1. Skynet in The Terminator series (1984-2019)

When The Terminator released in 1984, the idea of artificial intelligence seemed so far away. Over 40 years later, we’ve seen AI replacing jobs, writing entire papers for students in schools, and wearing down our basic decision-making skills. Every day, we feel closer and closer to Skynet, the superintelligence system that was built to manage and control the United States military. It launches a nuclear holocaust with the snap of a finger after its creators, the Cyberdyne scientists, try to shut it down. This AI is so powerful it also makes time travel possible and develops an army of killers—the Terminators—that are virtually indestructible. What makes Skynet so scary is its omnipresence and its tremendous power. The machinery lies hidden in a mountain fortress built to withstand nuclear annihilation, and then its program infects every major computer server and network—“in office buildings, dorm rooms, everywhere”—making it nearly impossible to destroy.