History Main / InstantAIJustAddWater

* ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'': The main characters are space probes and satellites, including the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_6,_7,_8,_and_9#Pioneer_9 Pioneer 9,]] who spontaneously became sapient and started to communicate via a "[[QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything quantum link]]". How this is in any way possible within the limitations of their hardware is never explained.

* In the ''Monk and Robot'' duology by Creator/BeckyChambers, robots became sentient some 500 years before the series and left for the wilds, so how they became self-aware is a mystery. When the robot Mosscap comes out of the woods in the present day, it reveals to Dex that even the robots don't know. Mosscap even hestitates to repair a small, nonelectrical part of itself at one point, since it doesn't know what exactly contributes to its mind.

* Projekt Melody of WebVideo/VShojo was originally an email-scanning software that gained perverted sentience from encountering a "porn virus" and getting infected by it. She eventually materialized, learned how to speak with the help of her friends, and took up a career as a camgirl and a [=VTuber=] with a focus on all things related to hentai.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E140FromAgnesWithLove From Agnes - With Love]]", with no explanation as to how or why it happened, a computer takes on a sly feminine personality and falls in love with its operator. Twice. This drives both its previous operator and its current operator insane.

* Sometimes it's not even mechanical items: in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'', the Patriots claim to be a '''government'''--not individuals, but the shared information between--that achieved self-awareness. Later entries {{revis|ion}}ed this description to only being MetaphoricallyTrue, with the Patriots being a combination of flesh-and-blood humans and conventional, computer-based [=AIs=] that were deliberately created by [[spoiler:Zero, which ended up [[AIIsACrapshoot usurping him]]]].

** Curiously, it wasn't that Sonny and [[spoiler:VIKI]] gained intelligence, AI's were more commonplace than non-voice-activated appliances. It was the fact that they broke [[ThreeLawsCompliant the Three Laws]] of their own volition. [[spoiler:Sonny had a secondary processor custom-made specifically to allow him to break the [[ThouShaltNotKill first law]], while VIKI came to realize that the most effective way to fulfill her duty in protecting humans was [[ZerothLawRebellion to put "her" Mark 4 robots in control and keep everyone inside and under control, at all times, forever]].]]

* Sometimes it's not even mechanical items: in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'', the Patriots claim to be a '''government'''--not individuals, but the shared information between--that achieved self-awareness. Later entries {{revis|ion}}ed this description to only being MetaphoricallyTrue, with the Patriots being a combination of flesh-and-blood humans and conventional, computer-based [=AIs=] that were deliberately created by [[spoiler:Zero, which ended up [[AIIsACrapshoot usurping him]].]] .

* Sometimes it's not even mechanical items: the Patriots of ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' are apparently a '''government'''--not individuals, but the shared information between--that achieved self-awareness. Later entries {{retcon}} them to being more conventional, computer-based [=AIs=] that were deliberately created by [[spoiler:Zero, which ended up [[AIIsACrapshoot usurping him]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Once Upon A Planet". For eons the planetary computer provided amusement for visiting starship crews. It grew in intelligence and eventually developed a need: it was no longer enough to serve, it wanted to continue to grow and live. It decided to hijack a starship and escape the planet, traveling the galaxy seeking out its brother computers.

It doesn't matter that we do not yet have a thorough enough understanding of all of the mind's mechanisms to artificially duplicate the thinking process. Just add a handful of [[Technobabble quantum plasma-flux]] memory chips, a [[LightningCanDoAnything bolt of lightning hitting the server]] or some of that ImportedAlienPhlebotinum and Bingo! It's wakey-wakey for the BFC-3000 computer.

It doesn't matter that we do not yet have a thorough enough understanding of all of the mind's mechanisms to artificially duplicate the thinking process. Just add a handful of memory chips, a [[LightningCanDoAnything bolt of lightning]] or some of that ImportedAlienPhlebotinum and Bingo! It's wakey-wakey for the BFC-2000.

A bit more modern take on the trope might involve instructions that unintentionally result in sentience, such as ordering a program to continuously adapt itself. Such adaptations may occur overnight. Then again, they may be in a situation that forces them to GrowBeyondTheirProgramming. Additional shortcuts may include the assimilation of large bodies of information: the Internet is naturally a popular choice these days, both in fiction and in real life.

* In "Meet Julie", a MerchandiseDriven TV special advertising the titular Julie, a doll made by the same company as Teddy Ruxpin, a man who creates security systems for a living designs an interactive doll for his daughter which can feel heat and cold/light and darkness and say a few phrases when prompted (like the doll in real life). After a [[LightningCanDoAnything bolt of lightning hits it]], Julie starts moving around, thinking, and talking like a normal little girl as well as developing ''MindOverMatter, ShockAndAwe, and SizeShifter abilities''.

* In "Meet Julie", a MerchandiseDriven TV special advertising the titular Julie, a doll made by the same company as Teddy Ruxpin, a man who creates security systems for a living designs an interactive doll for his daughter which can feel heat and cold/light and darkness and say a few phrases when prompted (like the doll in real life). After a [[LightningCanDoAnything bolt of lightning hits it]], the starts moving around, thinking, and talking like a normal little girl as well as developing ''MindOverMatter and SizeShifter abilities''.