Greatest Artificial Intelligence Characters

The Sci-Fi and Pop Culture genres are often found on vastly different paths with many light years of distance between them, but once in a while they collide. When they intertwine, we usually end up with some of the greatest Artificial Intelligence characters in history has seen. Sometimes these characters are symbolized through a grim and pessimistic future, where machines are capable of feeling a wide range of emotions. They also have a survival instinct that leads them to try and take over the world. In other instances, they are lovable and friendly and able to connect with humans. Even though they are programmed not to feel any kind of emotions, most times we feel some sort of connection to them. Whatever the case might be, these great artificial intelligence characters were designed and programed to make you remember them.

The Terminator

We can’t begin this list with any other character than probably one of the most popular and greatest artificial intelligence characters ever, the Terminator. Even though the Terminator is not the same model in all of the franchise movies (T-800 in some, T-850 in others) his human appearance and with Schwarzenegger’s cool portrayal have made him one of the most quotable movie characters of all time. Also, his transformation from the main antagonist in the first movie to the main protagonist in the later sequels has only spurred his popularity even more and all those that don’t like him can only “talk to the hand”.

Tron

The Tron franchise is basically a parade of intriguing Artificial Intelligence characters and choosing just one isn't an easy task, especially when you consider that we left out Quorra, portrayed by beautiful Olivia Wilde in Tron: Legacy, the latest part of the series. Tron is a security program that gets imprisoned by MCP (Master Control Program) and has been forced to compete in the Game Grid, where he becomes a legendary warrior and champion of the Disc Arena.

WALL-E

Yes, I am a grown up and I almost cried when I watched Wall-E. This adorable little robot with sad eyes even had me worried for his pet cockroach (and I hate cockroaches), his only friend and other sentient being on the deserted Earth which has lost the ability to produce any organic life forms due to the endless trash piles Wall-E now has to clean. This dystopian animated movie shows us a bleak future of the humanity, where love is just a forgotten word and it is up to Wall-E to help the planet survive while he himself searches for love and companionship he will eventually find in EVE, another robot sent to collect a single plant that miraculously emerged from the waste.

C3PO and R2D2 

Not many lists that present anything from the Sci-Fi genre can go without mentioning Star Wars and certainly no list discusses Artificial Intelligence characters. No list could exist without C3PO and R2D2, the saga’s most lovable droids. Their witty remarks and funny nature have made them one of the most popular characters in the entire Star Wars universe. They are not only there for the laughs, they have played important roles in the fight against the Empire. This dynamic duo got an interesting addition in the latest part of the series, the newest droid BB-8. Even though he is rather new to the franchise, he is quickly earring his spot among his more iconic brethren.

Ultron

This amazing character from Marvel comics has received additional accolades and fame when The Avengers: Age of Ultron came out. He was the leading antagonist, trying to destroy humanity after Tony Stark tried to create a peacekeeping tool. Obviously, this turned out totally wrong. This is where his origin story differs from the comics, since in them he was created by the evil Doctor Henry Pym, hence his dark nature in the comics. In the movie, his brief time among Avengers proved that he is a great villain, a rogue and mad AI with the soul of a naughty child.

Roy Batty

Even though Roy Batty remained true to his villain nature until the very end, he was able to arouse sympathy and understanding with most viewers. The director of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, obviously meant to induce those feelings with us since he gives Roy all of the human-like traits and attributes, particularly the desire to live and save his family. Batty returns to Earth in order to find his creator and try to understand his nature and purpose, but all that this encounter tells him is that he was designed to die, like every other replica that has a four-year lifespan. When a character makes you question your own morality and purpose you have to identify with him at least a little bit.

Data

Another AI character you can't omit from any list is Data the lovable android from one of the most respected and long-lasting science fiction television show Star Trek. This amazing character is an android that comes as close to being human as it is possible. Many love the Data character because he posses such innocent and raw human qualities that we all can relate to. When you see an android reciting his poetry and trying to perform Shakespeare you you can’t help but feel connected to it, even if you know he is basically just a computer with great software.

False Maria

One of the most iconic artificial intelligence characters of all time, the False Maria of the movie Metropolis. False Maria is the catalyst for much of the film’s action, and the eventual cause of the city’s near destruction. Originally designed to be a copy of the Master of the City’s dead wife, instead the female robot is turned into the saintly Maria who eventually drives the men of the city wild with lust. Their infatuation leads to the abandonment of their children in the flooding under-city. An early android gone bad example, the evil robot has ultimately been the enduring image we’ve taken from artificial intelligence, despite the fact humans are their creators. We always expect them to turn on us, probably because we’ve created them in our own image! While Maria may have been forgotten for a while, she is many sci-fi fan's first exposure to the genre.

Agent Smith

What makes Agent Smith a great villain and an even better AI character is his underlying disgust for the humanity. His hatred shouldn’t exist given that he is a program created by man to protect the Matrix. Hugo Weaving delivered a remarkable performance in this role, managing to produce just the right tone in every sentence he delivers and thus create the illusion of Agent Smith’s indifference toward the events around him, but his speech on humans being the virus reveals that he is far from a simple order-performing program. It is personal for him and that, along with his amazing skills in the Matrix, make him one of the greatest Artificial Intelligence characters.

Ava

In the movie Ex-Machina we are introduced to Ava, portrayed brilliantly by Alicia Vikander, who is an AI creation of an eccentric genius that lives in his secluded high-tech mansion that looks like a wet dream of every Silicon Valley entrepreneur wannabe. In the movies it is revealed that this maniac created the first AI capable of passing the Turing test. The AI turns out to be more self-aware than even the crazy genius imagined. She is aware of her sexuality and sensuality and she is not shy about using them for her own benefit.

Andromeda Ascendant

This ship is the biggest star of the TV show Andromeda (officially titled Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda). The story was based on unpublished work by the screenwriter of the original Star Trek series. Andromeda was able to communicate and appear to her crew through voice, videos, and holograms, by her avatar Rommie, portrayed by Lexa Doig. The AI even develops certain romantic feelings toward the ship’s captain Dylan Hunt played by Kevin Sorbo.

Samantha

Given the developments in technology and how dependable we have become when it comes to our computers, smartphones, tablets, and especially virtual reality seen on the social networks, it seems that the day when we fall in love with our gadgets literally is not that far away, if it isn’t here already. If your personal AI had the voice like Scarlett Johansson, then the chances of this happening become bigger by a greater margin. Spike Jonze’s movie Her is a great big metaphor of our society and prediction of where we will end up if the distances between humans and technology continue to grow. It is a social study dedicated to this very real complicated romantic relationship. The final touch of irony is added when Samantha falls out of love with her “boyfriend” Theodore played by Joaquin Phoenix. We are left wondering what the future of humanity is and would you too be dumped eventually by an artificialintelligence machine?

HAL 9000

HAL 9000 is a sentient computer that controls the spaceship called Discovery One it Arthur Clarke’s Space Odyssey series and later envisioned in Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation 2001: A Space Odyssey. It has a haunting role in this amazing space opera that is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest Artificial Intelligence characters of all time. And on a more funny note, I have a friend who has a real phobia of robots and Artificial Intelligence so I like to mess with him sometimes. For example, when he asks me to do something for him I say “I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t do that” and when I want to finish a conversation with him I go “This conversation can serve no purpose anymore” all the while trying to impersonate HAL’s voice. I don’t actually do a good job, but it still irritates him.

Gort

An early entry into outstanding cinematic robots, Gort stands the test of time thanks in large part to his enigmatic nature. Accompanying Klaatu to Earth in The Day The Earth Stood Still, his true role and motivation is never really revealed beyond the fact that he’s part of some kind of interstellar police. He is however seemingly all-powerful and capable of destroying the planet if he so desires, which is pretty awesome stuff, as his motionless guarding of the flying saucer. Then of course, he gets a scene which has gone down in cultural folklore, responding to the phrase with a hundred meanings, ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’, which had been theorized as being anything from ‘I die, repair me, do not retaliate' to ‘There’s hope for Earth if the scientists can be reached’.

The Gunslinger

It doesn’t get crazier or surreal than this, Yul Bryner as a cowboy gunslinger android running amok and gunning down guests in a future amusement park gone wrong. The premise of Westworld was designed androids for our pleasure, entertainment and service. He’s one of the most implacable artificial intelligence characters on the list, not even letting a little thing like acid being thrown in his face deter him.