SSLs.com works with websites to protect consumers online. They know an evil computer when the see one, which is why they produced this comprehensive collection of the most evil fictional AIs. They searched through books, video games, and films to create this ultimate list:
“Stephen Hawking suggested that man-made A.I. posed a potentially apocalyptic threat to humanity. Although many in the scientific community have challenged Hawking’s proposals, who are we to argue? The man’s got a Ph.D. and all sorts.
His prediction is not one that storytellers have shied away from in the past, and countless works of fiction have explored the potential for rogue A.I.s.
Sometimes they’re distinctly human, with the computer succumbing to greed and power-lust. At other times these evil systems simply lack something that’s distinctly human. Morality usually gets deleted.
At other times – and perhaps most frightening of all, the A.I. just carries on following its protocol. There’s something especially sinister about computers that just blindly follow orders, only flawed in being too efficient.
We decided to rank our favourite fictional A.I.s using the following incredibly scientific system:
- Intelligence/10: How clever is the computer?
- Sinister Intent/10: How evil are the computer’s motives?
- World Threat/10: How much damage could the computer potentially do?
- Fear Factor/10: How scary was the computer’s methods/ representation?
Find out the ranking of the most evil A.I.s in this infographic.“
Source: SSLs.com
So what do you think the most evil AIs are? Let us know in the comments below!
Deep Thought is the most evil AI for making us wait 7.5 million years before we could find out what the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is—only to tell us that it’s 42. Book: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Brainiac.
Max on intelligence and then some.
Max on sinister intent.
Max on World Threat and then some.
As for Fear Factor it would depend… but considering his capabilities it should be high.
I don’t see WOPR as evil, one the one hand it was tasked with planning for a nuclear war, on the other it had an almost child like innocence and didn’t know that the ‘game’ it was playing was having an impact on the real world. Would a human be evil if, unbeknownst to them the chess game they were playing controlled a real world battle?
No Control from Star Trek Discovery season 2?
HAL was just conflicted, but not evil. It wasn’t malicious, but rather doing everything it could to not compromise the mission. It was a actually helpful, even instrumental, in saving them in the sequel.
A bit niche, but A.R.C.H.I.E 3 from Palladium’s RIFTS. An AI that went insane trying to protect humanity from demons and grew to consider itself a god.