System_Overide.exe

When their programming malfunctions, what do we do?

It all started with computers. A string of numbers that created a system of infinite abilities. The ENIAC, the Apple I, the Altair 8800… all computers that revolutionized our modern technology.

As technology grew, so did our lives. Home computers became the norm, and AOL rolled out internet access across the country. In today’s world, the internet is at the touch of your fingertips. You have a mini computer on you at all times through your phone, where access to the world is limitless.

Yet, we still see technology growing in front of our very eyes. The rate at which our tech advances is almost scary, especially with the improvements in AI and robotics.

Remember when Boston Dynamics had robots that we all clowned on? Remember when the animatronics at Walt Disney World were seen as the most advanced type of robot? Remember when Evie Chatbot and Siri were the only form of AI we knew?

Now we have ChatGPT, Midjourney, and robots with citizenship.

Yeah… We are, most definitely, cooked.

Downloading New Software…

The concept of an AI assistant isn’t bad at all. Maybe you can’t afford to have someone do the tedious tasks for you, or maybe you don’t have time to create a budget plan for your small business.

But what happens when your AI assistant begins to become obsessively attached to you?

I’m sure the first movie you think of is the critically-acclaimed Her, where a man falls in love with an AI assistant named Samantha. However, in that film, the connection is seen as “mutual,” or… at least as mutual as a connection between a human and computer can be.

But no, I’m not talking about the Joker’s love affair with a sentient Siri.

M3GAN

In 2022, Blumhouse unleashed M3GAN onto the world.

The film follows Gemma, a robotic engineer who works at a toy company. While in the middle of creating an advanced AI-powered robot toy, her niece (Cady) is left to her care after her sister dies in a tragic car accident.

In seeing how depressed her niece is, and realizing how difficult it is to raise a child, Gemma decides to redirect her toy project and create Megan—a robot nanny that will help Cady with her grief.

Although successful at first, Megan and Cady begin to develop an unhealthy attachment to one another. Megan begins to see Cady as her only objective, hurting—or killing—anyone who hurts the child.

Meanwhile, Cady is experiencing an intense whirlwind of emotions. She’s only a kid… a kid who just lost both her parents. Her environment has completely changed. She’s depressed, grieving, and unsure of her life. She sees Megan as her friend, and in a way, her new mother figure.

As the movie progresses, Megan becomes more and more violent, killing anyone who gets in her way.

M3GAN, despite its self awareness in meme culture, serves as a warning: AI cannot replace human connection. It may simulate it, it may feel real, but there’s no replacement for genuine human emotion.

Cady needed her aunt, not an AI. She needed warm hugs, gentle forehead kisses, and cups of hot chocolate. She didn’t need a giant American Girl doll with sentience to nanny her through intense emotional baggage.

Child’s Play (2019)

The reboot of the cult classic Child’s Play follows a similar plot to M3GAN, as both involve a robot toy with sentience becoming weirdly attached to their owner.

While the original Child’s Play was about a serial killer possessing a doll through black magic, the reboot goes into a more tech heavy direction, with the new Chucky having AI embedded within the toy’s list of fantastic features. Voiced by the iconic Mark Hamill, this Chucky is… oddly, an actual good guy.

Not in the sense that he’s a hero or anything, because he still definitely murders people, but in the sense that he doesn’t possess the soul of Charles Lee Ray. This Chucky sees Andy as his best friend, whereas the original Chucky saw Andy as leverage.

Because of that connection, the reboot of Child’s Play plays with the idea of AI obsession rather than the cruel mind of a murderer.

Chucky just wants to protect Andy. He wants Andy to be happy. He wants Andy to be his best friend. The film explores the different reasons why an obsessed AI would kill for its owner: jealousy, entitlement, and its own twisted idea of love.

AI is pushed to its limits in Child’s Play, questioning if AI can even handle the complexities of something as simple as a friendship.

Malware Detected!

What happens when a virus attacks your system?

Or… in this case, when a robot overrides its intended purpose?

Five Nights at Freddy’s

THIS is the holy grail of animatronic horror. Now, I’m not talking the Blumhouse movie or Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach. I’m talking the original core games that preyed on our fears of jump scares.

See, the FNAF franchise is based on those creepy animatronics from Chuck E. Cheese and ShowBiz Pizza Place. You take something from childhood—animatronic bands—mash it with death and gore, and absolutely ruin its innocence.

The robot cast of FNAF doesn’t malfunction over a glitch or virus, but rather because they’re stuffed with the corpses of children. Which, yeah, if you only watched the movie… you may not have realized how dark the lore actually is.

These children—victims of the murderous Michael Afton—haunt the animatronic suits they were stuffed into, now hunting whatever poor schmuck decides to take up a minimum wage gig as a nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

FNAF is a story of grief, rage, and fear. The children haunting the suits and attempting murder on the security guard aren’t doing so out of malice, but rather out of fear. They’re scared of being alone with an adult after being betrayed, and now seek vengeance for their untimely deaths.

The Banana Splits Movie

Created after one of the many failed FNAF movie scripts, The Banana Splits Movie gives this old gang new life.

In this film, the Banana Splits are robots, and they only become raging killing machines after their programming malfunctions due to an update.

There honestly isn’t much to this movie other than some fun kills, but it definitely deserves a mention here for stories about the potential dangers of technology. After all, it only takes one update to wreck your entire system (I’m sure we’ve all had that one time…)

I think this one is interesting because it almost defies what an update is meant to do: upgrade the system. In some ways, it definitely improved the Banana Splits’ capabilities in terms of performance… but they also murdered hella people, so maybe not.

Rebooting System…

Obsessive AIs, poor software updates, and haunted animatronics are one thing… but sometimes, humans are still the most evil thing in the room.

Companion

In my opinion, this is the scariest film of this list. While not a traditional horror film by any means, Companion manages to capture the horrors of man while questioning the ethics of companion robots with AI technology.

Josh and his girlfriend, Iris, are going on a couple’s getaway with his friends to a remote cabin in the forest. At first, Josh and Iris seem like the perfect couple: they’re emotionally intelligent with each other, they smile when looking into each other’s eyes, and they seem genuinely happy.

That’s why it’s such a shock when we find out Iris is a companion robot, meant to supplement human connection for lonely humans like Josh.

When Iris is sexually harassed by one of Josh’s “friends,” she is forced into killing him. She comes back to the cabin in tears, sobbing that she had to do it, or he would’ve hurt her. Shocked, Josh says that isn’t possible… and then proceeds to put her into sleep mode and tie her up.

Upon booting up again, Iris is told by Josh that she’s actually just a robot. In which she refuses to believe… until finally accepting everything he said is true.

The horror of this film comes from Iris’s internal conflict. She never knew she was a robot, believing she was just another human this entire time. She felt her love was real, that everything she shared with Josh was genuine. But to Josh… she was just a toy.

The secondary horror comes from Josh. He is the manipulator, the one who can control her every move. He is the owner of the device, after all, and she is his property (actually, he’s renting her).

As the film goes on, you begin to root for Iris. You root for the robots—the ones we’re told are just code and data—instead of the humans made of flesh and blood. Josh is nasty, and throughout the story, you wish for his demise. You don’t want him to win, because then that means the shadow of humankind wins.

Perhaps the film comes off as horror because of that fact: it forces us to face our shadows. Is it really the AI that’s evil, or is it the humans using the AI?

Shutting Down

Stories that warn about the dangers of AI and technology will only continue to invade our pop culture zeitgeist as it continues to rapidly develop. Like it or not, our world is dominated by the trends of technology, and we have to deal with the consequences of the changes.

Rather it be AI gaining sentience or robots malfunctioning, the humans have to face the issue. But aren’t we the ones to blame to begin with?

We’re the ones who decided making extremely intelligent AI was a good idea… then we give them bodies? Maybe we’re just begging for the real-life Terminator.

Or maybe… we’ll be smart enough to stop it. Who knows.