It is straight out of the Terminator movies, with advances in artificial intelligence destroying humanity, the ultimate hubris:
http://collapse.news/2018-06-03-ai-could-spark-a-nuclear-apocalypse-by-2040.html
“A new study conducted by the RAND Corporation warns that advances in artificial intelligence could spark a nuclear apocalypse as soon as 2040. The researchers gathered information from experts in nuclear issues, government, AI research, AI policy, and national security. According to the paper, AI machines might not destroy the world autonomously, but artificial intelligence could encourage humans to take apocalyptic risks with military decisions. Humans will inevitably trust in AI technology to a greater extent, as advances are made in AI for detection, tracking, and targeting. The newfound data intelligence that AI provides will escalate war time tensions and encourage bold, calculated decisions. As armies trust AI to translate data, they will be more apt to take drastic measures against one another. It will be like playing chess against a computer that can predict your future moves and make decisions accordingly. Since 1945, the thought of mutually assured destruction through nuclear war has kept countries accountable to one another. With AI calculating risks more efficiently, armies will be able to attack with greater precision.
Trusting in AI, humans may be able to advance their use of nuclear weapons as they predict and mitigate retaliatory forces. Opposing forces may see nuclear weapons as their only way out. In the paper, researchers highlight the potential of AI to erode the condition of mutually assured destruction, therefore undermining strategic stability. Humans could take more calculated risks using nuclear weapons if they come to trust in the AI’s understanding of data. An improvement in sensor technology, for example, could help one side take out opposing submarines, as they gain bargaining leverage in an escalating conflict. AI will give armies the knowledge they need to take risky moves that give them the upper hand in battle."
https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE296.html
Humans have always used whatever weapons they had available, including nuclear weapons. There is no reason to believe that AI will not be abused in the most diabolical ways, making Hollywood movies like the Terminator, seem mild by comparison. I shudder to think what they will do with nanotech, perhaps melting into a “grey goo” the entire planet:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo