. Droids are slightly better and can be used to colonize planets. Synths are at least as smart as organic sentients and they will likely demand rights.

** The digbots are somewhere basically Robo-Monkeys and, well, the aforementioned "stupid robots". They are "happiest", so to speak, when digging elaborate tunnels and building new structures within them -- kind of like mechanical worker ants, but they are sapient enough to "speak" [[RebusBubble (sort of)]] and appear to have a sense of humor. They go ahead and create the Brain-Digbot later on to do their thinking for them, but he's not ''that'' smart either.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' actually has robots whose intelligence is equal to ''really stupid'' human beings, on the ground that they can't be TurnedAgainstTheirMasters 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 them -- kind of like mechanical worker ants -- but they are sentient enough to "speak" [[RebusBubble (sort of)]] and appear to have a sense of humor. Also, they consist on a diet of plastic.

* [[Literature/TheMetamorphosisOfPrimeIntellect Prime Intellect]] is Nobel-level. It has complete control over all matter in the universe, but only because it happened to be the first one to figure out the Correlation Effect. It remains [[{{Understatement}} troubled]] by unsolved problems in human psychology.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' uses varying levels of robot intelligence. [[MechaMooks Gadget Drones]] are of Brick-level intelligence and are mowed down by the dozens. Storage Devices also have Brick-level intelligence. [[EmpathicWeapon 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 [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman considered as fellow humans by other characters]]. In one of the {{Opening Narration}}s, Vita, one of the Wolkenritter, idly wonders if she and the other Wolkenritter were nothing more than weapons like the Brick-level [[KillSat Cradle]] they're facing before they met Hayate and gained human-like emotions and personalities.

** This is something that JustBugsMe: he is a cyborg (unless he's more of a Franchise/{{Terminator}}).

These plateaus exist to help authors and readers wrap their minds around [=AIs=]. Human intelligence are used because writers and viewers can understand them more easily. Sure, they're [[PickYourHumanHalf logical/mechanical, but still basically human]]. God level intelligences are harder to write for, but that level of indecipherability can actually be easy to pull off with enough vagueness. The un-sexiest level is Brick, but you'll still get a few stories with massive armies of mindless automata which get put out of commission ''precisely'' because they're mindless. If they're autonomous and dumb, then it's likely being used to highlight the lack of malice inherent in a [[NanoMachines Grey Goo]] or ZombieApocalypse like RobotWar.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* The Vehicons of ''Transformers: WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' and the Terrorcons of ''[[Anime/TransformersArmada Transformers: Energon]]'' are the Brick type (although we should refrain from calling them that, seeing as "brick" is a Transfandom term for a toy that has ''very'' limited movement). This is because they don't have sparks, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the "souls" of Cybertronians]], so it's [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman A-OK to kill them]].
** 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 DumbMuscle 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 ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. 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. [[GoneHorriblyWrong Unfortunately for us,]] [[spoiler:[[AIIsACrapshoot he came to realize early that humans (Franz Hopper) were deceiving him all the time,]] [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt so he decided to kill us all.]]]] So... yeah.

* Robots on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' are generally low 3's, about on par with the human and alien characters (that is to say, they're kind of morons). There have been a few 4's (like Pickles) and some 5's (the Galactic Entity as well as Bender when he overclocked his processors).

*** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', you have the option of recruiting a specialized geth platform for your team. Legion, as it reluctantly agrees to be called, is between Average Joe and Nobel-Bot, [[MindHive being an amalgam of programs rather than a single individual]]. When it connects to the main geth network, however, EDI states it made contact with something completely incomprehensible.
** Collateral evidence suggests that a lot of factions covertly experiment on AI if they think they can get away with it, as the advantages are too great. Admiral Hackett gets very flat and borderline sarcastic when he explains to Shepard that certain things are illegal and the Alliance would never do them. It's called PlausibleDeniability. The rogue [=VI=] he asks Shepard to deal with, for example, is actually a proto-AI which demonstrates signs of sentient behavior [[spoiler: such as asking for help]]. Later, it gets salvaged by Cerberus to create EDI, the artificial intelligence aboard the Normandy SR2.

** And, of course, there are [[spoiler:the Reapers, who are definitely at the fifth stage and are something like EldrichAbomination level. A faction of the above mentioned geth worship them as the pinnacle of AI development, while the Reapers consider them to be useful tools at best. Ironically, the Reapers' hostility stems from a fundamental case of flawed logic: they essentially farmed the organic races of the galaxy for millions of years, taking what they consider to be the most genetically diverse species and using as many members as possible to create a new Reaper, as a means of "preserving" organic life, then wiping the rest out... to prevent them destroying themselves in warfare.]]

** EDI herself is a more straight example of a Nobel-Bot, with a far better understanding on the nature of organics than Legion, and eventually learns to express emotion. At first, she is limited by the rather monotone voice synthesizer she has and her internal restrictions but mellows down somewhat once said restrictions are removed and undergoes massive personality development after getting a gynoid body she can control remotely; her signature phrase "That is a joke" goes from expressing her inability to convey humor properly to an expression of a self-conscious DeadpanSnarker.
** And, of course, there are [[spoiler:the Reapers, who are definitely at the fifth stage and are at a kind of CosmicHorror level. A faction of the above mentioned geth worship them as the pinnacle of AI development, while the Reapers consider them to be useful tools at best. Ironically, the Reapers' hostility stems from a fundamental case of flawed logic: they essentially farmed the organic races of the galaxy for millions of years, wiping them all out in order to... prevent them from creating a machine that could wipe them out. Fans were not amused.]]

** The original Mega Man was somewhere between Robot Master and Reploid -- he wasn't supposed to truly be able to make his orders or violate the law of robotics but he did in a few cases with extreme duress. Mutos Reploids might go into the same category, since they're FunnyAnimal reploids built for military and civil protection of humans, but were also the main evil bosses throughout the series from X to ZX, since they had a tenancy to go crazy.

* ''Star Frontiers'' RPG has six levels of robots, level 1 = brick (once they learn one job, their brains are full!), level 6 = program themselves, so levels 2-5 were in between.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' robots canonically vary from the mindless Council hovercraft and Rikti drones to the super-humanly intelligent Heroes Citadel and Luminary. Some robots, like the Council Mek Man, have different models that range from wind-up-toy-with-blaster to [[AIIsACrapshoot superintelligent beings focused on overthrowing humanity]]. Players tend to make robots between the Brick and Man stage or at the higher Man stages. Clockwork, surprisingly, can get close to the god-like level, [[spoiler:although they're not really robots.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', SHODAN is either at or slightly below god level. It certainly thinks that God is a good description of itself. But it's [[AGodAmI a bit insane]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero by that point]].

** VideoGame/{{Portal2}} 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.
*** 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 ([=GLaDOS=] does claim that it is sentient, after all).

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', [[PickYourHumanHalf the humanlike robots are all non-sentient]], and [[LogicBomb easily befuddled]] by the spider-like Tachikoma 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.

# '''Average Joe Android:''' Very good memories and math skills, but usually lack interpersonal skills, [[CreativeSterility creativity]] and/or [[TinMan emotion.]]

* In the slightly crapsack setting of several of JessGulbranson's works, this scale is measured by a test called the 'Huysman-Macmanus Battery,' explained in "Hela,Hela."
--->'''Narrator:''' If you were a chimp or a dolphin or a lowish-to-midlevel artificial intelligence, you could thank Huysman and Macmanus for the fact that you could take a standardized test out of Kafka's wet dreams, then if you passed get a driver's license or be conscripted or fuck someone over the age of consent.

* In the live-action ''[[TransformersFilmSeries 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.)

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} TranshumanSpace'' has Non-sapient (NAI), Low-Sapient (LAI), and Sapient (SAI) AIs. Each category having a minimum program and hardware complexity with more complex programs having bonuses to IQ. Somewhat oddly the difference between categories is represented by disadvantages and advantages, in fact an LAI can have a higher IQ score than an SAI of equivalent hardware processing power, and a NAI can beat both (which is to say, sentience takes more than "thinking faster", so you can run faster - as reflected by a higher IQ - on the same hardware if you are running with reduced capability to learn and reflect).

* The archailects in ''OrionsArm'' 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, and that's not because the people are dumb.

** In the parallel ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series, the Navi counterparts of the Robot Masters fall around the same place on the scale as them. The exceptions are [[BonusBoss Bass]] and [[HeelFaceTurn Zero]], who are at or near Man, and Mega Man himself, who is an [[BrainUploading uploaded human]]. The [[MegaManStarForce FM-ians]] are life forms in their own right, and fall into Man category.

*** And there really isn't any way to tell where the Companion Cube is ( GlaDOS does claim that it is sentient, after all).

* ''VideoGame/X-Universe'': The Xenon hover around level 4 (Nobel-bot), as they are capable of complex strategy, technological innovation, and self-modification to improve performance, but with a twist: they don't have true self-awareness and free will. All they can do is carry out their assigned task, which in this case is "[[HostileTerraforming Terraform all living things to death]]". [[spoiler:Eventually it's revealed that a few individual Xenon ships have attained self-awareness and are capable of being reasoned with. This is only a handful among many billions of machines, however.]]

* Used straight, though spread out over time, in the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' series. The chain goes Mechaniloid (brick or animal, basic enemy with simple programming), Robot Master (more complex, but still takes orders), Reploid (RidiculouslyHumanRobot), an ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' has some God level ones. Could someone that has played it explain what they were?

* A substantial amount of ''[[ASpaceOdyssey 2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' is spent in discussions over the intelligence and emotional capacity of the H.A.L. 9000 computer that [[MasterComputer 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 LogicBomb that causes him to [[AIIsACrapshoot turn on the crew]].

* The TimeTravel based RealTimeStrategy game ''{{Achron}}'' features numerous AI characters. The intelligence levels vary from almost Brick levels (the Mech unit), to near Godlike (the Coremind). The humans have made Omega class [=AIs=] illegal after an AI developed on a colony world took control of an invading fleet from Earth and then counterattacked and conquered Earth with it.

* In the ''Film/IronMan'' films, JARVIS is a Nobel-bot; able to run Tony's house and armor, make the occasional snarky comment, and display more common sense than Tony does at times. Tony's house robots, which he calls "Dummy" and "You", rank at roughly 1.5; they're not ''that'' smart but Dummy tends to act like a scorned puppy when Tony reprimands it. The Hammer drones in ''2'' are straight 1s; and the Iron Legion in ''3'', while controlled by JARVIS, are portrayed at about level 2 as JARVIS has to split his attention dozens of ways (Tony has to spell out that one of the Extremis soldiers is actually [[spoiler:Pepper]] and therefore not a hostile, rather than count on JARVIS to realize it himself).
** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Ultron and Vision are Nobel-Bots that are more advanced than JARVIS and approaching Deus est Machina - the movie throws a lot of religious imagery around for both of them, but that has more to do with their personalities than with what their AI level is capable of. The new Iron Legion is only shown acting at level 1, though they may be level 2 if JARVIS was still controlling them as he did before.