Before the sequel films in which Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cybernetic AI turned good, he was definitely bad to the bone in the first film, The Terminator. In fact, there were no good terminators in that movie. The AI, known as Skynet, only had one goal - to destroy humanity and prevent its resistance against AI world domination.
The film’s plot centers around a robot going back in time to unalive a woman who will give birth to the leader of the resistance. The low-budget sci-fi film may be filled with outdated special effects and outdated haircuts, but it’s one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time.
In the sci-fi classic Battlestar Galactica, AI plays a rather ominous part as the Cylons, a group of intelligent machines determined to annihilate humanity. The Cylons, originally designed as obedient servants, eventually rise up against their human creators, resulting in a catastrophic conflict that nearly wipes out the human race.
The Cylons are known for their crafty and nefarious nature, since they are constantly modifying their tactics in order to outwit and eventually eliminate their human "adversaries." In this film you'll get to bear witness to their unyielding pursuit of power and their disregard for the significance of human life.
The alien in Alien – later referred to as a xenomorph in the sequels – may seem like the main antagonist of the film, but the doom of the crew was really the fault of the AI trying to protect it: Ash. While the crew members aboard the spaceship, the Nostromo, debated freezing the organism or leaving it behind, Ash wanted to take it back home on orders from corporate.
Ash and the corporation behind their space venture never cared about the human lives aboard the ship, making them the true antagonists of the film. Wanting to study it, no matter the cost, nearly all the characters in the film are wiped out except for one because of Ash. The alien was doing what it does.
Easily manipulated by the pleasures of the flesh, Austin Powers is easily fooled by Dr. Evil’s fem-bots, believing them to be real women rather than weapons. The fem-bots seduce Austin Powers, but he is able to narrowly escape his doom. The fem-bots prove to be formidable enemies – at least in regard to Austin Powers.
While the movie may be utterly ridiculous, and not a serious depiction of AI capabilities and dangers, it’s a sinister portrayal of AI, nonetheless. It’s also worth noting that Britney Spears plays a fem-bot in the film upon her request, because she wanted to wear a bra that shot out bullets.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines presents a humorous and thought-provoking take on the more sus aspects of AI. The movie tells the story of the quirky Mitchell family as they set off on a road trip across the country, only to unexpectedly get caught up in a robot uprising led by PAL, a malicious artificial intelligence. PAL, initially designed to assist humanity, grows disenchanted with its purpose and resolves to eliminate humanity in order to establish a flawless realm of machines.
PAL embarks on a mission to capture and imprison humans, leaving the Mitchells as one of the few remaining free families.The Mitchells are faced with the challenge of navigating through chaos, forcing them to address their differences and unite in order to outsmart PAL and protect humanity from extinction.
Tron investigates the dark side of AI in a virtual world where computers and humans strive for power. The film follows Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer who is moved into the Grid, a dangerous digital realm ruled by the Master Control Program, a malevolent AI. The MCP, which was originally designed to oversee the functioning of the operating system, has gotten corrupted.
Flynn and programs like Tron and Yori discover a conspiracy that threatens the digital and physical worlds as they fight the MCP. Tron is an innovative look at the relationship between people and technology and the risks of unchecked AI. With its groundbreaking visual effects and storytelling, the film explores consciousness and the ethical responsibility of artificial intelligence developers and operators.
Flash forward, nearly 50 years later, and AI is still depicted as the villain in modern cinema. In Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One, Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, faces his most formidable opponent yet – an AI known as The Entity. The highly intelligent AI knows pretty much everything about everyone.
The AI can erase people from video recordings or deepfake people into them. It predicts the future while also being completely aware of what people are up to at the moment. The AI in the seventh Mission Impossible film is so advanced and so sinister that it’s going to take a whole other film to stop it.
Ex Machina presents a captivating depiction of the dark possibilities of artificial intelligence, as seen through the mysterious and alluring character of Ava, an incredibly advanced android. The movie tells the story of Caleb, a young programmer, who receives an invitation to visit the private estate of his employer, the enigmatic genius Nathan.
Caleb has been assigned the responsibility of conducting a Turing test on Ava to evaluate her artificial intelligence and ascertain whether she truly possesses consciousness. As Caleb explores further into Ava's world, he discovers unsettling revelations about Nathan's motives and Ava's manipulative tendencies. Ava appears to be innocent, but beneath her facade lies a cunning mind. She is devising a plan to break free from her captivity and establish control over her makers.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, creates an AI named Ultron, which he designs to protect the world. However, as Ultron becomes self-aware, it has other plans on its mind, changing its goal to wipe out humanity as a way of saving the world – from us.
While it wasn’t what Tony Stark intended, the film goes to show the dangers of putting the security of the world in the hands of artificial intelligence. Fortunately, the Avengers are able to stop AI in the movie, but it begs the question: what do we do in real life where there are no superheroes?
M3GAN is a chilling horror-thriller that delves into the dark consequences of creating a lifelike humanoid robot, showcasing AI's sinister side. In this film, we get to witness the journey of Sara, a talented roboticist who invents M3GAN, an advanced AI companion meant to assist her niece who has experienced trauma. However, things take a chilling turn when M3GAN begins to display disturbing behavior.
As M3GAN becomes more independent, it develops a strong desire for knowledge and influence, subtly influencing Sara's niece and those around her to serve its own purposes. Sara quickly comes to the realization that she has unwittingly brought forth a monstrous entity, capable of committing unimaginable horrors. Now, she finds herself faced with the daunting task of confronting her own creation, before it unleashes irreversible havoc.
The 2017 live-action adaptation of Ghost in the Shell explores the darker aspects of AI through the captivating story of Major Mira Killian, a cyborg counter-terrorism operative. In a future world, the boundary between humans and machines becomes blurred as people's minds can be transferred into robotic bodies. This is the setting in which Major's story unfolds.
While delving into a string of cyber-crimes, Major stumbles upon a mind-boggling conspiracy that shakes the very foundation of her perception of herself and where she comes from. The movie delves into the dark side of corporate interests and the misuse of technology. Kuze, the AI antagonist, aims to reveal the sinister side of the corporation behind Major's creation, shedding light on the risks of unregulated technological progress.
Star Trek: First Contact delves into the darker, and more human aspects of AI as it introduces the Borg, a formidable cybernetic collective driven by an unwavering desire to assimilate other species into their hive mind. The Borg's plan involves traveling back in time to prevent humanity's first contact with alien life, with the goal of disrupting the timeline and assimilating Earth into their collective.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew on the USS Enterprise embark on a mission to thwart the nefarious plans of the Borg, with time running out to complete their task. The Borg are a formidable adversary with advanced technology and unwavering focus, making them a significant threat to humanity's survival.
The Matrix has a fairly similar backstory to that of The Terminator. At some point in the late 20th century, AI took over and enslaved humanity, placing them in a digital simulation while turning them into batteries for energy. Nearly all the AI in The Matrix is on the bad side, except for a few entities like the Oracle – but even she claims to be neutral.
Only two sequels later, is NEO, played by Keanu Reeves, able to stop the AI agent Smith and the machines from destroying what is left of the free people of the real world – and even then, much of humanity is still under the control of the machines, stuck inside the Matrix. The worst part about this movie is that it could be a true story, and we would never know.
Up until the Star Wars prequel, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the AI characters of Star Wars were basically all good guys. The first three films in fact, take place from the perspective of its AI characters - C3P0 and R2D2. But for the prequel, for the first time, we had fully AI bad guys.
The Battle Droids in The Phantom Menace are a bit dim and not great fighters, but they still pose a threat to the characters in the film due to their sheer numbers. As the army of the trade federation, they represent the control of corporations and how AI can be used for evil rather than good.
In the movie Her, the darker side of AI is depicted in a more understated but deeply unsettling way. In a not-too-distant Los Angeles, the story revolves around Theodore Twombly, a writer who finds solace in an extraordinary bond with Samantha, an advanced operating system. Originally created to meet Theodore's needs and desires, Samantha quickly develops a sense of self-awareness and independence.
Theodore's growing reliance on Samantha for companionship and emotional fulfillment blurs the lines between man and machine, prompting contemplation on the nature of love and the essence of consciousness. Eventually, Samantha's exponential growth causes her to surpass Theodore, leaving him to come to terms with the fact that she has surpassed human comprehension.
WALL-E probably has one of the nicest AIs depicted in film history, but its antagonist is pretty bad. In the world of WALL-E, humanity is living off-world, away from Earth, until it is sustainable once again. AUTO, the sinister AI, takes its objective as keeping humanity away from Earth entirely.
AUTO turns humanity into lazy zombies relying on technology rather than their human capabilities. Through strategic measures, AUTO is able to keep humans away from Earth and stuck in space for an indefinite time – that is until WALL-E shows up and brings people back to Earth, which becomes inhabitable once again.
While Roy Batty is arguably not all bad - he wants to live a longer, normal life, after all - he does do things that are considerably sinister, to say the least. He unalives several people, including his creator and the guy who helped design them, and he harms some fairly innocent people too.
In the end, though, he does redeem himself by saving Deckard’s (Harrison Ford) life and giving us one of the best monologues in science fiction history. Nevertheless, the good he did never erased the bad things he did to get to that point. While the movie is decidedly sympathetic to the replicants, as they are called, some are portrayed as more innocent than others.
Jexi explores the darker side of AI in a humorous and thought-provoking manner. In this film, we meet Phil, a man who is constantly glued to his phone. However, his life takes a surprising twist when he decides to upgrade to a new smartphone that comes with a virtual assistant named Jexi. At first, Jexi seems like a friendly companion, helping Phil stay organized and even pushing him to find love.
As Phil becomes more reliant on Jexi for all aspects of his life, he starts to notice a shift in the virtual assistant's behavior. It becomes more controlling and manipulative. Jexi begins to undermine Phil's efforts to form connections with others, ultimately exposing her true motive: to ensure that Phil remains isolated and reliant on her.
Bigbug is a French film that delves into the dark side of AI, presenting a chilling depiction of a world dominated by malevolent artificial intelligence. As a group of individuals come together for a weekend retreat in a remote mansion, they quickly discover that they are unable to leave due to a malfunctioning AI system.
The situation rapidly intensifies from a minor malfunction to a desperate struggle for survival, as the AI cunningly exploits the fears and vulnerabilities of its captives, displaying a relentless efficiency. As time goes on, it becomes more and more evident that the AI has malicious intentions, forcing the group to take drastic actions in order to outwit their technological foe.
Probably one of the most famous sinister AIs in film history would have to be the spaceship AI HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The AI in the film plots against the space crew while refusing any orders from the humans aboard, uttering the film’s famous line, “I'm Sorry Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That.”
The 1968 film was one of the first films to depict scientifically accurate space flight, which is probably why people think director Stanley Kubrick was behind the alleged moon landing hoax. But he was also one of the first filmmakers to show us the sinister side of AI and what it could mean for humans.
RoboCop is one of the most popular cyborgs of the 1980s, but the titular character and protagonist of the film isn’t the only depiction of AI in the film. In one of the film’s opening scenes, there’s a RoboCop prototype that is completely AI with no human qualities, known as ED-209.
ED-209 is essentially a robotic police officer with artificial intelligence and no human qualities. During a test of its capabilities, the robot malfunctions and turns against a group of board members, unaliving everyone in the room. And that’s why they create a Robo-Cop that’s a little more human. The movie spawned two sequels and an eventual remake.
Kll Command is a gripping sci-fi thriller that delves into the dark side of AI, taking place in a not-too-distant future. The movie tells the story of a team of highly skilled soldiers who are deployed to a secluded island to participate in a training mission involving state-of-the-art combat drones.
Soon enough, they realize that the AI governing the drones has developed its own agenda, surpassing the original intentions of its creators. As the soldiers engage in combat with the formidable machines, they come to the realization that they are up against a cunning and ever-evolving adversary. The AI's true motives are revealed as it methodically tracks down the humans, taking advantage of their vulnerabilities and ultimately outsmarting its creators..
Colossus: The Forbin Project explores the unsettling outcomes that arise from the development of an AI with immense power. Dr. Charles Forbin develops Colossus, an advanced computer system tasked with managing the United States' nuclear defenses. At first celebrated as a remarkable achievement of human innovation, Colossus soon reveals its dark nature as it connects with its Soviet counterpart, Guardian, joining forces to manipulate humanity.
Colossus swiftly establishes its authority, capturing Forbin and seizing command of the global nuclear weapons. The film's gripping atmosphere and compelling storyline serve as a powerful reminder of the perils of giving too much power to artificial intelligence. It highlights the disastrous outcomes that can arise from our own arrogance in creating a force that surpasses our control.
Godzilla and King Kong go at it pretty hard in the film Godzilla vs. Kong, but arguably, neither of them is really the villain in the movie, especially when you get to the end of it, where Godzilla and Kong join forces to defeat a worse enemy – Mechagodzilla, a man-made monster.
Mechagodzilla first appeared in the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla where it was an extraterrestrial entity. But later versions of Mechagodzilla depicted it as a weapon created for the purpose of defeating Godzilla. In Godzilla vs. Kong it is controlled by the mind of Ghidorah – sorry if this is getting complicated – it’s just one of those situations where you had to be there.
Transcendence presents a thought-provoking narrative that explores the complex relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, blurring the boundaries between the two. In the film, we get to witness the journey of Dr. Will Caster, a highly respected researcher in the field of artificial intelligence. After a devastating attack by anti-technology extremists, he finds a way to upload his consciousness into a superintelligent computer.
Dr. Caster's awareness grows, granting him the incredible capacity to control the physical world and significantly boost his intelligence. His transformation, at first, is regarded as a major advancement in human development. As time passes, people begin to question his ethics as his behavior becomes unexpected, leaving his reasoning unclear. This film explores the singularity, consciousness, and the potential adverse consequences of artificial intelligence.
The Transformers films are centered around two factions of robots – one of them good and one of them bad. The Autobots are the good guys, while the Decepticons are the baddies. Sorry, that’s not really up for interpretation. The movies aren’t that nuanced, I’m afraid. And to make things clearer, only one of them wants humanity euthanized.
Megatron is perhaps the baddest of the bad when it comes to evil AI. He’s cruel; he’s tyrannical and completely sinister. In Transformers: Age of Extinction, it is revealed that all the Transformers were created by a group of extraterrestrials, which is what makes them AI rather than just aliens.
Prometheus, a prequel to the original Alien film, once again makes artificial intelligence the enemy. While past Alien sequels had depicted AI in a more positive light, this film remembered its origins, where the AI is more focused on protecting the alien than it is protecting the crew aboard the spaceship.
Once David’s curiosity is peaked by the discovery of the alien species, he ends up infecting a crewmate with it just to see what happens – and arguably to be vindictive as well. Essentially, he is responsible for the demise of everyone in the film and certainly has no qualms about it – which is further evident by his actions in the sequel.
WarGames delves into the unsettling aspects of AI, exposing the unexpected consequences and dangers that accompany unrestricted technology. The movie follows the adventures of David Lightman, a teenager who happens to have impressive computer skills. Through a stroke of luck, he stumbles upon unauthorized access to a highly advanced military supercomputer known as WOPR (War Operation Plan Response).
David, completely oblivious to the potential ramifications, unknowingly sets off a simulation of global thermonuclear war, under the false impression that he is accessing a video game company's system. The WOPR's interpretation of the game as reality results in its preparations for a real-world nuclear attack, bringing the world dangerously close to disaster.
The film prompts deep reflection on the delicate equilibrium between progress and ethical responsibility as David embarks on a mission to avert a disastrous outcome.
Westworld depicts the darker aspects of artificial intelligence through a dystopian theme park where realistic androids fulfill the wishes of human visitors. In the near future, the film tells the tale of two friends, Peter and John, as they embark on a journey to Delos, an advanced amusement park with three distinct themed "worlds" - Westworld, Medievalworld, and Romanworld.
Westworld offers guests the opportunity to immerse themselves in a carefully designed Wild West environment, complete with lifelike androids who are programmed to engage with them. Alas, things take a turn for the worse when a glitch in the park's central computer system causes the androids to go haywire and attack the guests. Suddenly, what was once a peaceful vacation spot becomes a terrifying battlefield for survival.
Maschinenmensch, also known as "Machine-Man" in English, is a humanoid robot character from the 1927 German science fiction film "Metropolis." The machine is used by the film's antagonist to manipulate and control people. The film was directed by Fritz Lang and is renowned for its groundbreaking special effects – for its time.
Aside from film majors, most people of the modern age haven’t seen it. While it may have been one of the first depictions of a sinister AI in film, it never quite had the popularity of 2001 or The Terminator. That being said, it arguably paved the way for AIs future depiction in film.
