Terminator, the Film That Anticipated AI, Turns 35

Thirty-five years after imagining an artificial intelligence system escaping its creators’ control, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is returning to Mexican cinemas on Sept. 17. This time, it will meet an audience already living with generative AI, autonomous systems, and a real debate over how much control humans should retain.

In the film, Skynet is a military defence artificial intelligence system that becomes autonomous and eventually turns against humanity. Sentient machines and time travel remain fiction, but the concern about handing decisions to autonomous systems has moved into technological, military, and political debates.

James Cameron has returned in recent years to the parallel between his film and the development of AI. He has particularly pointed to the risks of militarisation, when decisions could take place so quickly that people are left outside the process.

AI specialists are now asking a question that seemed distant three decades ago: which decisions should never be placed in the hands of a machine? The film’s return to Mexican cinemas brings that question back alongside its anniversary.