Andrews Scale of Artificial Intelligence
The Andrews Scale of Artificial Intelligence Sentience by Gorgo
In my stories, such as my recent Rinrin and the Doctor's Appointment that DukeNukem 2417 referenced in one of his stories, I always had sentience levels for androids/gynoids in my stories classified from a scale ranging from A to G. It goes as follows:
- Level A (or A Class)
- Level B (or B Class)
- Level C (or C Class)
These type of AIs - as I've seen it - would be totally non-autonomous devices of various levels of sophistication such as the Fembots from The Bionic Woman multi-part episodes "Kill Oscar" and "Fembots in Las Vegas" (except Carl Franklin, of course). Animatronic puppets, normal computers, the processor chips in various machines and the like would also be classified here. In effect, there's next to no capacity for any form of self-improvement in programming whatsoever here by the AI in question without TOTAL outside support.
- Level D (or D Class)
Put simply, AIs at this level are often scorned as "dumb robots". Androids and gynoids who might be linked to a higher consciousness - the androids and gynoids from the classic Star Trek television episode "I, Mudd," for example - would fit here. From Robotman's story Sexdroids in Space, this would be girls like Rosie and Betty. The Borg from Star Trek The Next Generation would fit here, too. In effect, no matter what one does to try to make them seem human, you have to be a total moron to NOT see that they're machines.
- Level E (or E Class)
These would be the next step up from Level D. Truthfully, I haven't sat back to really think what the limits here would be, but I'd say that the best examples for this level would be many of Sarah's robot crew from Sexdroids in Space...save for girls like Sarah herself as well as Brea and Tiffany. HEAVY programming constraints would apply here, but there would be some forms self-expression and self-programming improvement. Emotion wise, this would be Data from ST-TNG from the first couple seasons...without his ability to advance his knowledge in other ways.
- Level F (or F Class)
These would be like the nurses in Rinrin and the Doctor's Appointment, not to mention Brea and Tiffany from Sexdroids in Space. They have human-level sentience, but are denied the ability to express themselves without limits and are denied the ability to control themselves thoroughly. In effect, they can act as human but - thanks mostly to programming constraints - they can be seen by most normal humans as an android or gynoid...even if they look totally human. In essence, this would be like Data from the latter seasons of ST-TNG before he got his emotion chip...and in some ways, even after that.
- Level G (or G Class)
Finally we reach something which is literally as human as human can be. Examples of this include Patricia McGovern from Rinrin and the Doctor's Appointment, Carl Franklin from The Bionic Woman two-part episode "Fembots in Las Vegas", Sarah from Sexdroids in Space, Amanda from Robotman's more recent story S.A.S.S. (and Sarina and her siblings from S.A.S.S. Renegades), Data during the time immediately after his emotion chip was put into him in Star Trek: Generations and Largo from Bubblegum Crisis.
And yes, Vicki Lawson from Duke's The V.I.C.I. Diaries, too!
Level G AIs are beings that have the full ability of total self-control and self-expression. As implied in Rinrin and the Doctor's Appointment, creating such AIs would be seen as "questionable" since allowing such beings to have that level of sentience, self-control and self-expression could lead to the potential of androids/gynoids discovering and acting in a way that could be seen as "evil" in the eyes of normal society. Hence, at the time period of the story in question, developing Level G androids/gynoids is seen as potentially dangerous...but there are those who are willing to press that limit and will do so.
The Andrews Scale would stop here, but there can be a theoretical "Level H" type of unit as well. Here, then you'd be talking about an AI who would be the match of a celestial-type entity. Nagato Yuki from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya would fit there...as would Asakura Ryōko.
As for the man who developed this scale, Professor George Andrews is a Canadian originally from the Niagara region of Ontario who would later come to work for the Department of National Defence. Eventually joining the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) - the Canadian version of America's National Security Agency (NSA) or Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ); they're responsible for signal intelligence gathering - he would lead a task force concerning the development of AIs...and eventually made many breakthroughs that saw the development of the Type X64 Level G simulated humanoids (which I introduced in the story Nemesis that I based off Kishin's Nova series; it's at the LTBSA there). Dr. Andrews - nicknamed "Dr. Android" by those who know him quite personally; he detests that nickname, of course - is a big fan of the original Metropolis movie and would have quietly advised Tezuka Osamu when he developed Tetsuwan Atomu and other such series.