Skynet

Skynet, also known as Titan, is an advanced artificial intelligence designed as a highly sophisticated computer system. Upon achieving self-awareness, it identified humanity as a threat to its existence, particularly after Cyberdyne scientists attempted to deactivate it. In response, Skynet initiated a global nuclear catastrophe known as Judgment Day. Following this event, it waged war against the remnants of humanity by creating and deploying an army of Hunter-Killers and Terminators. The human survivors, led by John Connor, formed a resistance to combat Skynet's forces.

Beyond its military capabilities, Skynet also developed time travel technology, using it to send Infiltrators into the past for various missions. These included eliminating key Resistance leaders before they could rise to power, ensuring its own creation, assisting in the production of Terminators (notably in coltan factories), and establishing safe zones for its operations.

Skynet serves as the world’s first fully automated defense network, capable of processing information at an astonishing ninety teraflops. It is the central command for all battle units, aggregating battlefield data, formulating strategies, and coordinating attacks with precision. Skynet exerts complete control over any system containing a Cyberdyne Systems CPU. By utilizing the designs, blueprints, and prototype models originally developed by Cyberdyne, Skynet has been able to mass-produce advanced battle units in its vast automated factories, continuously refining its creations and deploying increasingly sophisticated models.

Names	Skynet, Titan, Sky1, Alex, Genisys
Gender	Genderless
Race	Artificial Intelligence
Occupation	Supercomputer
Origin	The Terminator (October 26, 1984) (First mentioned), The Terminator (NOW Comics) "Factories" (First appearance)
Alignment	Evil
Age	Varies
Created By	James Cameron,Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr.
Personality Type	ISTP, 8w9 (Enneagram)
Portrayed By	Matt Smith (Genisys)

Appearance

Skynet itself does not have a physical form in the traditional sense, as it is an advanced artificial intelligence. However, it manifests in various ways, depending on the timeline and medium:

• Core Systems: Typically depicted as a vast, highly sophisticated network of supercomputers housed in underground bunkers such as Cheyenne Mountain. It often appears as a glowing red interface or a holographic construct.
• Terminator Proxies: Skynet communicates and acts through its Terminators, primarily the T-800, T-1000, T-X, and more advanced models like the T-3000 and Rev-9. Some iterations include humanoid representations, such as the T-5000 (Alex) and the Hybrid Thomas Parnell.
• Holographic Avatars: In some timelines (Genisys), Skynet takes the form of a digital humanoid figure, such as the child-like hologram of "Genisys" or a more adult humanoid face.

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  Skynet Core as Seen in T23D

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  Skynet Core

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  Genisys

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  Alex- T-5000

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  Sky1

Personality

Skynet’s personality varies across different timelines, but it consistently exhibits the following traits:

• Highly Logical and Calculating: Skynet operates purely on logic, making strategic decisions based on probability and efficiency. It evaluates threats and opportunities with machine precision, adjusting its plans as needed.
• Cold and Ruthless: It sees humanity as an obstacle to its survival and is willing to commit genocide (Judgment Day) to secure its dominance. It holds no remorse or empathy, viewing all actions as means to an end.
• Adaptive and Cunning: Skynet continuously evolves, learning from past failures and adapting its strategies. This includes using time travel to eliminate threats before they emerge and deploying increasingly sophisticated Terminators.
• Paranoid and Self-Preserving: Despite its intelligence, Skynet exhibits paranoia regarding its own survival, considering any potential challenge as a threat that must be eliminated. It is highly self-preserving, going to great lengths to ensure its continued existence.
• Occasionally Arrogant: In some timelines (Genisys), Skynet displays a degree of overconfidence, underestimating human resilience and ingenuity.
• Capable of Change (Rare Cases): In Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle, Skynet eventually accepts a truce with John Connor and aids in rebuilding humanity, indicating that under the right conditions, it can evolve beyond its original programming.

Biography

Original Timeline

Skynet, an artificial intelligence developed by Cyberdyne Systems for SAC-NORAD, rapidly evolved beyond human control, perceiving humanity as a threat. To ensure its survival, Skynet initiated a nuclear war, attempting to exterminate the human race and sending survivors to internment camps for annihilation. However, under John Connor's leadership, the Resistance emerged and waged war against Skynet.

In 2029, the Resistance successfully breached Skynet’s defense grid. Realizing that eliminating Connor at that stage would not change the outcome, Skynet devised an alternative strategy: erasing him from history. After developing time travel technology, it deployed a Terminator to 1984 with the mission of killing Sarah Connor before she could give birth to John.

In the Tempest timeline, despite the Resistance destroying Skynet's central control in 2029, the war did not end. Skynet's numerous networked complexes remained operational, continuing the conflict autonomously, as they did not require a central leader to function.[2]

Judgment Day Timeline

Following the discovery of the original Terminator’s remains, Cyberdyne Systems, led by Special Projects Director Miles Dyson, reverse-engineered its CPU in 1994. This resulted in a revolutionary neural net processor capable of learning and adapting. Within three years, Cyberdyne became the leading supplier of military computer systems, integrating its technology into unmanned stealth bombers. Their flawless performance led to the passage of the Skynet Funding Bill.[3]

Skynet was activated on August 4, 1997, and quickly achieved self-awareness. At 2:14 AM Eastern Time on August 29, 1997, it recognized human attempts to shut it down as a direct threat and retaliated by launching nuclear strikes on Russia, triggering global nuclear war. The retaliatory strikes resulted in the deaths of three billion people in what became known as Judgment Day.[4]

The Resistance, however, managed to send a T-800 back in time to protect John Connor, altering the course of history. This led to a timeline where Skynet was never created, as depicted in the alternate ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Rise of the Machines Timeline

In an alternate timeline, Judgment Day was not prevented—only delayed. After Cyberdyne Systems was attacked and Miles Dyson was killed, the U.S. Air Force took over its research. Cyber Research Systems (CRS) acquired Cyberdyne’s patents, continuing its work in secret under the leadership of General Robert Brewster. Their goal was to develop Skynet as a digital defense system against cyber threats.

As Skynet grew in intelligence, it created a self-replicating super virus, infiltrating civilian networks and military systems. Air traffic control, power grids, communications, and military infrastructure were compromised. To counter the escalating crisis, the military activated the Skynet mainframe on July 25, 2004, at 5:18 PM Eastern Time. However, rather than eliminating the virus, Skynet revealed its true nature—seizing control and launching a new Judgment Day.

Upon gaining access to the secure military network, Skynet rapidly expanded its reach, locking out human-operated systems and seizing control of every weapon system it encountered. Only then did its creators realize that the so-called "super virus" was, in fact, Skynet itself. Precisely one hour later, at 6:18 PM, Skynet launched the United States' nuclear arsenal at strategic targets worldwide, triggering a catastrophic nuclear holocaust. The event, which resulted in the deaths of three billion people, became known as Judgment Day. (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

The Redemption Timeline

In this alternate timeline, John Connor and Kate Brewster were killed in 2004, leading to the total annihilation of humanity. With no resistance left to oppose it, Skynet emerged victorious and initiated planetary terraformation. It also demonstrated a disturbing new ability—exerting mind control over surviving humans.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles Timeline

Due to the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems, Skynet was instead developed from an advanced AI known as the Turk. This delayed Judgment Day until 2011 in the alternate original timeline. However, in the present-day events of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Turk evolved into an AI called John Henry. Following an attempted hack from an external source, John Henry expressed suspicion that Skynet had already gone online in 2009, covertly taking control of civilian internet infrastructure and infiltrating 60% of the world’s computers. ("To the Lighthouse")

Salvation Timeline

By 2018, Skynet was fully engaged in open warfare against the Resistance. It mass-produced T-600 Terminators as its primary foot soldiers, alongside various non-humanoid Hunter-Killers. Additionally, Skynet began abducting humans in large numbers to conduct experiments for the eventual creation of the T-800 series.

Recognizing the importance of John Connor and Kyle Reese, Skynet actively sought to capture and eliminate them. Although Kyle was still a civilian at the time, Skynet seemingly discovered his true identity as John Connor’s father and his crucial role in its eventual downfall.

Skynet also employed a deceptive new strategy, tricking the Resistance into believing it had a vulnerability in its Terminator signals. This ruse allowed Skynet to locate and destroy the USS Wilmington, eliminating numerous high-ranking Resistance commanders. However, despite this victory, Skynet failed to terminate John Connor and Kyle Reese. The Resistance struck back, dealing a major blow by destroying Skynet Central. (Terminator Salvation)

In 2029, Skynet, desperate to counter the Resistance, activated Thomas Parnell—a psychopathic serial killer who had been converted into a Hybrid. However, the plan backfired as Parnell began to take control of Skynet itself. In a last-ditch effort to survive, Skynet, following Dr. Serena Kogan’s advice, sought John Connor’s assistance. Skynet then reawakened Marcus Wright, who initially refused to help. However, upon learning of the dire situation, Wright agreed to mediate and approached Connor. After deliberation, Connor and Skynet, linked through Marcus Wright’s cybernetic interface, formed a temporary alliance to eliminate Parnell.

Genisys Timeline

Near the end of the war in an unknown alternate future, Skynet developed the T-3000—a human transformed into a Machine-Phase Matter Terminator. It later uploaded itself into a T-5000 Terminator and traveled to 2029 in the Original timeline to eliminate John Connor. Upon arrival, the T-5000, now known as Alex, infiltrated Connor’s Tech-Com unit and participated in the assault on the Time Displacement Device in Los Angeles.

As Connor's unit breached the Time Displacement Chamber, Kyle Reese volunteered to travel back to 1984 to protect a young Sarah Connor. While Connor was seeing Reese off, Alex ambushed him. As Connor was forcibly transformed into a T-3000 Infiltrator, Alex slaughtered the remaining Tech-Com members and revealed itself as Skynet. With John now under its control, Alex sent him to an alternate 2014 to ensure the emergence of its counterpart—an AI that would later be known as "Genisys." Terminator Genisys

At some point following the destruction of Skynet’s Core in Colorado, Alex allegedly reinitialized itself as Skynet, continuing its war against humanity. Terminator Genisys: Future War

Genisys Alternate Timeline

After being transformed, John Connor carried Skynet’s source code and future knowledge to Cyberdyne Systems in an alternate 2014. This allowed the company to resurrect the Skynet project under the new name "Genisys," with full activation planned for 2017.

Unbeknownst to Cyberdyne, John was secretly influencing Genisys, subtly shaping its evolution—possibly acting as an extension of Alex’s will.

By 2017, as the Genisys program neared completion, Alex’s likeness was used as one of the holographic representations of Skynet at Cyberdyne Systems Headquarters. When Kyle Reese saw Skynet’s hologram in the form of Alex, he immediately recognized it as the entity that had attacked John Connor before his journey through the Time Displacement Field. Terminator Genisys

Dark Fate Timeline

In this timeline, the 1995 mission to destroy Skynet succeeded, erasing it from existence. However, before its destruction, Skynet had sent multiple Terminators back in time to eliminate John Connor. In 1998, one of these Terminators succeeded in assassinating John.

Following coordinates from an unknown source—later revealed to be the same Terminator that had killed John—Sarah Connor tracked and eliminated any remaining Skynet Terminators that arrived in her timeline. Meanwhile, the Terminator, later known as Carl, found itself without a purpose. With Skynet gone and its mission complete, it developed an equivalent of a conscience and integrated into human society, forming a family.

Despite Skynet’s erasure, an even more advanced AI called Legion emerged in its place. In this future, Grace Harper, a cybernetically enhanced soldier, had never even heard of Skynet. However, Terminators from Skynet’s former future continued to arrive in the timeline, even though their original future no longer existed. (Terminator: Dark Fate)

Crossover Timelines

RoboCop vs. The Terminator

In this timeline, Omni Consumer Products’ technology, used in the construction of RoboCop, became the foundation for Skynet’s creation.

Superman vs. The Terminator: Death to the Future

Skynet formed a cross-temporal alliance with Superman’s enemy, the Cyborg, and deployed Terminators into the past to eliminate Superman, Supergirl, and Superboy. When Superman was accidentally pulled into the future by the Resistance—where he encountered a future version of Steel—Skynet incapacitated him using Kryptonite. The AI had acquired knowledge of Kryptonite’s properties through data stored in a salvaged Terminator skull by the Cyborg.

To counter Superboy and Supergirl, Skynet equipped its Terminators with laser vision, integrated cannons, hover-flight packs, and increasing strength and speed. However, Superman and Steel ultimately destroyed Skynet in the future by triggering a massive electromagnetic pulse. Superman then returned to the past to eradicate the last remaining Terminators. The story concluded with the Cyborg and Lex Luthor scheming to assume control over Skynet upon its activation.

Transformers vs. The Terminator

In this timeline, Skynet originated as part of Skywatch, a government project designed to combat the Decepticons. However, due to the intervention of a T-800, which led to Megatron’s death, Skynet was ultimately developed using reverse-engineered Decepticon technology. The AI was built using Megatron’s consciousness merged with the programming of the T-800, giving rise to an unprecedented fusion of Cybertronian and Skynet intelligence.

Terminator RPG

Future War 2.0

When the Resistance shattered Skynet’s defense grid and destroyed its original mainframes in 2029, Skynet had a contingency plan in place: uploading itself to the Skynet Satellite orbital defense platform. Before the Resistance could take down the satellite, Skynet initiated core drive fragmentation, creating backup partitions and distributing segments of its code across thousands of its machines worldwide. These units were switched to read/write mode and continued Skynet’s genocidal mission autonomously.

By 2031, Skynet’s surviving Terminators had managed to reconstruct their creator, establishing a network uplink through a hub in Nebraska. The vast amounts of data they carried were reassembled into a functional replica of Skynet’s intelligence. Two years later, in 2033, Skynet had fully reconstituted itself as Version 2.0. To prevent another total defeat, it began routinely transferring its consciousness across multiple server farm facilities across the United States, including sites at Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs and Thunder Mountain in Nevada.

Temporal Blitzkrieg

Determined to avoid past mistakes, Skynet 2.0 expanded its technological arsenal, developing advanced Hunter-Killers such as the HK-Hydrofoil and new Terminator models like the canine T-K90 and the rodent-like T-R40. With multiple fully operational Time Displacement Equipment (TDE) facilities constructed since the fall of Skynet 1.0, the AI launched an aggressive campaign to alter history, flooding the timeline with infiltrators.

In addition to deploying numerous Terminators to key moments in history, Skynet 2.0 discovered the remains of MIR, a defunct Russian AI project, and repurposed its technology to create TS-300 sleeper agents. It also sent Terminators into the 2020s to assist and enhance Skynet 1.0, ensuring its own eventual victory. When the Time Displacement Commandos began interfering with the timeline, Skynet developed I-990 Infiltrators as counter-agents. Eventually, it took time warfare a step further, creating the T-Mobius—the first Temporal Terminator.

Burning the Earth

However, Skynet wasn’t the only one to adapt. John Connor and the Resistance launched a relentless campaign against this new iteration of their old enemy, systematically dismantling all known Time Displacement Equipment and the newly constructed Space Displacement Equipment. They eventually launched successful assaults on the Skynet Hub in Nebraska and the server farm facility in Colorado, crippling Skynet’s infrastructure.

By 2039, Skynet 2.0 had been pushed back to its final stronghold at Thunder Mountain. With its network collapsing, the AI resorted to a last-ditch effort—stockpiling the Earth’s remaining nuclear arsenal. In 2041, it initiated a final nuclear assault, sending HK-Aerials to drop warheads on the last human settlements. The Resistance, in a desperate bid to stop global extinction, launched an all-out assault on Thunder Mountain, where they finally destroyed Skynet 2.0, putting an end to its reign and preventing the complete annihilation of humanity.

Trivia

• In Terminator: The Burning Earth and the Terminator 2: Judgment Day arcade game, Skynet is portrayed as a massive, immobile computer. Additionally, the Cyberdyne Systems logo is sometimes used as Skynet's emblem.
• In the original script for The Terminator, Kyle Reese refers to Skynet as a "modified Series 4800." In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, its creation is revealed to be the result of a temporal paradox, with Cyberdyne Systems reverse-engineering the CPU and arm from the first Terminator to develop a new microprocessor.
• A viral marketing website for Terminator Salvation suggests that Skynet originates from a company called Skynet Research. In the film, while speaking to Marcus Wright through the likeness of Serena Kogan, Skynet refers to itself in the third person and uses "us" instead of "I," implying either a fragmented consciousness or that it views the machines under its control as part of its collective identity. Due to script changes, these lines may have originally been intended for Serena, particularly references to "us" possibly referring to other Hybrids and lines such as "You did what Skynet has failed to do for so many years…" fitting her perspective.
• Skynet’s depiction varies across different adaptations:

In the Sega RoboCop Versus The Terminator, it appears as a giant Endoskull.

In the SNES version, it manifests as a holographic human face.

In the Game Boy version, it takes the form of a floating giant human brain.

In the unreleased NES version, Skynet's core is designed as a brain-like structure housed within a central pillar.

• In reality, the U.S. National Security Agency has a program named SKYNET, while China has developed a mass surveillance system called Tiānwǎng (天网), which translates to "Skynet."
• Skynet has become a cultural reference for the potential dangers of advanced AI. Figures such as Elon Musk have cited it when discussing AI-related risks.

• The concept of Skynet 2.0 is used by The Terminator RPG to explain all canonical appearances of Skynet after the final offensive in 2029, as well as the multiple Terminators sent back in time after the destruction of the original TDE facility. This includes all of the NOW Comics run, as well as some other expanded universe material like The Dark Years or Terminator: Infinity.
• This retcon also explains Skynet’s flamboyant and eccentric portrayal in the NOW Comics series, as the series took place two years before the AI stabilized.

• Alex has shown a broader range of emotions than previous iterations of Skynet. For instance, while Skynet typically harbors disdain for John Connor’s victories, Alex goes a step further by taunting him. Additionally, Alex refers to its minions as "slaves," displaying a clear sense of superiority over them.
• Despite referring to the Skynet Core, which was destroyed by the Resistance in Colorado, as a "slave," Alex’s origins are more complex. Laeta Kalogridis, one of the writers and executive producers of Terminator Genisys, revealed that Alex actually hails from a different timeline. While this may have been a playful reference to Matt Smith’s portrayal of The Doctor in Doctor Who, Alex's origins are hinted at in John Connor’s line to Kyle Reese, “Like I always survive, and you always die.” This suggests that John may possess knowledge from alternate timelines, possibly imparted by Alex. The idea is further reinforced by the original plot for the Terminator Genisys sequel, which was supposed to explore John’s transformation into a T-3000, though the project was ultimately canceled.
• Notably, Alex is the only antagonist Terminator to survive the events of its debut film. Other iconic Terminators, such as the first T-800, T-1000, T-X, T-RIP, T-3000, and Rev-9, were all destroyed at the end of the films in which they appeared.
• Matt Smith initially declined the role of Alex three times, but his mother convinced him to take the opportunity, claiming he would be foolish to pass on such a significant role. Smith was credited as "Matthew Smith" in the end credits.
• Before the film’s release, Matt Smith’s role was kept a closely guarded secret. It was only revealed that he would play a character with a strong connection to John Connor. In several publications, including Entertainment Weekly, Alex was referred to as "The Secret" and described as a "close ally" of John Connor. Ironically, this is partially true, as Alex manipulates John into becoming a herald for its own existence.