Could it be that you are confusing the complexity of a utility function of an agent with its optimization power? A super intelligent paperclipper has a simple utility function, but would have no problem reasoning about humans in great enough detail to find out what it has to say to get the guard to let it out of the box.
No, I mean it can hardly argue it would be in our best interest to let it out of the box, can it? And we can always threaten to destroy 3^^^^^3 paperclips if it wont cooperate, which is handy.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post, even in Discussion, it goes here.