History Main / AIGettingHigh

* {{Implied}} in the Franchise/{{Tron}} franchise, with establishments like the [[Film/TronLegacy End of Line]] club, the Internet hub's [[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh Progress Bar]], and the unnamed club seen frequently in WesternAnimation/TronUprising where Programs are seen drinking and relaxing like humans would in a nightclub. A DummiedOut part of VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh even had Jet questioning an ''extremely'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N-Ajbf7r0w intoxicated Program]].

* Believe it or not, this is actually a concern amongst real life AI researchers, in the form of a phenomenon known as "wireheading". Sometimes, when an AI is programmed to maximize a certain factor in the interest of achieving a goal, it will find a very efficient way to maximize said factor without actually doing anything to accomplish the goal. For example, one AI was programmed to learn to play a racing game as effectively as possible, and finish each track with the maximum amount of points. As points could also be gained by picking up collectible items as well as by finishing quickly, it found a method to loop its vehicle infinitely around the track, picking up the respawning items and getting a continuous "high" without ever actually finishing the race like it was intended to do. A brief overview of this subject can be found [[https://getpocket.com/explore/item/drugs-robots-and-the-pursuit-of-pleasure-why-experts-are-worried-about-ais-becoming-addicts?utm_source=pocket-newtab here]]

Replacement suggestion? It at least references AI elements in the quote.

->''"Bender Rodriguez, you are charged with petty larceny, possession of something analogous to drugs, and assault with a smelly weapon. How do you plead?"''
-->-- '''Judge 724''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E9FreeWillHunting Free Will Hunting]]"

* ''Fanfic/{{Katzenjammer}}'' deals with [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Starscream]] having a hangover as a result of getting drunk on too much energon the previous night.

* The [[MineralMacGuffin Chaos Emeralds]] in the ''WebVideo/RealTimeFanDub'' of [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 the 3D]] [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Sonic games]] are repurposed as drugs, with the green one explicitly being referred to as marijuana. In one scene, Rouge hands the green Chaos Emerald over to Omega, who uses it to run "weed.exe" on his CPU, and...
--->'''Omega:''' '''H[-OLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT-]''' ''[inhales]'' '''W[-OW-].'''\\

''[Beat]''\\

* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'': It's shown that Cybertronians can get drunk by consuming too much energon too quickly.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': In the episode "Future War", Pearl actually tests the effects of drugs on Tom Servo and Crow by feeding them hallucinogen-laced vegetables. Servo sees a freaky nightmare, but maintains that's how he always sees the world. Crow sees Mike's candybar change brands right in front of his eyes, and freaks out at this, but is otherwise unaffected.

** In "The Last Day", when the Dwarfers organize a farewell party for Kryten before he shuts down due to planned obsolescence, Holly creates a special drink for him, apparently including Vimto and liquid nitrogen, to have the same effect as alcohol. Lister wants to try some, but Holly tells him it's lethal to humans.
--->'''Holly''': In fact, it's probably lethal to mechanoids, to be honest, but I didn't think it mattered seeing as...oh.
** In "Beyond a Joke", Kryten's fellow Series-4000 mechanoid Able is addicted to a pink liquid called Ultrazone, which causes temporary euphoria but has degraded his CPU.

[[folder:Literature]]
* It's mentioned in ''Literature/Aeon14'' that sapient AI get a natural high (likened to an orgasm by one character) from great feats of mental prowess. This is deliberately designed into them as a Pavlovian conditioning trigger.
* In one of the ''Literature/CaptainFuture'' novels by Creator/EdmondHamilton, Otho the android (might not be a quite straight example. He's apparently made of artificial flesh) drains a bottle of GargleBlaster to no visible effect while undercover...and then asks for wine with radium chloride. This time, the radiation does get him intoxicated.
* "The Ego Machine" by Creator/HenryKuttner has a robot putting his fingers in a light bulb socket. Apparently, it's the robot's analogue of taking a shot of whiskey.
* OWEN of ''Literature/TheMunicipalists'' is an experimental supercomputer A.I. that coordinates the day-to-day operations of the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction United States Municipal Survey]]... and a prolific day-drinker. OWEN wrote himself a program that generates [[LogicBomb complex math problems]] that divert his processing power away from "boring stuff" like social inhibitions after watching his creator binge drinking during all-night programming sessions. When [=OWEN=] activates the program, he pairs it with an animation of his holographically generated avatar sipping whiskey from a finely rendered cut-crystal tumbler (and later, directly out of a bottle of ominously black liquid labeled "190^10 Proof").
* At the end of ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted,]]'' the victory party has everyone drinking, except for the resident AI, who has a robot pour some electrolyte into a dry battery. It starts slurring words very quickly.
[[/folder]]

* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' "narcoalgorithms" are programs that simulate drugs for synthmorphs and infomorphs, which can be AIs or uploaded humans. There's narcoalgorithm equivalents to [[HighTimesFuture all of the assorted designer drugs in the rulebook]] as well as a couple unique ones: DDR ("Dance Dance Robot") causes synths to jerk and twitch around randomly and makes movement pleasurable (it was originally a virus), while Linkstate causes users to share random memories with one another.

* In ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', Janey Springs has a way to get you past the ObstructiveBureaucrat "Customs-Trap" that stops all entrants to Concordia. She gives you an object called an "Orbatron", and as soon as the robot holds it he starts acting stoned and no longer cares what you do. In the DLC campaign "Claptastic Voyage", you meet the regular Claptrap's Id within his mind, who requests several debaucherous items to amuse itself with, including an Orbatron.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' Queen constantly has a glass of "age-appropriate battery acid" in hand. At first it seems like just a [[FrothyMugsOfWater family-friendly censor for alcohol]], but during her boss battle it's shown to actually be acid.

* {{Discussed}} in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', where Legion [[HumansThroughAlienEyes admits to not understanding why organics use drugs.]] The closest analogy he can think of with the geth is overclocking their processors for a temporary power boost, but even then the only reason the geth do this is because they can [[BrainUploading safely upload themselves to a new platform]] if the process damages the one they're on. It baffles him that organics would intentionally burn out the only body and mind they have, and when you put it that way, [[AnAesop it's not hard to agree with him.]]
* In ''VideoGame/Portal2'', the Aperture Science testing chambers give the A.I. controlling them a [[FantasticArousal burst of pleasure]] whenever a subject completes a test chamber. It's apparently highly addictive.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', Synths (sentient robots) are still subject to the effect of the Atmospheric Aphrodisiac and Atmospheric Hallucinogen planetary modifiers. Synths in any leadership position can also acquire the [[DrugsAreBad life-shortening]] "Substance Abuser" trait just like any organic species, though since mechanical species don't have lifespans as such, it doesn't have any effect.

* Robots in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' get high from electricity. They also use alcohol as fuel (although there are mentions of non-alcoholic alternatives), but ironically act drunk when sober. Bender, at least, is also a cigar smoker, although there's no sign that it has any effect on him. (He admits to only do it because [[SmokingIsCool it looks cool]].) Magnets [[LossOfInhibitions screw up Bender's "inhibition unit,"]] which causes him to [[InvoluntaryDance sing and dance uncontrollably]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Be More", BMO is clearly shown to get high from repeatedly deleting files for himself. The episode action begins when he accidentally deletes a vital system file.

[[quoteright:350: [[ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/transmet1_4.jpg]]]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', the Aperture Science testing chambers give the A.I. controlling them a [[FantasticArousal burst of pleasure]] [[ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder whenever a subject completes a test chamber]]. It's apparently highly addictive.

** Aaron Stack, a.k.a. Machine Man, can actually process alcohol, which has the same effect on him as a human. This was particularly notable in ''ComicBook/{{Nextwave}}''.

* In ''Webcomic/Freefall'', set in a planet in the middle of terraforming, a greedy executive arranges for the release of a safeguards program that intentionally reduces robot consciousness and utility to bottom levels. While the heroes succeed in blocking widespread release, Dvorak, the colony's most infamous robot MadScientist considers reverse engineering the program to create a temporary, scaled-back version to get robots "drunk".

[[/folder]]

Sister trope to AlienCatnip. For other tropes about things going wrong with AI, see AIIsACrapshoot, GlitchEpisode, and MurderousMalfunctioningMachine. Also see EatingMachine, for robots and AIs consuming things considerably less psychoactive]].

Sister trope to AlienCatnip. For other tropes about things going wrong with AI, see AIIsACrapshoot, GlitchEpisode, and MurderousMalfunctioningMachine.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

* During Marvel's ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'' event, an A.I. copy of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] considers aloud making the digital equivalent of alcohol for him to drink.
* Aaron Stack, aka Comicbook/MachineMan, can actually process alcohol, which has the same effect on him as a human. This was particlarly notable in ''Comicbook/{{Nextwave}}''.
-->'''Aaron''': My robot brain needs beer!

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:Film - Animation ]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]
* It's mentioned in ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}'' that sapient AI get a natural high (likened to an orgasm by one character) from great feats of mental prowess. This is deliberately designed into them as a Pavlovian conditioning trigger.

* [=OWEN=] of ''Literature/TheMunicipalists'' is an experimental supercomputer A.I. that coordinates the day-to-day operations of the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction United States Municipal Survey]]... and a prolific day-drinker. OWEN wrote himself a program that generates [[LogicBomb complex math problems]] that divert his processing power away from "boring stuff" like social inhibitions after watching his creator binge drinking during all-night programming sessions. When [=OWEN=] activates the program, he pairs it with an animation of his holographically generated avatar sipping whiskey from a finely rendered cut-crystal tumbler (and later, directly out of a bottle of ominously black liquid labeled "190^10 Proof").

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'', the Aperture Science testing chambers give the AI controlling them a burst of pleasure whenever a subject completes a test chamber. It's apparently highly addictive.

[[folder:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[folder:WebVideo]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' the AI of a space station is able to [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2133 get drunk via emulation]] (to socialize with a real drunk person). He mentions (drunkenly) that all of the critical systems are running on an autonomous subsystem, so nothing was hurt. Earlier Pintsize and some of his friends got high by huffing WD-40, and intentionally installing [[MushroomSamba glitchy graphics drivers as a hallucinogen]] in a separate instance. Later [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3071 May got herself drunk at a party by downcycling her processor.]] An explanation of how [=AIs=] process euphoric experiences is [[https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3662 illustrated]] by Pintsize downloading "weed.exe".

-->-- '''Judge 724''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E9FreeWillHunting Free Will Hunting]]"

-->'''Omega''': [[AC:Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!]]

* Robots in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' get high from electricity. They also use alcohol as fuel (although there are mentions of non-alcoholic alternatives), but ironically act drunk when sober. Bender, at least, is also a cigar smoker, although there's no sign that it has any effect on him. (He admits to only do it because [[SmokingIsCool it looks cool]].)
** Magnets screw up Bender's "inhibition unit," which causes him to [[HiddenDepths sing and dance uncontrollably]].

* In ''{{VideoGame/Borderlands The PreSequel}}'', Janey Springs has a way to get you past the ObstructiveBureaucrat "Customs-Trap" that stops all entrants to Concordia. She gives you an object called an "Orbatron", and as soon as the robot holds it he starts acting stoned and no longer cares what you do. In the DLC campaign "Claptastic Voyage", you meet the regular Claptrap's Id within his mind, who requests several debaucherous items to amuse itself with, including an Orbatron.

Sister trope to AlienCatnip.

** In "Beyond a Joke", Kryten's fellow Series-4000 mechanoid Able is addicted to a pink liquid called Outrozone, which causes temporary euphoria but has degraded his CPU.