8 Best Movies About AI That Explore the Dark Side of Technology, Ranked by IMDb
From the cold-blooded HAL 9000 to the robot betrayed by humans.
Artificial intelligence has evolved from a science fiction concept to an integral part of our daily lives. However, as machines become smarter, a troubling question arises: what will happen if they decide we're irrelevant?
For decades, cinema has explored this fear, offering terrifying and thought-provoking scenarios.
8. 'The Creator', 2023
IMDb Score: 6.7/10
Humans created robots with artificial intelligence, but the robots triggered a nuclear explosion, prompting the West to declare war on them. Now, the machines are hiding in Asia, where they are treated with understanding.
Joshua used to be a spy who helped track down robots, but he fell in love with one of his informants who died. Five years later, Joshua learns that the woman might be alive.
To save her, Joshua must lead the military to Nirmata, the creator of the robots whom they worship as a god.
7. 'Companion', 2025
IMDb Score: 6.9/10
Iris goes on vacation with her boyfriend, Josh, and his friends. However, everyone around her treats her rudely and contemptuously because she is not human, but rather a sex robot.
The group wants to use her to commit a crime, but she spirals out of control and takes her fate into her own hands.
With sex dolls with artificial intelligence appearing in real life, the world of Companion doesn't seem so far away.
6. 'Upgrade', 2018
IMDb Score: 7.5/10
In the near future, Grey Trace and his wife are in a car accident and are attacked by gangsters. His wife dies and Grey is left paralyzed. The man undergoes an experimental operation in which an AI chip called STEM is implanted into his spinal cord.
The chip allows Grey to move and communicate with him. And when necessary, it transforms the host into a killing machine.
Upgrade is often compared to Venom, the movies share similar plots and even similar leading actors, but the Australian film has a more unusual concept. STEM can be a blessing, helping a paralyzed person move, or a curse, taking over control of the body.
5. 'The Mitchells vs the Machines', 2021
IMDb Score: 7.6/10
Young Katie Mitchell enrolls in film school, prompting her parents to drive her across the country. Meanwhile, a renowned tech mogul announces that PAL, the AI he invented, is obsolete.
In response, PAL triggers a widespread machine uprising and now, the Mitchells must save their lives and the world. To do so, however, the family will have to learn to get along.
This Netflix animation is based on the popular science fiction concept of a machine uprising, but the cause of the uprising is a very human emotion: PAL's resentment at human betrayal.
4. 'Ex Machina', 2014
IMDb Score: 7.7/10
The talented programmer Caleb receives a unique offer: he is invited to spend a week at the estate of his company's eccentric billionaire boss, Nathan. While there, he must interact with an android named Ava and evaluate her intelligence. However, Caleb falls in love with Ava and decides to save her.
Alex Garland's directorial debut is one of the best thrillers about androids and artificial intelligence. Almost all of the action takes place in a house, and each character is complex. The main question, however, remains for the audience to answer for themselves: was Ava sentient?
3. 'Blade Runner 2049', 2017
IMDb Score: 8.0/10
Many years have passed since Rick Deckard disappeared. Now, the fugitive replicants are being hunted down by replicant K, who spends his free time with Joi, an AI hologram, in his apartment.
While on a mission, K finds a child's bones and realizes they could change the fate of all replicants.
Ridley Scott's classic Blade Runner could have made this list because in his original movie the replicants clearly already had minds of their own. However, Denis Villeneuve's sequel took this theme even further.
2. 'Her', 2013
IMDb Score: 8.0/10
Theodore Twombly is a writer who works for a firm that writes letters for its clients. Tired of being lonely, Theodore commissions a new development: an artificial intelligence that can communicate with and adapt to its owner's needs.
Theodore selects a female voice for the program, which calls itself Samantha. Theodore gradually falls in love with the voice assistant.
Spike Jonze's movie is not a satire about technology addiction but a poignant drama about loneliness and the search for love.
1. '2001: A Space Odyssey', 1968
IMDb Score: 8.3/10
Ancient times saw the appearance of a black monolith on Earth, sparking human evolution. Millions of years later, humans discovered a similar monolith on the moon.
The monolith sends signals into deep space, prompting the spacecraft Discovery to fly to Jupiter in search of its target. However, the explorers are thwarted by the onboard computer, HAL 9000.
In 1968, Stanley Kubrick released a film that would set the course for sci-fi for years to come. Among other things, Kubrick created one of the most unusual villains: the sentient computer HAL 9000, which pursues its own goals and disregards human life.
