Or maybe the interplay between the gameworld's design and the AI wasn't fully considered? Most of what I'm getting from forums about AI inconsistencies come from situations which seem to suggest that. I don't think the issue is entirely about the AI being too human because in application there's times when it definitely doesn't feel like it. It gives off the feeling that behaviors were assigned to NPCs and then they expected them all to work out together without testing them... Reports of a captain of the guard pickpocketing a beggar, some NPC telling an approaching NPC they hate him but then discuss rumors plesantly, or a couple of soldiers fighting it out in the woods because one of them killed a deer while they were talking just strenghtens that notion.