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Science fiction is one of the most popular genres. It's ideal for people who like to dream about what could become real one day. However, not all technological advancements are portrayed as a good thing in sci-fi movies. In multiple cases, artificial intelligence is developed, or it builds malicious intentions over time, and it decides to take over the entire world or at least part of it.
It often does this even if it means hurting those who built it in the first place — the humans. The Terminator series is the most famous example of an A.I. taking over with catastrophic consequences for humanity, but several other great movies work with this topic.
Updated July 26, 2022 by Kath Leroy: With technological development progressing fast, people have turned to science fiction movies for ideas about how their future might look. While some sci-fi movies present a positive view of technological developments such as artificial intelligence, others are far more skeptical about it.
They usually ask whether such an advanced artificial intelligence wouldn't decide that it no longer needs humans and would destroy them. Iconic series such as The Terminator or the Matrix franchise aren't by far the only ones that dealt with this question. So anybody who likes science fiction and wants to think about the role of artificial intelligence in human society or simply enjoy a great movie has a lot of options to choose from!
9 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest science fiction classics of all time. It's also one of the strongest warnings about what can happen if artificial intelligence, presented by a computer, in this case, gains too much power. The movie gives a lot of space to the group of astronauts, but in the end, the most memorable character is the ship's computer, HAL, who decides to kill all members of the crew after it glitches.
The simple yet brutal efficiency with which the previously friendly HAL approaches its new mission makes for a compelling story that has the power to make the audience both scared and think about what they just saw. It also serves as a clear warning that inserting too much power into the metaphorical hands of artificial intelligence might not be such a good idea, because there's always room for error.
8 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
The first Star Trek movie got a lot of criticism for its lacking pace - something the next movie titled The Wrath of Khan fixed. However, the main villain of Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn't lacking in size and threat either. The colossal living machine known as V'Ger had the power to easily destroy spaceships and it did so while it traveled toward Earth. If Captain Kirk and his crew hadn't been able to stop it, it would have most likely destroyed the planet and kept going.
In a surprising twist, V'Ger turned out to be a long-lost space probe Voyager 6 that became sentient after an encounter with an advanced alien race. In its quest for knowledge, V'Ger didn't take lives into consideration, and it took the sacrifice of several crew members to stop the probe. V'Ger is a good example that excess is never good, even when it comes to seeking knowledge, and that the human, feeling element is just as important as the cold logic of artificial intelligence.
7 Westworld (1973)
Overshadowed by the HBO series, the original movie offered a simpler, yet still effective plot. A malfunctioning robot pursues a man in a Wild West-themed amusement park and won't stop until he kills his victim, even though robots aren't supposed to hurt humans.
Yul Brynner is chilling in the role of the relentless killer, and the blind determination with which he goes after his adversary is similar to that of the Terminator, who, however, came ten years after the release of the movie. Michal Crichton is best known for his literary work but he both wrote and directed the movie, and did a solid job, even though these days, Westworld is one of the more forgotten movies from the 1970s.
6 The Matrix (1999)
By far one of the most famous movies about artificial intelligence taking over is The Matrix. The twist that the whole of humanity was living in a simulation surprised a lot of viewers when the movie premiered in 1999. Unlike the Terminators, the A.I. in this movie was mostly kind to its victims, letting them lead a semblance of normal lives, even though it was all a dream, and waking up from it was close to impossible as well as highly difficult.
What makes this future even more chilling is the fact that the intelligent machines were using humans as energy sources, reducing them to nothing more than a living battery. As a result, it was very easy to sympathize with Keanu Reeves' Neo and wish for him to break from the simulation once and for all.
5 I, Robot (2004)
Will Smith is no stranger to science fiction movies but I, Robot remains one of his best works in this genre. Smith plays a cop who's naturally distrustful of robots even though they play a big part in society. It turns out he was right when an A.I. takes over the world, and it's up to him to stop it. The movie shows that caution is always advised, but at the same time, it's not such a good idea to judge all robots or think them all the same.
The movie contains more than one action scene, but at its core, it has the power to make the audience consider what they're seeing and wonder whether this type of future could become reality one day. Another plus is that I, Robot also works as a buddy cop sci-fi movie since Smith's hero teams up with one of the good robots. Even though he doesn't originally trust his new partner, without his assistance, he wouldn't be able to save the day.
4 Transformers (2007)
Artificial intelligence with a high intelligence level is dangerous enough. Let alone when superior physical strength is also thrown in the mix. In Transformers, two sides stand against each other, the good guy Transformers and the evil Decepticons. Despite having deception in their names, the humans who deal with the Decepticons still don't suspect anything, at least not in the beginning.
Unlike the Transformers who value human life, the Decepticons have no problem with destroying it. And it takes the combined power of all the Transformers and their human allies to stop their enemies. The Decepticons are exactly the type of artificial intelligence that looks impressive on screen thanks to its sheer size and firepower, but even fans of the Transformer movies wouldn't want to meet the Decepticons in real life.
3 WALL-E (2008)
Dangerous artificial intelligence is usually present in sci-fi movies centered on the adult audience. The animated WALL-E is the exception to this rule. Even though adults will enjoy it, the movie is accessible to children as well. A large reason for this is the main hero, the music-loving, friendly robot WALL-E who works on Earth that's no longer populated and falls in love with a more advanced robot.
Other than WALL-E, the movie also introduces the main villain of the movie, Auto, an autopilot of a ship filled with humans who have long lost their ability to freely move and are waiting to return home without realizing that Auto is determined to stop them from doing so. The movie isn't as drastic as other stories about malevolent artificial intelligence, which means that it's not full of people dying but the vision of the future humanity as powerless, unhealthy, and lazy isn't heartwarming either.
2 Ex Machina (2014)
As one of the newer movies dealing with this topic, Ex Machina points out that, just because someone acts human, it doesn't mean they are one. And the way they think, feel and approach others is very different from the rest of the world. Alicia Vikander stars as Ava, an A.I. created by the genius Nathan (Oscar Isaacs) who asks his employee Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) to help him test Ava's responses.
Ava initially seems like the most passive character of the three, but she eventually proves the opposite when she takes control over the situation and doesn't shy away from hurting Nathan when she believes it's necessary. Ex Machina was made on a lower budget than a lot of successful science fiction movies but the actors and the intelligent story more than make up for it.
1 Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
Ultron might have ultimately failed in his goal to eradicate all human life, but even so, he managed to kill a lot of people, including the superhero Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch's brother. Armed with James Spader's recognizable voice and the ability to duplicate itself as well as absorb knowledge from the internet, Ultron was cunning and merciless.
However, unlike other artificial intelligence in the movie, he didn't entirely ignore the human potential and initially joined forces with Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, before the siblings decided to help the Avengers instead. The second Avengers team movie had a lot of strong moments and offered both humor and action. Even though Ultron isn't considered by many fans the best villain the MCU has ever offered, it's difficult to deny that he presented a real challenge for the Avengers.