Culture | Dastardly, deadly and digital

Hollywood’s new favourite villain

In films from “Mission Impossible” to “M3GAN 2.0”, AI is the bad guy

Amie Donald in a scene from M3GAN 2.0
Barbaric BarbiePhotograph: Landmark/Universal Pictures
|3 min read

YOU CAN glean a lot about America and the world from whom Hollywood chooses as its baddies. During the cold war, the villains were often rogue Russian generals; during the war on terror, they were jihadists from the Middle East. Lately, however, Tinseltown has turned its attention to technology. It seems Hollywood’s screenwriters are “doomers” when it comes to artificial intelligence, believing it poses an existential threat to humanity.

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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Dastardly, deadly and digital”

From the July 5th 2025 edition

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