History Main / ArtificialStupidity

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/{{Us}}'', when [[EvilDoppelganger the Tethered]] start attacking Josh and Kitty's house, Kitty calls for help by telling her home AI assistant Ophelia to call the police. Instead, Ophelia, in one of the film's most [[BlackComedy darkly humorous moments]], starts playing "Fuck tha Police" by Music/{{NWA}}. [[spoiler:Her Tethered clone Dahlia slits her throat soon after.]]

* The Omnidroid in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is mostly a case of ArtificialBrilliance, showing great tactical acumen and the ability to adapt to anything used against it, but the first version seen (the v08) does have one major moment of this — apparently, its programming never anticipated an enemy ''climbing inside'' the robot itself. When Bob does just that, the Omnidroid attacks itself to get at him, eventually pulling out its own core.

Differs from AIRoulette because AI Roulette chooses moves randomly. Artificial Stupidity puts some "thought" in its moves, making the most obvious stupidities less likely but creating more consistent general incompetence. See also ArtificialInsolence when the program responding erratically (deliberately stupidly) is actually intended by the developers.

Differs from AIRoulette because AI Roulette chooses moves randomly. Artificial Stupidity puts some "thought" in its moves, making the most obvious stupidities less likely but creating more consistent general incompetence.

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[[quoteright:328:[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Escort_Mission_Unmark_9561.PNG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:328: [[SchmuckBait "Hold on, I see a quarter in that dragon's open mouth,]] [[TooDumbToLive I'm just going to pop over and grab it."]]]]

[[caption-width-right:328: [[TooDumbToLive "Hold on, I see a quarter in that dragon's open mouth, I'm just going to pop over and grab it."]]]]

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'' for Guel's rematch with Suletta his new mobile suit, the MD-0064 Darilbalde, is equipped with an artificial intelligence that controls it for him at the behest of his father. Its reaction times are naturally impressive, but on top of the obvious blow to his pride he eventually gets sick of it falling for feints and forcibly disables the device to fight for himself.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamTheWitchFromMercury'' for Guel's rematch with Suletta his mobile suit is equipped with an artificial intelligence that controls it for him at the behest of his father. Its reaction times are naturally impressive, but on top of the obvious blow to his pride he eventually gets sick of it falling for feints and disables the device to fight for himself.

* Parodied in ''EpicNPCMan'' with The Guard. He's [[TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain taken an arrow to the head]] (and [[FailedASpotCheck not even noticed]]), been killed by an Assassin whilst distracted, and [[ConspicuouslySelectivePerception had a bucket put on his head]] so a player could steal from the shop, [[ImpossibleThief has his uniform stolen off him]], and wound up in the town lake for one episode.

[[caption-width-right:328: "[[TooDumbToLive Hold on, I see a quarter in that dragon's open mouth, I'm just going to pop over and grab it.]]"]]

<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls

* The Omnidroid in ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' is mostly a case of ArtificialBrilliance, showing great tactical acumen and the ability to adapt to anything used against it, but the first version seen (the v08) does have one major moment of this- apparently, its programming never anticipated an enemy ''climbing inside'' the robot itself. When Bob does just that, the Omnidroid attacks itself to get at him, eventually pulling out its own core.

On the other hand, it may be completely intentional, since TropesAreTools, and an AI that a player can learn to exploit and outmaneuver (in moderation) will often be more satisfying to face than a PerfectPlayAI, and they're often designed to DoWellButNotPerfect.

It is in this third group that Artificial Stupidity can be found. This is when the AI can select a move for its character(s), and consistently chooses ones that are completely stupid. This might be [[DoWellButNotPerfect included on purpose as a balancing factor]], or to invoke MookChivalry, but it's just as often a result of DarthWiki/IdiotProgramming; the programmers simply didn't program the AI ''not'' to make that move, and when the AI evaluates its choices, the poor move looks like the best one. (It's far more likely that TheComputerIsACheatingBastard will be introduced to compensate for Artificial Stupidity rather than the other way around.)

The opposite of Artificial Stupidity is ArtificialBrilliance, where the AI makes surprisingly good decisions that convincingly appear intelligent. See TheGuardsMustBeCrazy for this trope as relates to stealth games, and AIBreaker for when bad AI allows game-breaking exploits.

** ''ArtificialStupidity/{{Civilization}}''

** ArtificialStupidity/CommandAndConquer
** ArtificialStupidity/{{Civilization}}
** ArtificialStupidity/FireEmblem

* ''WesternAnimation/GlitchTechs'': InUniverse, Glitch intelligence is usually related to their base programming, so they tend to act as if they're still in their game. While this is why [[AIIsACrapshoot most Glitches are dangerous]], since they run by video-game logic and don't comprehend the dangerous consequences of their actions, or see real-life creatures and objects as things from their game, it also means that they tend to still fall into the patterns that they followed in said games, like periodically exposing a weak point.

* In ''Film/{{Us}}'', when [[EvilDoppelganger the Tethered]] start attacking Josh and Kitty's house, Kitty calls for help by telling her home AI assistant Ophelia to call the police. Instead, Ophelia, in one of the film's most [[BlackComedy darkly humorous moments]], starts playing "Fuck tha Police" by Music/{{NWA}}. [[spoiler:Her Tethered clone Dahlia slits her throat soon after.]]

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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/GlitchTechs'': InUniverse, Glitch intelligence is usually related to their base programming, so they tend to act as if they're still in their game. While this is why [[AIIsACrapshoot most Glitches are dangerous]], since they run by video-game logic and don't comprehend the dangerous consequences of their actions, or see real-life creatures and objects as things from their game, it also means that they tend to still fall into the patterns that they followed in said games, like periodically exposing a weak point.

** {{ArtificialStupidity/Hitman}}