Robots in the movies aren’t a new phenomenon. For nearly 100 years, on-screen plots have featured various levels of robot intelligence and the full range of heroes through villains.
In the infographic below, we rank artificial intelligence in the movies. Find out how some of your favorite robot heroes compare to the most hated, evil robots.
Are AI Villains More Intelligent than AI Heroes?
When we charted AI bots based on intelligence level and temperament, we found some interesting patterns in movie depictions of AI.
There’s a wide variety in intelligence levels that we classified as child-like, adult, and superhuman. There’s also the full range of temperaments that we classified as good, neutral, and evil.
When we looked for trends on how AI is depicted in the movies, we noticed a strong cluster of movie robots that are superhuman and evil and another strong cluster that’s good and child-like.
Here’s the breakdown of the robot classifications:
Good with Child-like Intelligence:
- R2D2 (Star Wars)
- Giant (The Iron Giant)
- Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)
- Robocop (Robocop)
- Robot (Robot & Frank)
- Max (Flight of the Navigator)
- Chappie (Chappie)
Good with Adult Intelligence:
- KITT (Knight Rider)
- TARS (Interstellar)
- Bishop (Alien series)
Good with Superhuman Intelligence:
- Data (Star Trek)
- Hitchhiker’s Guide (Marvin the Paranoid Android)
Mixed/Neutral with Child-like Intelligence:
- Droids (Elysium)
Mixed/Neutral with Adult Intelligence:
- MU-TH-UR 6000, a.k.a. Mother (Alien)
- Spider robots (Minority Report)
- Bender (Futurama)
- Connecticut housewives (Stepford Wives)
Mixed/Neutral with Superhuman Intelligence:
- AUTO (Wall-E)
- David (AI)
- Samantha (Her)
Evil with Child-like Intelligence:
- Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Evil with Adult Intelligence:
- Maria’s double (Metropolis)
- Agents (Matrix)
- Replicants (Blade Runner)
- Evil Bill and Ted (Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey)
- Ava (Ex Machina)
Evil with Superhuman Intelligence:
- HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
- Skynet (The Terminator)
- VIKI (I, Robot)
- Borg (Star Trek)
- Ultron (Avengers)
How Has AI in the Movies Changed over Time?
Let’s walk through a timeline of artificial intelligence in the movies. Learn about the changes in tech specs, robot skills, and plot inspirations, starting with one of the earliest robot depictions in Metropolis (1927) through today’s AI in the movies.
1927: Maria’s double (Metropolis)
This robotic replica of a person has autonomous navigation and natural language processing. Plus, its intelligence is advanced enough to use social manipulation to overthrow the city of Metropolis. Directed by Fritz Lang, the movie’s inspiration was a 1924 trip to NYC, which was known as “the city of the future.”
Classification: No emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
1951: Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
When an interstellar police bot from another planet arrives on Earth, we see that it can communicate and perform complex functions such as pilot a ship. It has combat capabilities, such as vaporizing objects at will. The robot’s specs are in line with its home planet’s technology, which created a ship that travels 4x the speed of the space shuttle. The inspiration for the robot came from reports of flying saucer sightings from the late ’40s.
Classification: No emotion, Child-like intelligence, Evil temperament
1968: HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey)
In this Stanley Kubrick classic, the spaceship’s onboard computer uses AI for speech recognition, facial recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotional behaviors, and automated reasoning. Hal is even smart enough to beat a human in chess. Its inspiration was the IBM 704 and MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
Classification: No emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Evil temperament
1977-2017: R2D2 (Star Wars)
This R series droid has functioned as a starship mechanic, pilot assistant, and tech support. Surprisingly, it has a more developed AI because its memory has never been wiped. The design of R2D2 was inspired by the movies The Hidden Fortress and Silent Running.
Classification: Emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
1978/2005: Marvin the Paranoid Android (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
This sad robot assistant was first introduced in the radio program in the 1970s. After the Hitchhiker’s Guide became a cult classic, Marvin made it to the big screen in 2005. It has nearly unlimited computing power because he has a “brain the size of a planet,” and it’s 50,000 times more intelligent than a human. Its inspiration was literary depressives, including Eeyore.
Classification: Emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Good temperament
1979: MU-TH-UR 6000, a.k.a. Mother (Alien)
The mainframe computer of the USCSS Nostromo used AI for autopilot and environmental controls. The tech specs are identified as a 182 model with 2.1 terabytes. Directed by Ridley Scott, it was inspired by many previous sci-fi and horror movies.
Classification: No emotion, Adult intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
1982: Replicants (Blade Runner)
This synthetic bio-robot is used for tough jobs that humans don’t want. Replicants have better strength, intelligence, and speed than humans do, and they come with implanted false memories. Starring Harrison Ford, this sci-fi movie was based on Philip K. Dick’s book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” which was inspired by the inhumanity displayed in the Gestapo diaries from WWII.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
1982: KITT (Knight Rider)
This self-driving car has AI-powered autonomous navigation and is a virtual assistant. The car had the world’s biggest supercomputer (at the time) with 1000MB of memory, and it has an easily bruised ego. When developing the show, a talking car was cast because of off-the-cuff complaints about not being able to get good actors.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Good temperament
1984: Skynet (The Terminator)
Written by James Cameron, The Terminator had both T-800 model robots and Skynet, a self-aware AI that attempts to terminate humanity. Skynet is capable of time travel, army commanding, and nuclear warfare. Its inspiration was two episodes of The Outer Limits, and the tech specs were noted at 90 teraflops, slower than today’s supercomputers, which are measured in petaflops.
Classification: No emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Evil temperament
1986: Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)
After a jolt from a lightning strike, this military robot reprograms itself. Johnny 5 has sentience and autonomy. With the same processing power as military bots of the ’80s, it’s capable of speech recognition and humor. It has the programming skills to turn other robots into Three Stooges characters. The movie idea was inspired by a college educational video about robots, and the design was inspired by an organ-playing robot prototype.
Classification: Emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
1986-1992: Bishop (Alien series)
This android technician was designed to study aliens. It’s a Hyperdyne A/5, polycarbonate with a serial number PL3358172438. It’s intelligent, learns human behaviors, and is capable of high-speed motion.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Good temperament
1986: Max (Flight of the Navigator)
This self-driving spaceship has enough computing power to bend time. It’s capable of time travel and language processing, and it can analyze species.
Classification: Emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
1986: Max (Flight of the Navigator)
This self-driving spaceship has enough computing power to bend time. It’s capable of time travel and language processing, and it can analyze species.
Classification: Emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
1987-2002: Data (Star Trek)
The self-aware android is the second officer of the ship. It has super-strength and an encyclopedic memory. The character was inspired by the 1974 movie The Questor Tapes and Star Trek: Phase II. Its computer specs include 100000TB memory and computational speed of sixty trillion operations per second.
Classification: No emotion, Superhuman strength, Good temperament
1991: Evil Bill and Ted (Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey)
These hitman robotic doubles murder the real Bill & Ted. Their computing capabilities are more powerful than humans but less powerful than Bill & Ted’s good robotic doubles. When developing the script, the studio wanted the sequel to be about the duo time-traveling for an English exam, but the writers got actors Reeves and Winter to lobby for their idea.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
1999: Agents (Matrix)
When sentient software inhabits the bodies of average humans, agents have the capacity for superhuman strength, speed, agility, and body jumping. For example, Agent Smith can re-write aspects of the Matrix and is able to move at the speed of thought. Inspiration included Japanese anime, kung fu movies, cyberpunk fiction, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Classification: No emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
1999: Agents (Matrix)
When sentient software inhabits the bodies of average humans, agents have the capacity for superhuman strength, speed, agility, and body jumping. For example, Agent Smith can re-write aspects of the Matrix and is able to move at the speed of thought. Inspiration included Japanese anime, kung fu movies, cyberpunk fiction, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Classification: No emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
1999: Bender (Futurama)
This metalworking robot was built in 2996. It can disassemble its body parts so that each part can function individually. It has a 6502 microprocessor, an Athlon II, and a third processor in his “compartment of mystery.” Bender has a soul, but unfortunately, no cloud data backup. Matt Groening has called Bender a robotic Homer Simpson, adding, “What’s great about it is that parents can’t say, ‘This robot is a bad role-model.’ Cause he’s a robot!”
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2001: David (AI Artificial Intelligence)
This childlike humanoid is programmed to love. It has intelligent behavioral circuits and neuron sequencing technology, and it was inspired by Pinocchio.
Classification: Emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2002: Spider robots (Minority Report)
These pre-crime arachnoid bots have IdentiScan, which can perform thermo readings and bio identification via eye scans. The AI can work collaboratively. When multiple bots can work together as a team, four spiders can assess a building with 27 people. The movie’s concept is based on the 1956 short story by Philip K. Dick.
Classification: No emotion, Adult intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2004: VIKI (I, Robot)
The AI in the main operating core has the ability to manipulate, and it’s capable of enslaving all mankind. Its inspiration was Isaac Asimov’s short stories, and its processing speed is at 0.003 seconds between an event and its reaction.
Classification: No emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Evil temperament
2004: Connecticut housewives (Stepford Wives)
These Android duplicates impersonate a human and are based on the 1972 eponymous novel.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2008: AUTO (Wall-E)
As the autopilot of the Axiom, AUTO has self-driving intelligence and is capable of powering travel at light speed. It was inspired by HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and uses Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) that’s voiced by MacInTalk, Apple’s text-to-speech program.
Classification: No emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2012: Robot (Robot & Frank)
This support robot is capable of eldercare and heists. It doesn’t have instantaneous processing, and its memory is built as a holographic array. The concept was originally the screenwriter’s senior project at NYU film school.
Classification: No emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
2013: Droids (Elysium)
Capable of enforcing and brute strength, these policing androids have two modes: petty harassment and police brutality.
Classification: No emotion, Child-like intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2013: Samantha (Her)
This AI bot upgraded to a “hyper-intelligent” operating system and can talk, adapt, fall in love, and have relationships. It was modeled off an Alan Watts idea where matter is no longer required for processing. The film’s inspiration was an early 2000s article about a web app that uses AI to converse with humans.
Classification: Emotion, Superhuman intelligence, Mixed/Neutral temperament
2014: TARS (Interstellar)
A humorous bot in a non-human form, the TARS is capable of companionship and mobility. Its design is inspired by balsa wood and lollipop stick models.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Good temperament
2014: RoboCop (RoboCop)
The cyborg is made of titanium, is laminated with Kevlar, has a 400 foot-pound grip, and has a processor that dispenses baby food-like fuel. It’s capable of extreme strength, has different vision modes, and has internal access to the police database. While working as a studio exec, screenwriter Edward Neumeier was inspired by watching four nights of the filming of Blade Runner.
Classification: No emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
2015: Ava (Ex Machina)
Inspired by a decades-old conversation about cognitive robotics with a neuroscientist, this sentient humanoid is capable of human manipulation, murder, and self-repair. Played by Alicia Vikander, Ava’s capacity is so strong that a reverse power flow can cause a grid charge equal to a lightning strike.
Classification: Emotion, Adult intelligence, Evil temperament
2015: Chappie (Chappie)
Chappie’s self-awareness goes beyond current technology. It has AI with recursive self-improvement, and it’s capable of hacking, programming, and impersonating a gangster. The story was inspired by a 2004 short film called Tetra Vaal, and the technology was inspired by the UCLA robotics lab.
Classification: Emotion, Child-like intelligence, Good temperament
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