5 Stellar Movies Where AI Takes Over the World

Published Sep 22, 2026, 6:22 PM EDT

David is a Senior Editor at Collider focused primarily on Lists. His professional journey began in the mid-2010s as a Marketing specialist before embarking on his writing career in the 2020s. At Collider, David started as a Senior Writer in late 2022 and has been a Senior Editor since mid-2023. He is in charge of ideating compelling and engaging List articles by working closely with writers, both Senior and Junior, as well as other editors. Occasionally, David also reviews movies and TV shows and writes episode recaps. Currently, David is also writing his second novel, a psychological horror satire that will, hopefully, be picked up for publication sometime next year.

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These days, artificial intelligence is all over the news. Whether it's Reese Witherspoon encouraging women to learn it, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quitting his job and saying it will pretty much kill us all in the near future, or your uncle using it to reimagine himself in cheap '80s getup, AI is inescapable today. Enough has been said about everything that's wrong with it—the severe environmental concerns, the danger it poses to intellectual property, the risk that countless, hard-working people might lose their jobs overnight to automated systems—and on that front, no industry has done a better job than cinema.

Indeed, from classic sci-fi blockbusters to mostly forgotten but no less meaningful '70s gems, cinema has done a remarkably good job warning us of all the possible ways AI can turn on us, take over the world, and either launch us into a dystopian future where we're ruled by metallic overlords or outright kill us. We have not paid attention, apparently, but that's a conversation for another day. For now, let us acknowledge the best movies that depict AI taking over the world, the ones that tried to warn us by every means possible and that will most likely laugh at us and say "I told you so" when their predictions turn out to be true.

'Colossus: The Forbin Project' (1970)

Image via Universal Pictures

Fear surrounding the potential danger of an artificial intelligence so smart that it could outright surpass us has been around for decades. For proof, look no further than the criminally underappreciated 1970 sci-fi thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, based on the 1966 novel Colossus. The plot centers on an advanced American defense system named, you guessed it, Colossus, developed by Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden). Soon, however, Colossus violates its directives by aiming to control the world and eradicate war after contacting a similar Russian AI, Guardian.

Of the many forgotten '70s gems that have aged incredibly well, Colossus: The Forbin Project might be the most prescient. The premise is remarkably prophetic, to the point where the AI uses the media to announce itself as "The Voice of World Control," using propaganda tactics to coerce humanity into subservience. The idea that humanity itself is humanity's biggest problem is nothing new, but Colossus implements it with such assurance that it makes it far more eerie and alarming. What makes Colossus far more disturbing is how capable of delusion it seems to be, famously claiming that humanity will eventually come to love it. Here, the AI lives long enough to become the villain but, more than that, it becomes something close to the very thing it considers the biggest danger: humans.

'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (1992)

Image via Tri-Star Pictures

Technically speaking, the Terminator movie that actually deals with AI taking over the world is Terminator: Salvation, but that movie is, you know, awful. Thus, we'll focus here on the first two entries in the franchise, especially the one we've considered the best of the bunch. Terminator 2: Judgment Day sees young John Connor (Edward Furlong) joining forces with a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to escape from the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), a liquid-turning cyborg sent back from the future by Skynet to kill John.

Leave it to sci-fi master James Cameron to come up with a scenario that is both perfectly plausible and undeniably cinematic. The lore of the Terminator franchise centers on how the hostile AI Skynet takes over and launches a nuclear attack that wipes out most of humanity, an event known as Judgment Day. In 1984, when the original came out, and even in '92, when this sequel arrived, the prospect of a rogue AI launching the world's nukes seemed something straight out of the wildest sci-fi nightmares—now, it seems like a news headline waiting to happen. Skynet is the ultimate villainous AI in cinema, give or take a HAL 9000. Unlike HAL, however, Skynet sets its sights on global domination and actually achieves it, which would be quite impressive if it weren't so utterly terrifying.

'The Matrix' (1999)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

The Wachowski Sisters redefined modern sci-fi in 1999 with The Matrix, their groundbreaking masterpiece starring Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne. The film centers on computer hacker Neo (Reeves), who discovers his world is actually a simulation created by powerful machines to enslave humans and feed off their bioelectric energy. Joining the resistance alongside Trinity (Moss) and Morpheus (Fishburne), Neo wages a war against the AI and its sentient defense program, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving).

The Matrix has one of the best screenplays in the genre, blending philosophy, action, sci-fi, and even existentialism into a thrilling and stylish package unlike anything audiences had seen up to that point. Here, the AI is not only intelligent and resourceful, but it's also devious, which arguably makes it all the more dangerous. It feeds off of humanity, realizing it's easier to keep them content in a simulation than enslaving them through more violent means. Visually, The Matrix borrows from multiple sources, from Metropolis to Akira, creating an industrialized, decaying world that outright revolutionized cyberpunk and created a whole new cinematic language that has been endlessly replicated since.

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

✊Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

• You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
• You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
• Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
• That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

• You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
• Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
• Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
• That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

• You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
• You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
• Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
• That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

• You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
• Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
• You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
• When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

• You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
• Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
• Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
• That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

'9' (2009)

Image via Focus Features

The post-apocalyptic animated sci-fi 9 is one of those hidden gems that has never received the recognition it rightfully deserves. Based on the eponymous 2005 short, the film is set in a dystopian world where machines have taken over, and humanity no longer exists. 9 is a rag doll who awakens into this world and compels his fellow rag dolls, each one designated by a number from 1 to 8, to go on the offensive against the machines and reclaim the world.

Of all the movies on this list, 9 is undoubtedly the most underrated, a shame considering how thematically relevant it is today. The film is also the creepiest of the bunch, featuring a world where humanity has actually gone extinct, unable to combat the AI enemy. The ending is somewhat hopeful, signalling that organic life will indeed return to Earth, but in the form of bacteria, which will then have to evolve for a couple of million years before it can become anything resembling humanity. In that regard, 9 is the bleakest movie about AI taking over—do not let the whimsy humunculi protagonists fool you; this animated gem is quite dark, a striking reminded that humanity's hubris will probably lead to its downfall.

'The Mitchells vs. the Machines' (2021)

Image via Netflix

From a dark animated movie, we go to one much more playful but no less meaningful. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a sci-fi comedy about a dysfunctional family who become unlikely heroes. Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) embarks on a road trip alongside her parents, Rick (Danny McBride) and Linda (Maya Rudolph), and her younger brother. However, the already chaotic trip becomes a proper adventure when the world's electronic devices launch an uprising against humanity, leaving the Mitchells as the only ones who can save the Earth.

A near-perfect sci-fi triumph, The Mitchells vs. the Machines brings some much-needed humor to a subject that is usually depicted with oppressive seriousness. Indeed, the movie is hilarious and colorful, never taking itself too seriously despite featuring a plot that could lend itself to a defeatist tone. The villain here, the AI PAL, is not only purely evil but also surprisingly petty, seeking revenge against its creator for discarding it as obsolete. AI is usually depicted as this logical and stone-cold thing that usually acts not out of malice but pragmatism. Thus, it's refreshing to see an AI system being a pure villain, allowing us to hate it without any reservation.