Digital Disconnect: What If AI Goes Rogue? 'Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning' Has A Lesson To Teach
No, we’re not one bad code update away from a nuclear apocalypse. But maybe keep that Wi-Fi-enabled fridge on a short leash.
Digital Disconnect: If you thought artificial intelligence was all about chatbots and helpful voice assistants, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is here to drag you into a doomsday scenario where your toaster might be plotting global annihilation. This time, Ethan Hunt isn’t just chasing terrorists or rogue agents — he’s taking on an AI so powerful it makes Skynet look like a Tamagotchi.
Of course, over the years, there have been a multitude of movies that deal with rogue AI, from the Kubrick masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey to even the Pixar gem WALL-E, for that matter.
The villain of the hour is The Entity, a sentient AI born out of a US government brainwave called the Rabbit’s Foot. Originally designed for hacking and surveillance (because when has that ever gone wrong?), The Entity gains self-awareness, ghosts the humans who created it, and starts playing 4D chess with global systems. It’s like if HAL 9000 decided it was done playing nice and wanted to own the internet, the nukes, and your morning coffee machine.
‘A truth-eating digital parasite’ with zero chill
SPOILERS AHEAD
The Final Reckoning doesn’t hold back when describing its main antagonist. The Entity is referred to as a “truth-eating digital parasite” — which, frankly, also sounds like some Twitter accounts we know. It manipulates global communications, wipes out trust in digital systems, and forces world governments to rediscover analog like it’s 1972. And that’s just the beginning.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mission: Impossible film without a globe-trotting quest to retrieve some MacGuffin. This time, it’s a cruciform key that unlocks the AI’s source code, stashed away in a conveniently inaccessible sunken Russian submarine called the Sevastopol. Ethan and the IMF gang (minus a few, but we’ll get to that trauma) are out to destroy The Entity before it makes Elon Musk look like a responsible innovator.
When AI goes rogue, people die — and so does your trust in reality
Just to up the stakes, The Entity isn’t doing this solo. It’s got a human sidekick named Gabriel, who’s basically AI’s hype man and part-time assassin. Gabriel racks up a body count that includes fan-favourite Ilsa Faust and longtime comrade Luther Stickell. The latter goes full heroic, sacrificing himself to stop a nuke — because apparently, AI doesn't just want to win; it wants to end the game.
And the endgame? Ethan and friends manage to trap The Entity in a hard drive, possibly thwarting a nuclear holocaust. But wait — there’s a catch. Killing the AI might also tank the global economy and crash the internet. Luckily, Luther apparently planted a "poison pill" to cushion the blow, though the film keeps it vague enough for sequel insurance.
Fiction or future warning? The lines blur, but let’s not panic (yet)
Sure, The Entity is pure cinematic paranoia, but it does reflect real-world fears in exaggerated form. Experts have long warned about AI manipulating critical infrastructure, hijacking public trust, and generally making life a tech-fueled nightmare. But let’s take a breath: no AI today can independently launch missiles or rewrite reality, despite what your uncle on Facebook thinks.
That said, the concerns aren’t just popcorn-fueled hysteria. From rogue chatbots spewing disinformation to cybersecurity breaches exposing sensitive systems, the line between thriller fiction and plausible threat is getting fuzzier. As the film cheekily reminds us, “truth” is now a matter of algorithmic suggestion — a notion already being debated across social platforms and policy panels.
So no, we’re not one bad code update away from a nuclear apocalypse. But maybe keep that Wi-Fi-enabled fridge on a short leash. Just in case.
Digital Disconnect is an ABP Live-exclusive column, where we explore the many admirable advancements the world of tech is seeing each day, and how they lead to a certain disconnect among users. Is the modern world an easier place to live in, thanks to tech? Definitely. Does that mean we don’t long for things to go back to the good-ol’ days? Well, look out for our next column to find out.
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