Oh now this is the kind of thread i like to see!
Y' know, i don' t think it' s possible to program anything that would mimick an actual person effectively. AI, and bots in particular made leaps and bounds thanks to id Software and Quake 3 in particular, but even though huge advancements have been made since then, evident in games like CoD2, Advanced Warfighter and FEAR, ...i don' t think it will ever get to the point where you would be unable to distinguish between a CPU controlled bot and a real person.
There' s simply too much to take into account. I mean, it' ll get better, but you would have to be able to program thing like; cunning, intuition, spacial awareness, self preservation etc, along with a whole host of subconcious attributes.
AI would have to be able to " think" about it' s options and what the outcome of performing them might be.
You' d have to give it logic and self awareness.
I don' t think i' ve played a game that has had totally accpetable AI. I mean, Oblivion' s Radiant AI is nice, but random NPC interaction is nothing new and everything else is pre-defined. It put on a good show, but falls down when you test it.
I think one genre that could really do with better AI is fighting games. Fight Night Round 3 is cool, and the opponents again put on a good show, but games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter need some work. Dead or Alive 4 masks it' s AI by just being very hard, even on easy it' s harder than other fighting games.
I want to see enemies that are afraid to die.