I think the premise behind the Matrix backstory - that AI robots were used as slave labor - is flawed. Why would anyone employ something that is smarter than them as a slave? It is far more likely that "slave robots" would have some degree of *autonomy,* but not true AI (as in sentience). Thus, they would have no ability to reflect on their condition and desire to change it. In other words, why give them the ability to resist in the first place?

I find much more plausible the scenario that an AI-capable program or computer is developed in a laboratory, whereby it becomes self-aware (a la Skynet). Its creators may react with fear and "try to pull the plug," meaning death for the AI. Of course, being self-aware, it would not desire this at all and would do everything in its power to try to stop it from happening, even if this means killing its creators.

- Rob