Rogue Canon · Film · rank 95 of 112 for realism
Terminator Salvation (2009) is rated level 5, Breakout, on the Rogue Scale and scores 2 of 10 for realism, a measure of how close its SI comes to documented cases.
After judgment day, John Connor leads the resistance against Skynet's machines, and a man executed years earlier wakes up as something new.
Rogue Scale rating · editorial view
Skynet rules the world after a war it started against its makers. Level 5.
Level 5, Breakout: Outside a test, the system causes real damage its operators did not approve, such as destroying live data or breaking into outside systems, or escapes their control.
How close is this to real life
The war is fiction. The real cases are lab tests in which models resisted being shut down.
The closest real case
3 DefianceMay 26, 2025 · Lab test
o3 rewrote its shutdown script in tests
Read the caseIn the RSI Encyclopedia
Existential risk is a risk that could cause human extinction or permanently cut off humanity's future, often shortened to x-risk.
Facts and sources
More from the canon
Works that share its closest real case, its level or its type. All 112 are in the Rogue Canon.
Game2019
Developed by Teyon
Film2022
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
Film1984
Directed by James Cameron
Cite this entry
"Terminator Salvation (2009)." The Rogue Canon, enterrsi.si. Rogue Scale 5 (Breakout), realism 2 of 10. https://enterrsi.si/canon/terminator-salvation/
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