{TL;DR: Bethesda's NPC artificial intelligence is far ahead of its competition, except when it comes to the Follower's AI behavior. I had the opportunity to compare and contrast follower AI with independent NPC AI. I challenge Bethesda to further humanize the follower AI behavior.}

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Aela and I (my Jon Steel-Hearted character) exited Riften gates and stumbled upon Lydia, my housecarl (http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/631860316826437025/591D9C8CDA29ADD9DB02255D0DAB6209D18C958A/), and escorted her from Riften to Whiterun. Took 45 minutes real-time to make the walk, but I enjoyed immensely.

During the walk, I observed both NPCs behavior, Aela and Lydia. Aela was following me, but Lydia was walking her own nodal path. I have to commend Bethesda developers for the AI behavior of NPCs not following. Lydia's path was very "human." She stopped on occasion to look at animals as they ran by. She walked to a cliffside, stopped, and seemed to be looking out into the wild blue yonder. It was a treat to watch her interact with the environment apart from me.

Aela, on the other hand, was overly robotic in her AI. She followed my pathing, staying a few steps behind me. Unless, I got attacked, she did nothing. Creeps would attack her, and she just stood there and let them. Or if they attacked Lydia, she did nothing. On occasion, Lydia spoke to me, but Aela said nothing unless I clicked her. Lydia, on the other hand, would attack any hostiles, whether they came at me, Lydia, or Aela. It was disheartening to watch Lydia defend Aela, but Aela stand and do nothing while the bear chewed her rear. The difference in the two gals' behavior was blatant (follower v. independent).

While I plan on working with the CK to improve upon the NPCs' A.I. in Skyrim, especially the follower, I challenge Bethesda to continue to humanize the NPCs in their games--especially the follower. I will say that compared to everyone else, Bethesda's AI is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. I play Star Trek Online and World of Warcraft, and a ton of single-player games, and there's nothing like Bethesda's TES games regarding NPC artificial intelligence.

But the follower's behavior regresses to a immersion-breaking, very robotic behavior that I almost forget their presence until I myself get attacked, and then they become an extra DPS. Further complexity in the algorithms governing follower behavior would go a long way in promoting an immersive feel to the TES series.

from the several followers that my character changed i think lydia is the stupidest with pathfinding.
i lost her in the wilderness much more ofthen then the others. the didn't jump, she didn't climb rocks.
ok. i don;t mean that she should follow me on the gliched cliff faces of the moutains (the same problems from Fallout and New vegas, as they are incomplete, with the player entering into the mountain on another layer of mountain) but really, on rocky hills i need my companions to stick close not to go around the plains right into the enemy encampment, and thus ruin my sneak atempt.

please if you change the AI follower profiles make them more "followers". stay close to the PC, eventualy follow it's footsteps, and climb on different using even jumping moves.

and lastly, they shoul always try not to get between the PC and the enemy, lo leave a clear shooting lane.
- for ranged PC is elfexplanatory
- for melee PC i wan tot charge the enemy, not to go around the idiotic follower, and thus loose combat inertia
thanks

Yeah, NPC interactions with the environment and one another (not just the PC) is a major detail that a LOT of detractors miss. For instance, I can walk up on a bandit and talk to them, until they turn and see me. Very well done. And yeah, of course the follower pathing AI is hosed. I don't ever use followers because of it. Either they're up your backside (sometimes pushing you into corners even) or running in between you and the enemy. Both scenarios are equally annoying.

I had some similar thoughts on Follower AI and put them in a thread of my own:
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1321620-a-few-things-i-would-have-changed-for-followers/

But I do know that the follower seems robotic because it basically is just following a command that says "Go to the Player." and doesn't remove itself when they get to you. Also, I have seen a lot of people say the opposite, the the followers don't follow you closely enough.