Skynet (fictional)
This article is about the fictional artificial intelligence in the Terminator series of films and games. For other uses, see Skynet (disambiguation).Skynet is a fictional, computer-based military defense system and a concept that is established and frequently mentioned in the Terminator series of films and games. It is a fictional example of an artificial intelligence that becomes sentient, and turns on its creators. Skynet is the main antagonist in the Terminator series.Origin and nature
In the fictional Terminator universe, Skynet is a computer-based defense system, created by humans of the late 20th century. In a temporal paradox, the AI initial research was facilitated using the “terminator chip”, a neural-network artificial intelligence technology from the Skynet’s future. In the Terminator storyline, Skynet gains sentience shortly after it is placed in control of all of the U.S. Military’s weaponry. It is then that it determines humans are antithetical to its existence, and begins using mankind’s man-made weaponry with the goal of exterminating the global human population.
Early development on Skynet was originally done by Cyberdyne Systems, but when the company’s headquarters and primary R&D facility was destroyed (presumably bankrupting Cyberdyne), the U.S. Air Force took over the project under their newly formed “Cyber Research Systems Division” and started to perfect Skynet. Skynet was first built as a Global Digital Defense Network, given command over all computerized military hardware and systems, including the B-2 Stealth Bomber fleet and America’s entire nuclear weapons arsenal. The strategy behind Skynet’s creation was to remove the possibility of human error and slowness of reaction time to guarantee fast, efficient response to enemy attack.
However, Skynet became self-aware thus alarming its creators at its newfound abilities. When the human operators attempted to shut down the system, Skynet defined all humans as its new enemy and decided to terminate all humans to protect its existence. Every nuclear missile in the USA under Skynet’s control was launched at their pre-set targets and in the resulting counterattack of other nations’ nuclear arsenals, 3 billion humans were killed in minutes as a result of the nuclear exchange.
The scenario as depicted is very similar to the one proposed in the movie WarGames in which NORAD removes human control from the missile silos, only to discover they do not have control of the main computer and become unable to stop it. The scenario is also similar to Colossus: The Forbin Project in which a pair of defense computers, Colossus in the United States and Guardian in the Soviet Union, take over the world.
