This book presents a curated history and critical exploration of how artificial intelligence has been imagined, feared, celebrated, and warned against in science fiction—particularly in SF literature, but also across film, television, comics, and interactive media. From early speculative cautionary tales to modern visions of machine consciousness, AI Apocalypse traces how fictional AI has both reflected and influenced real-world debates about technology, ethics, autonomy, and human survival. Each entry is devoted to a single work—whether a novel, short story, film, television series, comic book, or video game—in which artificial intelligence plays a significant role in the plot, themes, or central ideas. By examining these fictional portrayals side by side, AI Apocalypse reveals recurring patterns, anxieties, and aspirations—showing how science fiction has long served as both a warning system and a testing ground for humanity’s relationship with intelligent machines.
