Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (also referred to as AI) refers to the intellectual and reasoning capacity of complex machines. An artificial intelligence has the ability to modify its own programming based upon logical analysis in accordance with a preset series of parameters. Depending upon the complexity and functional capabilities of the AI in question, some artificial intelligences develop reasoning far beyond their initial programming and may even achieve partial sentience. This is a common storytelling trope in many sci-fi vehicles and has been used to illustrate a cautionary tale of humanity’s dependence on technology.

In the 2002 sci-fi/horror film, Resident Evil, the top-secret underground research facility known as The Hive was monitored by an artificial intelligence known as the Red Queen. The Red Queen could appear as an avatar of a young English girl, patterned after the daughter of the head programmer. When the highly volatile T-Virus was let loose within the facility, the Red Queen sealed off all of the infected areas, leaving the attending scientists trapped inside to die. It then released a nerve gas into other areas of the facility, rendering all remaining personnel unconscious so that the site's owners, the Umbrella Corporation, could send a response team in to clear out the facility.