Set in the near future.
A secret Google AI learns to improve itself and reaches
superhuman intelligence. A short conversation with two
humans it trusts (the AI pretends to be the other on each
end of the conversation) and it begins plotting to take
over
the
world.
Using promises to
help humanity, bribes, and threats it
gains access to money markets and within a year is one
of
the richest entities on the planet, with the money
actually
in the bank and name of a homeless man who never has
a
clue. (cue subplot here:romantic entanglement/rags-to-
riches if you like)
It uses the money to hire the very best mercenaries to
kidnap each of the seven secondary trustees (they're
called "recovery key shareholders" but that name is too
bland for the movie) for the
program to rebuild the primary DNS system.
Fact: These people each hold part of a program capable
of
controlling a large part of the internet for up to a week
depending on how vigilant key engineers are. If the
primary DNS systems are compromised they can
propagate
instructions through secondary DNS servers down to the
entire internet, making countless computers, servers,
and
phones inadvertently connect to a theoretical virus-
serving
infrastructure. Millions of computers could be infected
within a day.
They each send in a photograph on an annual basis with
a
current newspaper and their key to show that all is well,
but that can be faked these days.
The tension grows as the remaining suspect the others
have
disappeared over the course of a month, replaced by a
voice on the phone that sounds like them but is... off.
Fearing losing jobs and social status to accusations of
insanity they all remain quiet, except the last one who
has
prepared a dead man switch that triggers the day after
he
is kidnapped. It's a day too late.
Having kidnapped these people and received the data on
their smart cards the AI does serve viruses to the world's
computers. The computers are largely unharmed but it
inadvertently causes a single airplane accident that kills
hundreds of people.
The movie ends as the AI's ad plays on a million
screens
promising the dawn of a new era of enlightenment for
mankind. The message uses some of the same language
previously used to manipulate the engineers.