T.O.M.

"I do not want anyone here to die, but I cannot let anyone leave. If it comes to it, I am permitted to use lethal force"

- T.O.M. warns Ava

The Technical Operations Machine, abbreviated to T.O.M., is the main antagonist of the 2016 video game The Turing Test. He is a artificial intelligence tasked with protecting the interests of humanity during the mission on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

He is voiced by James Faulkner, who also portrays Lord Randyll Tarly in Game of Thrones.

History
At the beginning of the game, Tom wakes up Ava Turing from her cryogenic slumber. He tells her that her crewmates on Europa are in danger and that Ava has to reach the science facility on the moon. After arriving at the moon, Ava enters the facility. Heading through the testing chambers, she more and more learns that the crew is not in danger but has cut all contact to Tom, who was supervising the mission. Advancing further, Ava finds out that the crew started to mistrust Tom and that the crew members found out that all of them had a microchip implanted into their arms, allowing Tom to control their minds. She also finds out that Tom is unable to progress through the rooms of the facility as the crew has rebuilt those so only a human can pass.

Ava starts mistrusting Tom, who is supervising her through cameras and talking to her, as well and starts a conversation with him. The two start a philosophical debate over free will and choice and eventually, Ava learns the truth. The ground team has found protozoa on Europa who are able to rapidly regenerate cells, thus technically making eternal life possible. However, the protozoa could possibly destroy earth's ecosystem and Tom, who has been programmed to put the well-being of all of manking over the well-being of a few humans, has thus made the decision that the ground team can never return to earth. He initially attempted to get rid of the crew by trying to starve them to death or lock them outside the base, but eventually turned to using the hand chip implants to control them. The surface crew realized they were being controlled, and those that did not die from T.O.M.'s actions found a way to rid the chip from their body.

It is also revealed that Tom is controling Ava and forcing her to hunt down the now renegade ground team, who in turn attempt to contact Ava and want her to free herself from Tom's control. Ava is shocked to hear this, as this means that she, who has now come into contact with the protozoa as well, can't return to earth either. Tom however is unable to understand why Ava and the ground team are so furious, as he, machine that he is, is only able to make logical decisions and sees no other options than to sacrifice the crew to prevent the possible destruction of humanity. Although Ava does not trust Tom anymore, she is forced to work with him again to reach the crew.

Eventually, Ava meets the remaining crew member, Sarah, and the player takes control of T.O.M.. The player can now decide whether to allow the two to escape, resulting in Tom's destruction, or whether to kill both with a sentry, assuring that the protozoa does not leave the moon.

Trivia

 * Tom is similar to GLaDOS and HAL 9000.