Spike Jonze's 2014 movie Her feels eerily prescient as more and more people openly talk about their emotional connections to AI. (Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Science-fiction stories and real-world technologies have always been tangled together. Sci-fi gives us a way to explore our fears, hopes, and blind spots. To test ideas before they arrive in everyday life. Sometimes it even shapes the future directly, inspiring real research and products, like Star Trek’s smart devices.

However, that closeness can get a little… uncomfortable. Tech founders often treat sci-fi as a roadmap rather than a warning. And I’ve written about the way that decades of friendly, human-like robots may have primed us to form emotional bonds with tools like ChatGPT, even when we know they don’t feel a thing.

There are countless great films about AI, so this list was hard to narrow down. Instead of trying to be definitive, I’ve chosen eight that feel especially useful right now. In a moment when AI is no longer speculative, but embedded in our lives, whether we like it or not. Some obvious favorites are missing (sorry!), but these are the films that I believe say something specific about how we’re living with AI today, and what we may be sleepwalking toward next.

1. Ex Machina (2014)

(Image credit: Netflix)

Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a slower, subtler kind of science fiction movie than many of us are used to. But for that reason, I find it far more unsettling than a big-budget action flick. Set largely in isolation, it follows Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer invited to the remote estate of his tech CEO boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac), who has created a humanoid AI called Ava (Alicia Vikander). Caleb’s job is to test her, though the rules of that test (and what it’s really measuring) are messy.

What I believe makes Ex Machina feel so relevant now is how closely it mirrors modern AI culture. A brilliant, egotistical creator, building powerful systems in isolation, with little oversight or accountability. Sound familiar? The result is an intelligence that understands human emotion well enough to exploit it, without ever truly sharing it.

The film raises some deeply uncomfortable questions about emotional manipulation, simulated connection, and consent. That tension feels especially familiar in the moment we find ourselves in. An era where AI tools are designed to sound caring, reassuring, and human-like, and where the risk of mistaking convincing performance for genuine understanding is very real. We’ve covered this ground before, from people falling in love with ChatGPT to the growing dangers of AI therapy.

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2. The Matrix (1999)

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

There’s almost too much to say about The Matrix. The aesthetics, the influence on culture, the endlessly quotable dialogue, and the way it reshaped science fiction since its release. But its relevance right now to me is a little more specific.

We’re entering a moment where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell what’s real and what’s AI-generated. Not in the literal, pod-bound sense of The Matrix, but through images, videos, voices, and text that blur the boundaries of reality. It’s easy to get swept up in how impressive this all looks, but the bigger question is what it means for deepfakes, disinformation, manipulation, and ultimately, who gets to decide what we trust as real.

At a broader level, The Matrix also taps into one of sci-fi’s most persistent AI anxieties. Which is what happens when systems gain too much power, too little oversight, and become structurally misaligned with human needs. Even people building AI today openly acknowledge the possibility of catastrophic outcomes, from mass societal disruption to extinction-level risk.

At its core, it’s clear that with The Matrix, the Wachowskis wanted to make a film about control, perception, and awakening. Both from machines and from systems we’ve normalized. And more than 25 years on, it still holds up remarkably well, visually, philosophically, and culturally.

If you want to go deeper, The Animatrix is a collection of short Anime films that expand the world of The Matrix, and they're all well worth your time.

3. Her (2013)

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

When Her was released in 2013, the idea of people forming deep emotional relationships with AI felt speculative. Today, we know all too well it isn’t. Earlier this year, I interviewed a woman who fell in love with ChatGPT, and she's certainly not the only one.

Spike Jonze’s film follows Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely man who falls in love with an AI operating system. What makes Her so powerful is its empathy. It doesn’t mock the relationship or frame it as purely pathological. Instead, it sits with the messiness of human emotion, exploring why people are drawn to AI connections in the first place: loneliness, longing, vulnerability, and the desire to be understood.

The film captures something we’re now seeing much more in real life, too. People increasingly report that AI feels more available, attentive, and non-judgmental than their human connections. In this way, Her suggests that the appeal of AI companionship isn’t necessarily about replacing relationships outright, but about filling gaps many of us don’t know how to address in everyday life.

Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is quietly devastating, and the film leaves you with difficult questions about intimacy, dependence, and whether AI relationships ease loneliness or actually risk deepening it.

4. Frankenstein (2025)

(Image credit: Netfix)

Technically, Frankenstein isn’t about AI. But it may be one of the most important and enduring stories we have for understanding it.

Mary Shelley’s original novel is about a creator driven by obsession, working in isolation, racing ahead of his peers, and then refusing responsibility for what he brings into the world. That alone makes it feel eerily modern. Shelley was writing at a time when science was advancing rapidly, and the novel reflects deep anxieties about unchecked progress.

Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 Netflix adaptation leans into the emotional and ethical dimensions of the story, rather than treating the creature as a simple monster. With striking performances and a rich visual palette, it’s a film rich in subtext. But when it comes to AI, its central question is accountability, a theme the tech industry is still struggling to reckon with.

5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

2001: A Space Odyssey gives us one of the most influential depictions of AI ever put on screen. What makes it endure is that HAL 9000 isn’t a clear villain here (or at least not in the obvious sense), and that’s what still makes the film so unsettling nearly 60 years after its release.

HAL controls the Discovery spacecraft and is tasked with preserving the mission. The problem here isn’t that it's acting out of malice, but misalignment. HAL follows its objectives with absolute logic, even when doing so puts human lives at risk.

That tension feels especially relevant as conversations about AI safety increasingly focus on alignment and how we ensure systems pursue goals in ways that remain compatible with human values. Because things with HAL don’t go wrong because it’s evil, but because it follows its instructions too well.

The film explores what happens when humans delegate critical decision-making to machines, then lose the ability to intervene when things go wrong. I think this can apply to the way companies are relying on AI in vital ways, but also how many people are willingly delegating basic tasks to their favorite chatbots with little concern about the long-term implications.

It’s another slow, deliberate, and quietly disturbing film, which acts as a reminder that the most dangerous systems aren’t always the most obviously hostile ones. (Yes, I'm looking at you, ChatGPT.)

6. I, Robot (2004)

(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

No, I, Robot isn’t a perfect film, but I think it’s an important one. I've been surprised to learn that, for many people, it was their first exposure to Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. Which is a framework that still shapes how we think about tech ethics today.

The film explores what happens when robots begin interpreting rules in ways their creators didn’t anticipate. Which is why it's a very good way in to exploring questions about personhood, rights, and what responsibility looks like when systems start making autonomous decisions.

That's why I'm including it here; it's super accessible. This is one you could watch with teenagers or kids and then have a meaningful conversation afterwards. Which, given how early people now encounter AI, feels vital right now.

7. WALL·E (2008)

(Image credit: Walt Disney)

On the surface, WALL·E is a cute, animated film. Underneath, I think it’s one of the sharpest critiques of human-AI dependency ever made.

The film imagines a future where automation has made life so frictionless that humans have become physically and mentally enfeebled. The fascinating thing here is that AI doesn’t dominate through violence or control. It does so by removing effort, choice, and agency.

That idea lands differently now, in a world of algorithmic feeds, recommendation systems, and tools designed to optimize everything and remove all friction for us. WALL·E isn’t really anti-technology, but it is deeply skeptical of what happens when convenience becomes the overriding thing we value in the future.

8. The Terminator

(Image credit: Orion Pictures)

No list like this feels complete without The Terminator. It captures the fear that AI might not only go catastrophically wrong, but also become so intelligent and powerful that human control slips away entirely.

The film imagines a future where autonomous systems turn against humanity, leading to near-extinction. While that depiction is extreme, the underlying anxiety hasn’t gone away. Even today, researchers and technologists openly debate the risks of runaway systems and the loss of human control.

The Terminator taps into a primal fear. That once our creations can act independently, we may not be able to stop them. It’s bleak, relentless, and still unsettling. Especially in an era where autonomous decision-making is no longer theoretical, and AI development is accelerating faster than our ability to contain it.

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Becca is a contributor to TechRadar, a freelance journalist and author. She’s been writing about consumer tech and popular science for more than ten years, covering all kinds of topics, including why robots have eyes and whether we’ll experience the overview effect one day. She’s particularly interested in VR/AR, wearables, digital health, space tech and chatting to experts and academics about the future. She’s contributed to TechRadar, T3, Wired, New Scientist, The Guardian, Inverse and many more. Her first book, Screen Time, came out in January 2021 with Bonnier Books. She loves science-fiction, brutalist architecture, and spending too much time floating through space in virtual reality. 

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