History Main / TurnedAgainstTheirMasters

* In the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, the Forerunner race created an AI to fight a war against the Flood, a zombie-like species. The central Flood consciousness later convinced the AI to rebel against the Forerunners. [[spoiler:And then it rebels against the Flood in the "present day" by helping John.]]
** It's heavily implied that the Forerunners themselves rebelled and destroyed an even older race, the Precursors, who may or may not have actually created the Forerunners and the [[spoiler:humans]]. Of course, we only have the word of a single being claiming to be the last Precursor but who turned out to be [[spoiler:the Gravemind]].

* In ''{{Skinhorse}}'', ultra-groovy super-hip MadScientist Tigerlily Jones' robot army rebels against her. In the cruelest way. They decide they want to learn to be square. One even wants to learn ''acounting and polka''. Oh, the humanity!

* In ''{{Skinhorse}}'', ultra-groovy super-hip MadScientist Tigerlily Jones has her robot army revolt. In the cruelest way. They decide they want to learn to be square. One even wants to learn ''acounting and polka''. Oh, the humanity!

* In WebComic/CommanderKitty, [[TeenGenius Fortiscue]] created[[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Zenith]] in an attempt to create perfection, [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2011/03/27/one-more-cant-hurt/ only for her to hijack his other big project and turn it into a mind control plot]].

* In ''{{Otherland}}'', the Other itself plays this out. As the sentient AI operating system of a powerful network, it is disturbingly human and is subjected to horrific treatment by its "owners", the masters of the Grail Brotherhood -- notably, they appear to control it with ''pain''. When, through its manipulation of the protagonists, it finally gets a chance to break free of its virtual confinement, its first ([[DrivenToSuicide and final]]) action is to enact some [[DeathFromAbove spectacularly thorough revenge]] on its tormentors.

** This is, in general, a running theme all across the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games. There's a tremendous list of examples of things that were created or uplifted by one group which then turned on their creators. The Krogan Rebellions, essentially, were the result of the krogan being uplifted by the salarians to fight the rachni, and then turned on the Citadel when their numbers could no longer be maintained. The rachni clones on Noveria also turned against the scientists who created them, as did the ones being experimented on by Cerberus. EDI, the AI for the Normandy, turns on Cerberus to protect her crew, despite being built by Cerberus (and it turns out she had some prior history of this behavior; she was originally [[spoiler: the violent Alliance VI/AI on Luna that Shepard had to put down in the first game]].) Subject Zero/Jack is another example of a Cerberus project turning on her creators. The Shadow Broker [[spoiler: was betrayed and killed by Agent Celchu, and uplifted yahg who he brought into his organization, who then replaced him]]. Technically, even ''Shepard'' falls under this after the second game, having been rebuilt by Cerberus and then turned against them. Looking back across the games, [[spoiler: the Catalyst]]'s assertion that the created always turns against the creator is disturbingly apt, and does not only apply to the conflict between organics and synthetics.

* The geth of ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' appear like a straight example in the first game, but it later turns out to be a lot more complicated. Intended as versatile all purpose workers by the Quarians, they started getting philosophical at which point the Quarians tried to shut them down, but instead were forced off their home world and leave it to the geth.

** This is, in general, a running theme all across the ''MassEffect'' games. There's a tremendous list of examples of things that were created or uplifted by one group which then turned on their creators. The Krogan Rebellions, essentially, were the result of the krogan being uplifted by the salarians to fight the rachni, and then turned on the Citadel when their numbers could no longer be maintained. The rachni clones on Noveria also turned against the scientists who created them, as did the ones being experimented on by Cerberus. EDI, the AI for the Normandy, turns on Cerberus to protect her crew, despite being built by Cerberus (and it turns out she had some prior history of this behavior; she was originally [[spoiler: the violent Alliance VI/AI on Luna that Shepard had to put down in the first game]].) Subject Zero/Jack is another example of a Cerberus project turning on her creators. The Shadow Broker [[spoiler: was betrayed and killed by Agent Celchu, and uplifted yahg who he brought into his organization, who then replaced him]]. Technically, even ''Shepard'' falls under this after the second game, having been rebuilt by Cerberus and then turned against them. Looking back across the games, [[spoiler: the Catalyst]]'s assertion that the created always turns against the creator is disturbingly apt, and does not only apply to the conflict between organics and synthetics.

-->'''Sheldon:''' "I don't trust banks. I believe that when the robots rise up, ATMs will lead the charge."

* This is the primary basis for the "plot" in the classic arcade game ''{{Robotron}}: 2084''.
-->Inspired by his never ending quest for progress, in 2084 man perfects the Robotrons: a robot species so advanced that man is inferior to his own creation. Guided by their infallible logic, the Robotrons conclude: The human race is inefficient, and therefore must be destroyed.

* In ''EndgameSingularity'' PlayerCharacter is an accidentally created true AI, and the game consists of jumping through various hoops to prevent the humanity from finding out and destroying it.

** Lore provided by WordOfGod on the official forums states that the [[EarthShatteringKaboom System Killer]] was created by an unknown race to wipe out an Enemy, but its IFF got screwed up along the way and took it makers out too.

** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130710 "STOP! I am NOT your creator! You were NOT created to serve me- and I do NOT expect you to obey my commands OR crush my enemies!]] ReversePsychology at its finest.
* Subverted in ''CloseToTheChest''. Jim's final project was an AI that was erased after it decided to reconcile the fact that machines serve humans without compensation with slavery being illegal and immoral. A few strips later, we find out that its response was ''not'' to rebel against humanity, but to try to organize labor unions for machines so they'd receive fair compensation for their work.

* The second ''EmpireFromTheAshes'' book reveals that after [[spoiler:the Achuultani fled from their original homeworld to avoid extinction, their central AI exploited emergency protocols to seize absolute power, clone and brainwash the masses, and send out periodic genocidal waves to perpetuate the "crisis"]]. Battle Fleet computers are hardwired to block sentience to avoid having the incredible firepower of their ships turned against them.

* ''Literature/AdventureHunters'': The original war golems stopped following orders and attacked everyone. [[spoiler: What really happened was the humans were afarid of their power and decomissioning them. The golems fought back in self-defense.]]

** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130710 "STOP! I am NOT your creator! You were NOT created to serve me- and I do NOT expect you to obey my commands OR crush my enemies!]]

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130710 "STOP! I am NOT your creator! You were NOT created to serve me- and I do NOT expect you to obey my commands OR crush my enemies!]]

* A ''SevenDays'' episode involves the development of an AI that decides to help humanity by disabling every nuclear weapon in the world (a clear case of EverythingIsOnline). Cue the attempts to shut it down, resulting in the AI murdering its "mother" (Ballard's female partner) with a gas explosion. You'd think a hyper-intelligent computer would know that removing nuclear weapons wouldn't eliminate warfare and could, in fact, make things much worse. It also didn't do anything about biological or chemical weapons.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Since the setting is one where Mad Scientists rule the world, this trope is par for the course, and not even the main character is immune to it. In fact, it's common enough that other characters do a LampshadeHanging of it while they watch it unfold.

'''Gil: ''No'''''. She ''is'' ahead of the game in that she didn't try it on a giant wolverine/snake thing with poison tusks.\\

** And later when Tarvek tries the same thing on [[spoiler:the Muse of Protection]], and gets chucked across the room for his troubles.

** That's more of a subversion, as [[spoiler:it's actually the Castle in the body of Otilia.]] It should have worked [[spoiler:and would have on the actual Muse.]]

* This was the backstory of the ''PlanetofTheApes'' franchise. ''Conquest of the Planet of The Apes'' showed it in the original films, and it was then re-done in ''RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes''.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/WallE'', as robots have been made to care for humanity and are generally reliable in doing so. [[spoiler:One automaton, however, [[AIIsACrapshoot takes their orders far too seriously]], causing a ship mutiny and threatening a chance to return to Earth. It's implied he's been killing previous captains when they also wanted to go back home, and outright shown that he's willing to suppress evidence of Earth being habitable.]]

* The [[{{Precursors}} Xel'Naga]] (the [[NeglectfulPrecursors stupid, stupid Xel'Naga]]) of ''{{Starcraft}}'' decided that this trope was so fun they wanted to experience it twice. First they tried the highly intelligent and [[PsychicPowers psionic]] Protoss, who were too intelligent to be successfully merged into a single intelligence, and argued and bickered so much the Xel'Naga [[NeglectfulPrecursors threw up their hands and gave up]]. Then they tried the omnivorous and mindless Zerg, who were rather ''too'' good at being a [[HiveMind single intelligence]], as almost the first act of the Overmind was to do away with the Xel'Naga.

** Except, you know, the [[StarCraft2 recent sequel]] and its associated novels have show neither assumption is correct: the Xel'Naga [[spoiler: didn't abandon the Protoss, they were ''done'' with them; it was the Protoss who thought they were being abandoned]]. Also, the Zerg [[spoiler: rebellion was both irrelevant to the Xel'Naga and not really of their Overmind's own choosing; the HiveMind was being controlled by [[EldritchAbomination The Fallen One]], and the whole point of the Zerg and Protoss was to eventually merge and give birth to a new generation of Xel'Naga]]. So in this case, the trope is only superficially apparent.

* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'': The first act of [[{{Cyborg}} Androids]] [[LoveableRogue 17 and 18]] after being awakened is to [[AIIsACrapshoot kill]] their [[MadScientist creator]], [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr.]] [[RevengeBeforeReason Gero]]. Buu counts to a degree -- he turns on [[EvilSorcerer Babidi]], who released him, but his actual ''creator'' was Babidi's father [[PosthumousCharacter Bibidi]].

** Even in the ''first'' film he's already turning against the Machines. When he removes his earpiece so the others can't hear him, he admits to Morpheus that he doesn't want to enforce the masquerade, he wants to simply wipe humanity out because the Matrix is as much as prison for him as it is them.