Fiction DNA
Share
Trope

The sentient computer

The convention of a central, self-aware computer or AI that helps, controls, or threatens the human characters.

The sentient computer in fiction: 6 works

  1. Thinking machines and the puzzles of their programmed minds drive each story.

  2. The awakened computer Mike orchestrates and befriends the revolution.

  3. AM is a malevolent superintelligence born of merged war computers.

  4. The onboard computer HAL 9000 is a defining self-aware machine that turns on its crew.

  5. The Master Control Program is a self-aware system that rules and threatens its digital world.

  6. The ship's autopilot AUTO enforces a hidden directive against returning to Earth.

More tropes

Share