10 Chilling Sci-Fi Movies Where AI Goes Rogue

2. Blade Runner (1982)

Back in the early '80s, the godfather of dirty sci-fi - Ridley Scott - put his weight behind an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and created the template for pretty much every gritty, head-scratching film of its nature to follow.

Grappling with weighty themes of personhood and being, the film takes us deep into the world of "future" Los Angeles (2019), where ex-blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is drafted in to deal with three rogue replicants - Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) and his gang. 

Replicants, a form of AI bioengineered to mimic the physical and intellectual capacities of humans, are designed to replace humans in jobs where there is a significant risk to life, but Roy has his own agenda, tracking down his makers and attempting to extend his lifespan indefinitely.

This all leads to a final confrontation between Roy and Deckard, which seems to confirm the former's humanity (in the non-biological sense), but leaves questions regarding the latter's (in the biological sense). Roy is a reluctant villain - not a scenery-chewing AI mirroring the worst of his creators, but a true individual, possessed of thought, emotion, and insight that suggest his superiority to mankind. 

And Deckard? Well, that's another story...