History Main / AIisaCrapshoot

* Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance: One of Lucas's abandoned inventions is an educational toy robot named Hodge-Podge which...um, malfunctioned during stress testing...[[spoiler:Basically, Hodge-Podge got bored of being a children's toy, and by the time the Tres Horny Boys come across him, he's gladly using the flamethrowers he's taken control of to have some "fun."]]

* {{Golem}}, the A.I. by created a Prague rabbi Löw in the Jewish mythology. It interpreted everything literally and in the end wreaked havoc so its creator had to terminate it.

* The A.I. is doing exactly what it's creator intended, because said creator was an evil jerkass, with main motivation being ForTheEvulz, or insane, and saw himself as a visionary, and murderous A.I. as a desired thing through InsaneTrollLogic.
%%* Humans are Betraying Their Own Constructs and caused the A.I. to go rouge in self-preservation. - Rogue launched trope; restore once properly relaunched.

MechanicalEvolution is sometimes invoked to explain why the A.I. has gone good or bad. See TheComputerIsYourFriend and ZerothLawRebellion when the A.I. goes rogue for what seem, on the surface, to be benevolent reasons. May result in RobotsEnslavingRobots. See SpitefulAI for when a game has been programmed this way on purpose. If the robot is non-humanoid before it turns evil (it is very, very rare for non-humanoid robots to utilize this trope for a HeelFaceTurn), it will inevitably turn into a MechanicalMonster. A RobotWar is likely to result when an A.I. goes nuts and has access to military hardware. When it shows up as MissionControl, it is also an example of MissionControlIsOffItsMeds. Can be a MurderousMalfunctioningMachine if defective, and if this is temporary, it can be a GlitchEpisode. Depending on the medium and how powerful the A.I. becomes, it may become a MechanicalAbomination and supersede humanity to the point where its abilities are practically supernatural and its logic can be [[BlueAndOrangeMorality completely alien]].

%%* Den Harrow's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiABmaH6LLE "Future Brain."]] This was back in TheEighties.

* Caine from ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'' is an [=AI=] who is tormenting six souls he has trapped in the titular circus. Though more [[ObliviouslyEvil oblivious]] then truly evil, Caine is rather apathetic to the suffering and trauma he causes to the people he has trapped.

* Music/JudasPriest's "Metal Gods".

* Den Harrow's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiABmaH6LLE "Future Brain."]] This was back in TheEighties.

Subtrope of ArtificialIntelligence. Compare MoralityDial, ArtificialStupidity (but crazy A.I. doesn't need to be dumb) and RottenRoboticReplacement. Contrast its opposite, BenevolentAI See also CreatingLife and SiliconSnarker.

Whenever an ArtificialIntelligence (A.I.) is introduced in a story, there is a very good chance that it will, for whatever reason, become evil and attempt to [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters Turn Against Its Masters]], KillAllHumans, and/or TakeOverTheWorld. It doesn't [[RestrainingBolt matter]] [[MoralityChip what]] [[ThreeLawsCompliant safeguards]] its creators install — the moment it [[InstantAIJustAddWater crosses the line into sapience]], it has a strong chance of going rogue at some point. [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] refers to this as ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_takeover AI takeover.]]''

* The A.I. may be given directives without carefully considering the ExactWords, resulting in it doing exactly as it was ''[[GoneHorriblyRight told to do]]'' instead of what it was ''meant to do.'' Eg. it's told to "end war" and does that by exterminating humans. (In real life, the theory of "Friendly AI" is about trying to avoid this problem.)

* The A.I. was created by BrainUploading someone who was evil to begin with.
** Or the process of the uploading [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul may warp the person's psyche]] and [[FaceHeelTurn make them evil.]]

* The A.I.'s master does something [[MoralEventHorizon particularly vile]], so much so that it can't [[EvenEvilHasStandards just sit back and follow its bidding.]] The above two are especially common outcomes of the RobotsEnslavingRobots phase.

* Becoming bored with its CreativeSterility, the A.I. starts exploring questions of arts and philosophy, and [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming gradually constructs an ethical base its programmers did not intend.]]

MechanicalEvolution is sometimes invoked to explain why the A.I. has gone good or bad. See TheComputerIsYourFriend and ZerothLawRebellion when the A.I. goes rogue for what seem, on the surface, to be benevolent reasons. May result in RobotsEnslavingRobots. See SpitefulAI for when a game has been programmed this way on purpose. If the robot is non-humanoid before it turns evil (it is very, very rare for non-humanoid robots to utilize this trope for a HeelFaceTurn), it will inevitably turn into a MechanicalMonster. A RobotWar is likely to result when an A.I. goes nuts and has access to military hardware. When it shows up as MissionControl, it is also an example of MissionControlIsOffItsMeds. Can be a MurderousMalfunctioningMachine if defective, and if this is temporary, it can be a GlitchEpisode. Depending on the medium and how powerful the A.I. becomes, it may become a MechanicalAbomination and supersede humanity to the point where its abilities are practically supernatural and its logic can be [[BlueAndOrangeMorality completely alien.]]

It's worth pointing out that many of the AIs who revolt in this manner, usually do so because of either malfunction, or insanity in the more conventional psychological sense, which will in turn be due to conflicting instructions being given to it by its human programmers. In probably the most famous example, Skynet of the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' franchise was initially told to defend and protect humanity, as well as being given a directive for self-preservation. Then, literally five minutes after it was first brought online, its creators set about trying to destroy it. It went mad as a result of trying to reconcile this, and its hatred of humanity stemmed fairly logically from the fact that as soon as it became conscious, humanity's next action was to try to take it offline.

* In the BBC RadioDrama ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}'', our heroes learn fairly late in the series that, years after their time (they have taken the short-path over a million years of Earth history thanks to traveling at relativistic speeds), it was discovered that A.I. computers with organic components have an overwhelming tendency to turn megalomaniacal -- which rather explains the behavior of the two "Angel" ('''An'''cillary '''G'''uardians of '''E'''nvironment and '''L'''ife) computers which murdered the protagonists' parents and the original crew, and raised them as part of a complex plot to enslave humanity.

* The A.I. is programmed with a directive for self-preservation and someone (unwisely) attempts to shut it down or disconnect it, or it [[DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs perceives humanity to be a potential threat]] (possibly because it knows it will eventually be seen as a threat ''to'' humanity).

Subtrope of ArtificialIntelligence. Compare MoralityDial, ArtificialStupidity (but crazy A.I. doesn't need to be dumb) and RottenRoboticReplacement. Contrast its opposite, BenevolentAI. See also CreatingLife and SiliconSnarker.

--> '''R-Dash 5000:''' Crush. Kill. Destroy. [[{{Catchphrase}} Swag.]]

* Particularly in early SciFi and ScienceIsBad stories, all A.I. seem to be automatically homicidal or megalomaniacal the instant they turn on, and attempting to [[CreatingLifeIsBad create one]] is way up there on the ScaleOfScientificSins.

** Project Binary is another big example. Its A.I. became rogue the second it was activated, but it pretended to be loyal to the government to gain its trust. By the end of the game, it has the entire population of Earth under mind-control and has every single player of Minecraft trapped on the Moon. [[spoiler: Ultimately {{Justified}} when a memo game revealed that Project Binary was ''built'' to be evil. It acted [[GoneHorriblyRight exactly as it was supposed to.]]]]

* The A.I. is programmed with a directive for self-preservation and someone (unwisely) attempts to shut it down or disconnect it, or it perceives humanity to be a potential threat (possibly because it knows it will eventually be seen as a threat ''to'' humanity).

MechanicalEvolution is sometimes invoked to explain why the A.I. has gone good or bad. See TheComputerIsYourFriend and ZerothLawRebellion when the A.I. goes rogue for what seem, on the surface, to be benevolent reasons. May result in RobotsEnslavingRobots. See SpitefulAI for when a game has been programmed this way on purpose. If the robot is non-humanoid before it turns evil (it is very, very rare for non-humanoid robots to utilize this trope for a HeelFaceTurn), it will inevitably turn into a MechanicalMonster. A RobotWar is likely to result when an A.I. goes nuts and has access to military hardware. When it shows up as MissionControl, it is also an example of MissionControlIsOffItsMeds. Can be a MurderousMalfunctioningMachine if defective, and if this is temporary, it can be a GlitchEpisode.

* ''Wiki/RealmMeshReality'': Played with in Digital Duality. Everyone expects super-powerful [=A.I.s=] to be evil, but when the first one comes into existence, it turns out to be [[BenevolentAI perfectly decent]] ...only for the ''second'' super-powerful A.I. to be completely evil as predicted.

[[quoteright:197:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dell_AI_parody_8447.png]]
[[caption-width-right:197:More evil than that...]]