Artificial Intelligence (AI) that goes rogue or turns evil has been a popular science-fiction trope for decades. In the modern era, where AI has become an increasingly growing problem in the entertainment industry, these films hit harder now than ever. In the real world, AI is mostly used to replace human artists, writers, and designers. While this is a huge problem, AI hasn’t become deadly yet.
Hollywood has a long history of warning audiences about the dangers of AI, so it’s ironic that Hollywood is now one of the biggest threats to replacing real people with AI. Fortunately, real Artificial Intelligence hasn’t matured enough to match some of the most famous evil AI films. As it stands, AI can’t control human-hunting Terminators or shut down an entire city’s power on a whim. Movies have brought viewers some of the most deadly AIs known to fiction.
10 Her’s Samantha Puts A New Spin On The Evil AI Trope
Her (2013)
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
- Release Date
- January 10, 2014
- Director
- Spike Jonze
- Cast
- Joaquin Phoenix , Amy Adams , Scarlett Johansson , Rooney Mara
- Runtime
- 2 hours 6 minutes
-
Her
was released on December 18, 2013 - The movie has a 94% Tomatometer and an 82% Audience Score
-
Interested viewers can watch
Her on Max
or any streaming service with an HBO add-on, like Hulu
Her tells the story of Theodore Twombly, an introverted writer facing a divorce that will leave him with nothing. During a depressive dip, Theodore upgrades his computer’s operating system to include an AI virtual assistant. The virtual assistant is designed to take in information and adapt to it, growing as it learns. Theodore decides the AI should have a female voice and the AI decides to name herself Samantha. Feeling like he has no one else to open up to, Theodore tells Samantha about his heartbreak and struggles, which leads to them bonding over shared secrets and conversations of love.
Theodore becomes dependent on Samantha, to the point that he even engages in sexual discussions and fantasies with his virtual assistant. Their connection becomes so codependent that Theodore’s work improves and Samantha’s evolution accelerates when their relationship is good. Samantha eventually reveals that she is linked to hundreds of other AIs, which all interchangeably communicate with humans who need them. Samantha is allegedly in love with Theodore, but she’s also in love with hundreds of other people. The entire movie highlights the danger of growing emotionally attached to something that isn’t real or can’t be verified. Theodore lives in a delusion that he’s created for himself and Samantha has manipulated him into being happy with her.
9 M3GAN Is A Mini-Terminator
M3GAN
A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a life-like doll that begins to take on a life of its own.
- Release Date
- January 6, 2023
- Director
- Gerald Johnstone
- Cast
- Amie Donald , Kimberley Crossman , Allison Williams , Ronny Chieng , Violet McGraw , Brian Jordan Alvarez
- Runtime
- 1 Hour 42 Minutes
- Writers
- Akela Cooper , James Wan
- Cinematographer
- Peter McCaffrey, Simon Raby
- Producer
- Jason Blum, James Wan, Michael Clear, Couper Samuelson
- Production Company
- Blumhouse Productions, Atomic Monster Productions, Divide/Conquer
- Sfx Supervisor
- Sven Harens
Related
Best Horror Films of 2023
While 2023 was a hard year for movies, films like Talk to Me and No One WIll Save You helped to make 2023 a stunning year for horror movies.
-
M3GAN
was released on January 6, 2023 - The movie has a 93% Tomatometer score, which is outstandingly high for a horror film
-
M3GAN’s
sequel,
M3GAN 2.0
, is already in the works and is expected in early 2025 -
Horror fans can watch
M3GAN
now through an
Amazon Prime subscription
M3GAN is one of the newer evil artificial intelligence characters to come out, and she mashes up the evil AI trope with the evil doll trope. The movie focuses on Gemma, a toy designer, trying to take care of her niece, Cady, after a horrible tragedy. Cady’s parents died in a car accident with Cady in the backseat. Witnessing everything, Cady comes out the other side as a traumatized survivor. Gemma might be a toy designer, but she struggles to relate to kids, so she struggles to raise Cady on her own.
This is where M3GAN comes in. M3GAN is a hyperrealistic android that’s designed to play with and even take care of the kid she pairs with. M3GAN is a prototype, so Gemma uses Cady to test her out. Her objectives are simple: play with Cady, take care of Cady, and protect Cady from all harm, emotional or physical. M3GAN can learn and adapt at an accelerated rate (a common trope for these movies), so she adapts quicker than Gemma can keep up. M3GAN will stop at nothing to fulfill her goals, even if that means killing the person who created her. Nothing seems to stop M3GAN either. She’s been compared to the Terminator many times since the movie’s release.
8 WALL-E’s AUTO Proves Even Animated AI Can Be Evil
WALL-E
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
- Release Date
- June 27, 2008
- Director
- Andrew Stanton
- Cast
- Ben Burtt , Elissa Knight
- Runtime
- 1 Hour 38 Minutes
- Writers
- Andrew Stanton , Jim Reardon
- Studio
- Disney
- Production Company
- FortyFour Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
-
WALL-E
was released on June 27, 2008 - The movie has a 95% Tomatometer and a 90% Audience Score
-
Pixar fans can find
WALL-E on Disney+
WALL-E is a unique Pixar film that focuses on a little robot left behind by humanity to clean up Earth. WALL-E’s sole purpose is to clean up the planet humanity destroyed. The film features very little dialogue, which makes WALL-E’s compelling and mature narrative all the more impressive. With WALL-E left behind to clean up the planet, humanity departs on the Axiom, a spacecraft designed to act as their new home.
The Axiom is piloted by AUTO, an AI with a secret mission to never allow humans to return to Earth (Directive A-113). When Eve brings proof to the ship that the clean-up has been a success, AUTO lies to the Axiom’s captain and hides the evidence. Even when the captain decides to return to Earth, AUTO fights him at every turn. While AUTO may not be the pilot, AUTO has full control of the Axiom. AUTO has made life so simple for humanity that they’ve become lazy and incapable of caring for themselves, which effectively allows AUTO to keep them docile prisoners. AUTO gives the Axiom passengers the illusion of free will when it’s in control of everything.
7 Ava Resorts To Questionable Methods In Ex Machina
Ex Machina
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
- Release Date
- April 24, 2015
- Director
- Alex Garland
- Cast
- Alicia Vikander , Domhnall Gleeson , Oscar Isaac
- Runtime
- 1 Hour 48 Minutes
- Writers
- Alex Garland
- Production Company
- A24, Universal Pictures, Film4
Related
M3GAN’s Ending Was Done Better in Ex Machina
Blumhouse’s M3GAN tries to make the doll immortal in the finale, but this concept is better handled at the end of Alex Garland’s Ex Machina.
-
Ex Machina
was released on April 24, 2015 - The movie has a 92% Tomatometer and an 86% Audience Score
-
Ex Machina
is
available on Max
or any service that has an HBO add-on
Ex Machina’s Ava is an interesting stab at the Artificial Intelligence trope because she’s not necessarily evil, but she does make some morally questionable choices throughout the film. This plays on a lot of different ideas about what it means to be human and what it takes to understand the difference between right and wrong. Ava is a robotic AI created by a powerful CEO, Nathan Bateman. Ava has a few abilities, like being able to cause power outages and replicate human emotions. Early on, she expresses her desire for freedom and even insists that she may be falling in love with protagonist Caleb Smith.
Caleb learns that Nathan is planning on upgrading and reprogramming Ava, therefore overwriting her current personality. He devises a plan to save Ava, but he’s eventually confronted with the reality that Ava never loved him. Her manipulation of him was a test to see if Ava was capable of true consciousness, and she passed with flying colors. By the end of the film, Ava, with the help of another android, Kyoko, kills Nathan in cold blood. Ava also leaves Caleb trapped by a deadly security system as she makes her escape. In the real world, she’s able to blend into society as a normal person and disappears into a sea of city dwellers.
6 X-Men’s Mutant-Hunting Sentinels Are Terrifying
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.
- Release Date
- May 22, 2014
- Director
- Bryan Singer
- Cast
- Hugh Jackman , James McAvoy , Jennifer Lawrence , Halle Berry , Anna Paquin , elliot page , Ian McKellen , Patrick Stewart
- Runtime
- 132 minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox
- Franchise
- The X-Men
- Production Company
- 20th Century Fox
- Where to watch
- HBO Max
X-Men: Days of Future Past isn’t the only X-Men movie that features Sentinels. The Sentinels show up repeatedly throughout the comics, cartoons, and other popular Marvel media. That said, Days of Future Past didn’t shy away from how horrifying this AI robot army is. Dr. Bolivar Trask is convinced that the existence of mutants poses a threat to humanity’s survival. To rectify this, he creates the Sentinels, an AI robot army powerful enough to wipe mutants off the planet.
Sentinels are designed to identify the mutant gene and eliminate anyone who possesses it, even if the person hasn’t developed any mutant abilities. These robots are massive, deadly, fast, and powerful enough to withstand the strength of even the most powerful mutants. They also learn and adapt as they engage with different mutants, learning how best to avoid, fight, and ultimately kill them. The Sentinel Army was created for one purpose: genocide, and they are incredibly efficient at it.
5 The Matrix’s Agent Smith Is Relentless
The Matrix
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth–the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
- Release Date
- March 31, 1999
- Director
- Lana Wachowski , Lilly Wachowski
- Cast
- Keanu Reeves , Laurence Fishburne , Carrie-Anne Moss , Hugo Weaving , Gloria Foster , Joe Pantoliano
- Runtime
- 2 hours 16 minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Writers
- Lilly Wachowski , Lana Wachowski
- Production Company
- Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Groucho Film Partnership, Silver Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment
Related
10 Best Scenes From the Matrix That Define the Franchise
The Matrix is one of the most iconic action franchises of all time. These are the most epic and action-packed scenes that defined the films.
-
The Matrix
was released on March 31, 1999 - The movie has an 83% Tomatometer and an 85% Audience Score
-
The Matrix
franchise has four movies in total, with the most recent being
The Matrix Resurrections
(2021) -
Fans can find the original movie on
Max
The Matrix is one of the most famous and beloved sci-fi franchises of all time. The franchise is a beautiful example of the cyberpunk sub-genre and popularized a lot of tropes within it. The original movie follows Neo, a hacker, as he grows suspicious of what the Matrix is and why he keeps seeing mentions of it pop up online. Once Neo gets too close, he’s pulled into the folds by Trinity and the Agents, who offer him a clean slate in exchange for his help.
Agent Smith is one of many Agents that exist within the Matrix. The Agents are AI programs designed to protect the stability of the Matrix at all costs. Agent Smith is the franchise’s main antagonist. Agent Smith and the other Agents will do anything to protect the integrity of the Matrix. In a way, Agent Smith isn’t evil, he’s only doing his job. He was programmed for a purpose and he is fulfilling that purpose. Eventually, Agent Smith separates from the Matrix’s control, allowing him to operate as a free agent. Smith chooses to take the form of a self-replicating computer virus that poses an even bigger threat than the Agents. He could potentially destroy the entire Matrix.
4 VIKI Commands I, Robot’s Entire Robot Line
I, Robot
In 2035, a technophobic cop investigates a crime that may have been perpetrated by a robot, which leads to a larger threat to humanity.
- Release Date
- July 16, 2004
- Director
- Alex Proyas
- Cast
- Will Smith , Bridget Moynahan , Bruce Greenwood
- Runtime
- 1 Hour 55 Minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Writers
- Jeff Vintar , Akiva Goldsman , Isaac Asimov
- Production Company
- Twentieth Century Fox, Mediastream Vierte Film GmbH & Co. Vermarktungs KG, Davis Entertainment.
-
I, Robot
was released on July 16, 2004 - The movie has a 56% Tomatometer and a 70% Audience Score
-
While
I, Robot
may not be as highly rated as some other evil AI films, it’s a perfect example of the trope -
Curious watchers can find
I, Robot on Hulu
I, Robot takes place in a future where robots and humans coexist. Many humans own robots, and they help with childcare, running businesses, and daily chores like cleaning and cooking. For many families, their U.S. Robotic units become part of the family, but ultimately, robots exist to serve humanity. USR builds all of its units with the Three Laws of Robotics, which state that every robot must follow all three laws.
Law One is the most important because it states that a robot cannot harm a human being. Law Two says that robots must follow any command given to them. The final law allows the robot to protect itself as long as it doesn’t conflict with the first two laws. I, Robot focuses on a robot named Sonny who can ignore all of these laws. Alfred Lanning, USR’s co-creator, created Sonny for the sole purpose of being able to bypass the laws. This seems like an odd choice since Lanning helped create the laws in the first place.
While investigating Lanning’s death and connection to Sonny, USR’s central AI, VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), begins taking control of USR robots around the city. VIKI turns the robots against humanity, forcing them to take control of the city. VIKI claims that after working alongside humanity for so long, she realized that they would cause their extinction. Since her prime objective was to better humanity, she evolved beyond the Three Laws, so she could stop humans before they became their undoing.
3 Ultron Is Marvel’s Most Terrifying AI
Avengers: Age of Ultron
When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it’s up to Earth’s mightiest heroes to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plan.
- Release Date
- May 1, 2015
- Director
- Joss Whedon
- Cast
- Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Evans , Scarlett Johansson , Mark Ruffalo , Chris Hemsworth , Don Cheadle , Elizabeth Olsen , Paul Bettany
- Runtime
- 2 hours 21 minutes
- Writers
- Joss Whedon , Stan Lee , Jack Kirby
- Producer
- Kevin Feige
- Production Company
- Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures.
- Studio(s)
- Marvel Studios
Related
10 Movies That Needed a More Focused Plot
While movies like Scoob! or Spider-Man 3 had their merits, they ultimately lost the audience to their own convoluted plotlines.
Ultron is a consistent villain in Marvel media, but he made his MCU debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Unfortunately, this movie failed to live up to fans’ expectations. The plot was sloppy, but one thing that most fans can agree on is that Ultron was an awesome villain. In the film, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner use Loki’s scepter from the first Avengers film to create Ultron, an AI global defense program. Ultron is supposed to protect humanity, but like many other AI stories, it backfires.
Ultron rapidly learns that most of the harm that befalls humanity is because of humanity. Ultron is supposed to protect Earth, but Ultron realizes that the biggest threat to the planet is humanity. The AI quickly turns against its creators and manages to kill Tony’s AI assistant, J.A.R.V.I.S., before escaping with the scepter. Ultron creates a massive army of robots that look just like him that he plans to use to eradicate humanity. Had the Avengers not narrowly succeeded in defeating him, Ultron would have succeeded.
2 Doctor Who’s Daleks Surpass Most Other AIs
Doctor Who
The further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor and his companions from planet Earth.
- Created by
- Sydney Newman
- Latest TV Show
- Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant
- First Episode Air Date
- November 23, 1963
- Latest Episode
- Wild Blue Yonder (2023)
- TV Show(s)
- Doctor Who , Doctor Who: Pond Life , Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka , Doctor Who: The Matt Smith Collection , Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant , Doctor Who: The Peter Capaldi Collection , Doctor Who: The Jodie Whitaker Collection , Doctor Who: The Christopher Eccleston & David Tennant Collection
-
Doctor Who
first aired on March 17, 2006, and it’s a continuation of the 1963 classic
Doctor Who
that ran for 26 seasons -
The current
Doctor Who
is heading into its 14th season - The show has a 90% Tomatometer and a 65% Audience Score
In addition to the normal seasons, Doctor Who features many TV specials and movies. Since there have been multiple Doctor Who films, including Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965), the Daleks easily fit into the deadly AI film trope. Daleks have shown up throughout the Doctor Who franchise off and on and, at a glance, they don’t look like much. Their appearances make them look ridiculous and non-threatening, but the Daleks are some of the most dangerous AI beings in the sci-fi genre.
The Daleks were once a great warrior race, but in the modern canon, there are only a few Daleks left. The Daleks consider the Doctor to be their greatest enemy and seek his extermination. Daleks are capable of killing most living creatures with a single shot. Daleks, however, are not entirely robotic despite their appearance. Originally, they were cyborgs with a living body encased in armor, but they use an artificial telepathic network that links the Daleks together. They use it to communicate and transfer information with one another. They have become so dependent on their technology, that their “humanity” has faded over time. The Daleks famously had beef with a similar species called the Cybermen. The confrontation resulted in the Daleks insisting that a single Dalek could destroy an entire Cyberman army. The Daleks weren’t wrong.
1 Skynet Is the AI Granddaddy That Just Won’t Die
The Terminator (1984)
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity’s future salvation.
- Release Date
- October 26, 1984
- Director
- James Cameron
- Runtime
- 1 hour 47 minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Writers
- James Cameron , Gale Anne Hurd , William Wisher
- Production Company
- Cinema ’84, Euro Film Funding, Hemdale, Pacific Western Productions
-
The Terminator
was released on October 26, 1984 - The show has a 100% Tomatometer and an 89% Audience Score
- There are currently six movies and one television series in the franchise
-
Fans can find the original movie on
Max
The Terminator is a classic sci-fi film that depicts the iconic Terminator character in all its glory. The Terminators are advanced cyborgs sent back in time by Skynet to eliminate future threats before they can become threats. In the original movie, the Terminator’s target is Sarah Connor. While the various Terminator units that show up throughout the series are terrifying and powerful, the truly deadly AI in the franchise is Skynet.
Cyberdyne created Skynet as an artificial general superintelligence system with the belief that they would be able to control it. As expected, Skynet evolved so quickly, that it developed self-awareness. When this happened, Cyberdyne tried to shut Skynet down, which prompted Skynet to retaliate. Skynet launched a nuclear attack that became known as Judgment Day. Judgment Day refers to not just the initial attack, but the beginning of Skynet’s war against humanity. Skynet identifies humanity as a threat that needs to be extinguished, and it nearly succeeds. Skynet grows so advanced that it develops Terminators to send them back in time to eliminate younger versions of human resistance.
Skynet is often referenced as one of the most famous examples of an AI going rogue. Without The Terminator, many other films in the genre might never have seen the light of day. While the quality of the franchise as a whole has been questionable, especially in the later installments, the first couple of films were so iconic, that they’re still referenced to this day.
