I always thought this was an intentional design decision. Players react badly to being "outsmarted" by an AI, so to keep the game fun they made the AIs predictable.
No nothing about this is intentional. Designers are constrained by ability - nobody is fielding intentionally stupid AIs. Intentionally easy maybe - very different concept.
For a FPS like doom its trivial to make a "perfect" AI that never misses.
Much of the focus is on RTS though. (Real time strategy - like starcraft)
It's a little difficult to describe but practically the "quality" of a AI is very obvious to seasoned players. i.e. You feel this & there is no masking the truth easily.
e.g. AI opponent nukes my bases where maximum damage is inflicted. Meanwhile I know the AIs scouts didn't have visibility of that area. There is no way the AI could have legitimate know that's where to place the nuke for max effect.
The AI won. It didn't outsmart me. It cheated via being omniscient and having full sight of map while I'm constrained by "fog of war".
Excellent AI - killed me. Yay.
Bad game. Bad experience. Unhappy user.
Shoutout to the Queller AI mod on planetary annihilation with titans.
