Here is a cute AI advance: a game-playing AI that learns by understanding the tips in the manual. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/language-from-games-0712.html http://people.csail.mit.edu/regina/my_papers/civ11.pdf Gives some ideas for EP. Most AIs are single-minded and do not understand anything outside their domains. But they can understand written and spoken instructions, so in a desperate situation you might order an AI to read the **** manual and hope it can then follow the instructions. Most likely it will do a lousy job, but it may be better than the alternative. "Unit One, here is a text. I order you to read it." "...Done." "I will now give you device access to an external device." "Device access recognized." "This is the device described in the text. You can now control it." "Yes?" "Please implement the instructions in chapter 8, 'Landing safely'." "Point of clarification: is there a time limit for this task?" "Oh yes, there is."