Moravec's Paradox
An observation in artificial intelligence research that high-level reasoning requires relatively little computation, while low-level sensorimotor skills like perception and mobility demand enormous computational resources.
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Origin
Articulated independently by Hans Moravec, Rodney Brooks, and Marvin Minsky in the 1980s. Moravec stated the idea most concisely in his 1988 book Mind Children: "It is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers, and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility."
Updated February 22, 2026