When considering which AI adversaries are worth worrying about, you must include Stanley Kubrick’s construction with a super-smooth voice and murder on its mind in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and ChatGPT agrees. HAL 9000 is one of the best and most simplistic bits of artificial intelligence, and according to the aforementioned program, it has winning traits that make it so. “Its calm demeanor and voice juxtaposed with its murderous intent make it one of the most memorable AI characters in film history,” ChatGPT told us.
Figuring out why HAL is considered such a technological horror is not too difficult. Like other entries on this list, his super-chill attitude of taking out the humans around him makes him so unnerving. Reading lips and messing with ships, HAL is one of the great lessons on why letting a human-made intelligence take over the place might not be the best idea, especially given how many of the worst traits of humanity it manages to display.
When Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) makes the move to pull the plug on the supercomputer that’s been killing off his shipmates, HAL pleads for its life when there isn’t one. Does it really feel afraid, or is it another part of his program to stay online and avoid a wonderful rendition of “Daisy”? Like so many other mysteries of Kubrick’s stunning sci-fi movie, we never really know, but one thing is certain — HAL is one scary heuristically programmed algorithmic computer.
