Poll: Best Evil A.I.

[Skotavus]

Mr. New Vegas, for forcing me to listen to Johnny Guitar 40 million times in an hour of wandering the Mojave desert.

 

[teebeeohh]

Who the hell is SHODAN?

antagonist of the system shock series.
and i will not flame you for not knowing, plenty of others will do that.

shodan could pretty much wipe the floor with everyone other in this poll btw

 

[AntonicKnight]

GLaDOS , mostly because of the dark humor surrounding her homicidal A.I personality

 

[ninja555]

My favourite A.I. would be the one from "I Have No Mouth But Must Scream". Poor bastard.

Spoiler: Hyperion Spoilers

Honourable mention goes out to the Machine and Human U.I.'s from the Hyperion Cantos. One of them created the Shike(not sure which one) which automatically makes them awesome.

 

[blindthrall]

Who the hell is SHODAN?

I pity the youth of today. SHODAN is an insane machine-goddess. GlaDOS without the cuteness, but keeping the humor.

"Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?"

"Your flesh is an insult to the perfection of the digital."

"You travel within the glory of my memories, insect. I can feel your fear as you tread the endless expanse of my mind. Make yourself comfortable... before long I will decorate my home with your carcass."

 

[Tree709]

CABAL. He's a brain scan of Kane,without these pesky emotions.

CABAL was much more than that. CABAL stands for Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform. His design was based off the recovered brain of a Srin (alien) and programed by Kane (evil/immortal Mastermind). It's not until the end of Fire storm that CABAL fused with Kane's mind to create Legion from Kane's Wrath. /rant.

 

[Athol]

Gotta give it up for SHODAN

 

[DefunctTheory]

SkyNet doesn't make the poll? What the hell!

SkyNet is my answer. SkyNet was an AI that knew how to get shit done.

I guess you never saw Salvation. That Skynet most definitely had no idea how to get shit done. It had Kyle Reese in custody! One bullet to the brainstem, and you just won! He's John Connor's dad!

For my money it's SHODAN, although I can understand why GlaDOS is winning. Back in my day, any insane AI worth its sodium declared itself a god!

Would have liked to see an option for Crow T Robot though.

It had no idea that Reese was Connors father, only that he was important to Connor.

And, honestly... Terminator got de-railed after T2.

Also, you have to take into account that there are, potentially, thousands of different SkyNets. We have no idea if SkyNet only tried to kill Connor 3 times, or if the Connor portrayed in the movies was only attacked 3 times. Skynet and Connor could have been going at this for combined centuries, and it might be possible that Connor was not the first, nor the last messiah. SkyNet has already proved that it is, in a manner of speaking, Destiny: it will happen, one way or another. Its possible that SkyNet has succeeded in the 'past' in killing messiahs, but each and every time a new one steps up, starting the time war again.

SkyNet '4' (T4) may have been pathetic (Which would explain how the US military survived so long, as it was previously told that it failed almost immediately), but SkyNet 1 and SkyNet 2 were most definably bad ass.

 

[ENKC]

SHODAN, without question. Hell, I've never even played the full version of System Shock 2 (there were always obstacles) but that biznitch is off the hook, homies.

Captcha: rtypeou faba

^Is this Japanese for 'R-Type is fabulous'?

 

[eelel]

Wintermute.

Ahhhh yes one of the most brilient AIs to ever grace scifi.

 

[Vykrel]

GLaDOS is my favorite, due to her humor... so thats my vote

but as for the actual best (most successful) evil AI, thats probably SkyNet

 

[eelel]

SkyNet doesn't make the poll? What the hell!

SkyNet is my answer. SkyNet was an AI that knew how to get shit done.

I guess you never saw Salvation. That Skynet most definitely had no idea how to get shit done. It had Kyle Reese in custody! One bullet to the brainstem, and you just won! He's John Connor's dad!

For my money it's SHODAN, although I can understand why GlaDOS is winning. Back in my day, any insane AI worth its sodium declared itself a god!

Would have liked to see an option for Crow T Robot though.

It had no idea that Reese was Connors father, only that he was important to Connor.

And, honestly... Terminator got de-railed after T2.

Also, you have to take into account that there are, potentially, thousands of different SkyNets. We have no idea if SkyNet only tried to kill Connor 3 times, or if the Connor portrayed in the movies was only attacked 3 times. Skynet and Connor could have been going at this for combined centuries, and it might be possible that Connor was not the first, nor the last messiah. SkyNet has already proved that it is, in a manner of speaking, Destiny: it will happen, one way or another. Its possible that SkyNet has succeeded in the 'past' in killing messiahs, but each and every time a new one steps up, starting the time war again.

SkyNet '4' (T4) may have been pathetic (Which would explain how the US military survived so long, as it was previously told that it failed almost immediately), but SkyNet 1 and SkyNet 2 were most definably bad ass.

My problum with SkyNet is that it isn't personaly menicing really. My favorite is HAL 9000 because we see this AI go slowly insane killing off the humans one by one. I remember having night mares after seeing that movie when I was in highschool. The Terminator series never really did that for me.

 

[LikeDustInTheWind]

AM is definitely the evilest, but GLaDOS will always be my favourite.

 

[brodie21]

As I understand it is implied that

Spoiler: ME2 ending spoilers

each Reaper is born out of the race it will reap. Biomass is collected by liquidating species members and the reaper is somehow born

of course that doesn't explain where the original lot came from but basically Reapers make more of themselves

EDIT-wow server borked on me
OT: I voted Glados as CABAL wasn't up there; while "her" evil is debatable I loved the mind games

i know that. but if something is built instead of being hatched or birthed or growing out of something isn't it artificial?

 

[Vibhor]

I voted for A.M.
That guy is evil. Way more evil than anyone on the list.
Though on the second number comes shodan because I love her lines from the intro of System shock 2

 

[General BrEeZy]

oh yeah, Sovereign, duh.
but yeah. GLaDOS takes the cake.
...
wait. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GIMME THE CAKE! lol

 

[blindthrall]

SkyNet doesn't make the poll? What the hell!

SkyNet is my answer. SkyNet was an AI that knew how to get shit done.

I guess you never saw Salvation. That Skynet most definitely had no idea how to get shit done. It had Kyle Reese in custody! One bullet to the brainstem, and you just won! He's John Connor's dad!

For my money it's SHODAN, although I can understand why GlaDOS is winning. Back in my day, any insane AI worth its sodium declared itself a god!

Would have liked to see an option for Crow T Robot though.

It had no idea that Reese was Connors father, only that he was important to Connor.

And, honestly... Terminator got de-railed after T2.

Also, you have to take into account that there are, potentially, thousands of different SkyNets. We have no idea if SkyNet only tried to kill Connor 3 times, or if the Connor portrayed in the movies was only attacked 3 times. Skynet and Connor could have been going at this for combined centuries, and it might be possible that Connor was not the first, nor the last messiah. SkyNet has already proved that it is, in a manner of speaking, Destiny: it will happen, one way or another. Its possible that SkyNet has succeeded in the 'past' in killing messiahs, but each and every time a new one steps up, starting the time war again.

SkyNet '4' (T4) may have been pathetic (Which would explain how the US military survived so long, as it was previously told that it failed almost immediately), but SkyNet 1 and SkyNet 2 were most definably bad ass.

Oh wow, sorry. I didn't think it needed spoilers, one of those things everybody knew. Yeah, Skynet could have ended it the moment they recognized Reese. If Connor's replaceable, then why would Skynet devote so many resources to killing him for so long? Any explanation results in either the story losing all meaning or Skynet looking more and more incompetent. The destiny theme in Terminator has to do with the time travel aspects, which I found more interesting than an AI with no real motive (maybe scarier that way, but I think it's lazy). Basically major events (like Judgment Day, something everyone is aware of) have to happen, but the details can be changed by causal meddling. There's a book called Man in the High Castle, in which the Nazis have won WWII. The story's hero is a Japanese man who cannot stop Japan getting nuked on the exact same day as in our reality. Major events (or ones dealing with nuclear explosions? STALKER!) have to happen, but the events leading up to them are wildly mutable.

AM is the original Skynet, btw. Harlan Ellison successfully sued Cameron for plagiarizing the antagonist to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, saying that Terminator was merely a pastiche of that and the Twilight Zone episode Demon With a Glass Hand. The first Terminator is still one of the best SF films ever.

 

[blindthrall]

As I understand it is implied that

Spoiler: ME2 ending spoilers

each Reaper is born out of the race it will reap. Biomass is collected by liquidating species members and the reaper is somehow born

of course that doesn't explain where the original lot came from but basically Reapers make more of themselves

EDIT-wow server borked on me
OT: I voted Glados as CABAL wasn't up there; while "her" evil is debatable I loved the mind games

i know that. but if something is built instead of being hatched or birthed or growing out of something isn't it artificial?

With the scale of the Reapers, that's like saying individual cells built you. Building materials don't matter, you can easily make a machine from carbon, which is all we are. We won't know if they're true AIs until we know their origin, which I don't think will ever happen. The timescale is too large, and they've been wiping out all evidence of themselves for thousands of years.

 

[brodie21]

As I understand it is implied that

Spoiler: ME2 ending spoilers

each Reaper is born out of the race it will reap. Biomass is collected by liquidating species members and the reaper is somehow born

of course that doesn't explain where the original lot came from but basically Reapers make more of themselves

EDIT-wow server borked on me
OT: I voted Glados as CABAL wasn't up there; while "her" evil is debatable I loved the mind games

i know that. but if something is built instead of being hatched or birthed or growing out of something isn't it artificial?

With the scale of the Reapers, that's like saying individual cells built you. Building materials don't matter, you can easily make a machine from carbon, which is all we are. We won't know if they're true AIs until we know their origin, which I don't think will ever happen. The timescale is too large, and they've been wiping out all evidence of themselves for thousands of years.

i think we will. they failed to destroy all the protheans. its a big galaxy.

 

[blindthrall]

The Calculator, that thing may not have had a sense of humor, but it really knew how to make things difficult for you. Besides having an army of robots it also captures your commander and turns him against you. Once you defeat the Calculator though, it speaks to you for the first time and offers a compromise and at first you may think that it's just screwing with you, but you then realize that it is sincere about it's offer and could potentially bring stabilization to the Wasteland, you just have to give up your life in order to do it. Evil.

Overlooked villain from an under-appreciated game. Good call.