Image: Shutterstock AI Generator/Shutterstock
Boot up the dial-up modem, fire up your green-screen terminal, and don’t forget to say, “Hello, Joshua .”
June 3rd marks the anniversary of WarGames , the 1983 movie in which a teenager accidentally hacks into a military AI and nearly starts a global thermonuclear war. You know, typical 80s tech movie stuff.
While floppy disks and acoustic modems have faded, the big themes—AI, automation, and cybersecurity—are more relevant than ever. That got me thinking: How much would you trust an AI to make critical IT or security decisions at your organization?
How concerned are you about AI systems making autonomous IT operations and security decisions?
- Very concerned – human oversight is essential
- Somewhat concerned – depends on the use case
- Not concerned – AI is a helpful tool
- Excited – automation is the future
- Haven’t thought about it much
- Other, tell us below
Did WarGames spark your inner hacker? Are you ready to hand the keys over to AI, or is WOPR still giving you nightmares?
Did a movie like WarGames (or others) inspire your interest in computers or IT?
- Yes – WarGames or similar 80s/90s movies
- Yes – but a film from a different era
- No – my interest came from elsewhere
- Other, tell us below
Got an idea for our weekly the-voice-of-it or other polls? Let us know below or email us at community@spiceworks.com.
27 Spice ups
Windows Defender removing legitimate licensed software is something that has been frustrating me for quite a while. No way I am trusting a system like that to make ‘smart’ choices.
22 Spice ups
No, I’m not worried. Mostly because if/when AI makes a decision that blows up in the face of whoever trust it explicitly, that problem tend to solve itself.
Yes, AI is a tool, and like most other tools, using it has some risks. If the operator doesn’t understand said risk, then…well. FAFO is a thing even in IT.
19 Spice ups
awegroup
(awegroup)
4
The issue is that given the ‘connected’ nature of things, the FAFO principle may well extend to others who didn’t actually do the FA. 
21 Spice ups
This is indeed true, but again, such things tend to sort themselves out. Either the person that blindly trusts the tool gets blown up, or gets shipped out 
8 Spice ups
The problem (as I see it) with AI, is that it “learns” from what is already available on the internet. Which we all know is deeply flawed, incorrect, criminal, and dangerous. So why anyone would want to trust something that learns from all of that is beyond me. It’ll just create the uber version of the worst kind of people, and that’s never going to end well…
insert obligatory “that’s how you get Terminators” post
22 Spice ups
John5152
(John5152)
7
For some reason I can’t figure Weird Science was more inspirational for me!
20 Spice ups
I had an Intellevision back in the late 70’s. I would have issues with the controllers occasionally and have to call tech support. Eventually I was able to fix it on my own.
10 Spice ups
Hackers and Pirates of Silicon Valley were more influential than WarGames (fine film that it is).
But ultimately it was gaming and making my crap computer work with what I had that truly sparked my interest.
10 Spice ups
Lonny6654
(Lonny6654)
11
For me, it wasn’t the movies that sparked my interest in technology—it was computers in school. My first real addiction? Oregon Trail. That game had me hooked.
Then came the Timex Sinclair 1000, complete with 16K of RAM and a tape drive to save my work. It was basic, but it opened up a whole new world for me.
I worked hard and saved up to buy a Commodore 64 with dual disk drives. Back then, computer magazines would publish full programs you could type in line by line. It was a blast—not just entering the code, but tweaking it to make it do what you wanted. My first experience with an Eliza program was on this computer.
Eventually, I moved into the PC era with an IBM PCjr .
But what really launched me into IT as a career was running a BBS (Bulletin Board System) for four or five years. I had to learn how to upgrade and maintain the system just to keep it running—and affordably. That hands-on experience was invaluable.
Back on Topic…
AI has actually been around in some form for quite a while. At its core, it’s a set of algorithms designed to respond to input. What’s changed is the scale—today’s AI has access to an unprecedented amount of data. That’s what makes it feel so powerful and different now.
19 Spice ups
I didn’t see WarGames until I was already hooked on computers, starting with our Commodore 64. Hours spent hand copying code from books/magazines into files on 5.25" floppies… good times.
River Raid was where it was at.
8 Spice ups
craigrrr
(CraiGrrr)
13
Way back in the 70s days, the wruble computing center here at IU B-ton hosted a few text game platforms that my very young self did manage to have access to through dial-up. Star Trek was one, and another was a submarine missile vs soviet union game named something along the lines of missile attack or something. I lived those from about ages 10-13. Was ready to be swept away when Gibson’s book Neuromancer was published. But that Star Trek game… man it was cruel. True story was the grad student in the center that got to the last Klingon vessel and then had his warp core go out. He went nuts on terminals with a chair. So the war had already begun way back then.
5 Spice ups
Another, “He was too young” trigger.
We watched “Commando” over the weekend. I had totally forgotten Bill Paxton was in that.
7 Spice ups
I don’t remember him in it… most likely due to a small role?
7 Spice ups
somedude2
(somedude2)
16
The funny thing is, the AI generated picture has everything in it but the computer..lol
(The keyboard is about right, looks like it is from a Sol)
But no one remembers the best part of this movie, the graphics displays when the simulation of WW3 was happening, those were real computer generated graphics, multi screen, giant displays, from an 8 bit machine using cromemco graphics cards…bleeding edge tech at the time…
8 Spice ups
I was well into it before War Games came out. My love affair with computers (and hacking (not the bad kind)) began in early January 1974 thanks to an amazing prof at Georgia Tech (Dr. Eugene Wagstaff) and his intro to programming (in FORTRAN) course. RIP, Dr. Wagstaff. You inspired thousands of us.
4 Spice ups
Yes. I’m very concerned with AI being responsible for anything. Dr Robert Malone just posted a very interesting article where he had a conversation with Grok regarding disinformation being posted by several well knows news outlets. During the course of the conversation Grok initially defended the fake news articles until Dr. Malone provided proof and had Grok dig deeper. Grok finally admitted it was wrong in it’s initial assessment and agreed with Dr. Malone that the articles posted were not factual.
8 Spice ups
The way I see it, AI is another game-changing tool that is in it’s infancy. What we are seeing now are the early attempts, much like the Wright Flyer and the Model T (et. al.). Those things were marvels of their time, but very sketchy technologically - and sometimes outright deadly, due to poor design and lack of foresight. The same is true now, with some AIs simply inventing things when they can’t figure out something, which is great for creative design but very bad for sensitive technical operations.
I think that AI will eventually put sysadmins out of work, but it won’t be anytime soon. I believe that because I don’t think AI will get very “I” until after quantum computing goes mainstream, and that’s still a ways away.
Anyone who wants to get filthy rich should figure out who the AI-equivalent of Microsoft or Apple is going to be and make some investments - your descendants will thank you.
7 Spice ups
