The Secret Robot Trope In Science Fiction, Explained

gamerant.com:

As machinery and AI improves, the ability to create something that perfectly mimics organic life looms large over the possible future. A perfect mechanical facsimile of humanity raises a ton of challenging questions. One of the most aggressive ways to raise those questions is to introduce a character as a human and suddenly reveal their true identity.

The classic «person isn't actually human» twist takes many forms. Magical shape-shifters, malevolent body snatchers, and all manner of things wearing a fresh set of human skin make blending in part of their gimmick. But, when the thing masquerading as a human turns out to be a machine, there's a wide variety of directions that the story can go.

The Rogue AI Trope in Sci-Fi, Explained

This trope is entirely self-explanatory. There's a robot, android, or artificial intelligence that somehow takes the guise of a mild-mannered human being. Sometimes they're a dangerous killing machine that uses their ability to blend in to get closer to their targets. Sometimes they're a helpful service android that is designed to resemble humans to make them more visually appealing. Sometimes they have hidden intentions beyond the comprehension of the people they resemble. There's almost always a big reveal, but the level of surprise can vary. It could be a world-shattering reveal that destroys everyone who hears about it or a weird diversion that's mostly for the audience's benefit. Most other forms of things pretending to be human tend toward evil, but secret robots can be good-natured, malicious, or even curious.

One of the earliest examples of a character being shockingly revealed to be a robot came in E. T. A. Hoffman's 1816 novel The Sandman. The robot in question is Olimpia, a young woman