Holden is a bit more realistic so I’ll go with him.

^ True, but I'd argue AM is more nightmarishly possible to occur in the future.

Holden, just because of how disgusting he is

^ Definitely see your point. But IMO, what tips AM over is that Holden can eventually be stopped or get rid of and his crimes at least don't threaten all of humanity. AM can literally never be stopped, besides the game, and his crimes encompass all of humanity.

I’d argue motivation. While it’s not necessarily redeeming, AM still has a genuine reason to despise humanity for causing his own suffering. Holden on the other hand does what he does purely because he finds it funny.

@The Pleasure Dome Hyper-advanced evil AIs, especially ones like AM, still have a lot of logical hurdles to jump before they could be considered plausible in real life, if ever. Even then, at the end of the day, the ensuing carnage would more be the responsibility of the evil and/or stupid humans who created the program than the program itself, same as any weapon of mass destruction. Holden is just a very cruel and very powerful person, something that has, does and will always exist everywhere on Earth as long as humanity does. Minus the parts where he might be a demon, but you get the idea. AM is one of many apocalypse scenarios that could happen however long from now but there are countless Holdens in existence right this second, doing what they do best.

^ That's true. Just saying. When we get a real life Holden, they'll eventually go away or be stopped. Once we get an AM in real life, it's all over.

AM is low-key relatable

Nahhhhhhh