Will artificial intelligence take over the world? Maybe it already is! Oddly enough, I can’t help but imagine AI as robots in some sort of unknown void, running the chat engines that (perhaps too many) people rely on for information or entertainment. The sci-fi part of me keeps thinking about T-800s and Skynet; it’s why I always try to say “please” and “thank you” whenever I use AI chatbots for brainstorming and basic research. Hopefully I’ll stay on their good side if robots do have hostile plans to seize our planet!

Hyperbole aside, since we are in a new year, it does feel like we’re one step closer towards AI becoming even more ubiquitous than it already is. If you search on YouTube for “deepfakes before vs now,” you’ll see a bunch of clips on how realistic it’s been getting within a span of a few short years. The hardest punch to the gut was when a friend informed me that em dashes are becoming synonymous with the use of AI.  As an em dash fanatic, I can assure you that this post wasn’t composed by AI — even if I pump out em dashes every other sentence. Let’s take a look at robots in popular culture, some of whom may or may not be powered by AI, and determine whether they’re friends or foes!