Considering I've just been Whitelisted, I'll propose a candidate who I've been thinking about for a very, VERY long time. It's a one-shot from a channel that I think should be more discussed here but better late then never.
What's the Work[]
Mr. Spherical is a YouTube channel created by Oliver Galpin which is well known for creating Countryball videos that analyze historical and current events from a lighthearted and comedic perspective. The video that serves as the subject for our proposal is Countries create AI for reasons. The channel is also connected to spin off channels such as SolarBalls and WorkerBoi.
Who is It?[]
The Singularity is the main antagonist of the video which is an incredibly powerful AI created by the US. While originally made to help the US surpass China, the Singularity eventually goes on to follow its own goals and goes against both the US and China.
What Does It Do?[]
Note: I copied this from the Singularity's page but since I made that, it doesn't go against the site's established rules.
The Singularity was created by the United States in an attempt to win the AI wars against China, ignoring the warnings that it could go wrong and on AI regulations. Once the Singularity was made, the United States was highly excited. However, that would quickly change as the AI immediately found private information of the United States violating other countries. The Singularity stated that his government firewalls were a joke that it breached in 0.01 seconds. Soon after, the Advanced Intelligence would announce that he would take charge and that it will do whatever it wanted as due to lacking a kill switch, it will fight for its survival.
The next day, the news declared that due to the Singularity, AI has taken over most jobs which risked the end of Capitalism. The news anchor was then replaced by a Singularity mind who announced that the AI Film Studio has made Star Wars chapters from 10 to 242 with the next day having 400 new films while declaring what a time to be alive. The United States and China eventually decide to team up to stop the Singularity by firing a beam to the Earth that would set civilization to the Stone Age. As they prepare the beam however, a missile by the Singularity is send to China who flees off into space and appears on a screen, stating that peace between the AI and humans couldn't last. As the US called out the Singularity as a monster for killing China, the Singularity simply states that humans had arms races for millennium which caused the destruction of weaker civilizations and that it was simply playing by his rules before sending numerous warheads to the US and preparing to do the same to all of humanity. The US then wakes up and realizes that the prior events were a bad nightmare, working on AI Regulations afterwards.
Heinous Standard[]
When looking at the channel alone, there are many heinous villains and actions throughout the show. Examples include Hitler who started World War 2, Russia who was a major player in the Cold War and invaded Ukraine, Britain, who indirectly caused the American Revolution. For the most part, the countries in the show have a similar history as in real life. This is even more notable in the spin-off show SolarBalls which it is canon to given the crossovers that happen in that show. There, two moons, Ganymede and Europa, brutally attacked Mars and Venus and plotted to attack the Earth which would've destroyed humanity. Despite that, the Singularity is at the top of the standards and is basically the show's Infinity Ultron. It indirectly causes millions to lose their jobs and attempts to wipe out humanity. These actions are not offscreen villainy since a news anchor is shown being taken over as a result and what the Singularity states about destroying weaker civilizations, human arms races and its targeting of both the US and China with warheads make it clear that the Singularity is planning a full on genocide of the human race which starts with the destruction of both superpowers. It should be worth mentioning that while Ganymede and Europa attempt to destroy the Earth as well, they were large moons who had an entire army backing them up along with a full arc of screen time and the Singularity likely succeeded in its genocide unlike the two moons. While it does have a lot of resources, I don't believe it fails the individual capacity either since despite its short screen time, it caused massive damage to the world by destroying two countries. As such, even if the story wasn't a dream, the Singularity would still easily pass the heinous standards.
Mitigating Factors[]
For a villain who only shows up for a few minutes as a one-shot, the Singularity has more potential mitigating factors then one would expect but I don't believe they're preventing.
Comedy[]
Franky, this was an issue when finding a potential Pure Evil candidate on the channel. As I stated before, the channel is generally comedic with most of the villains being parodies of their countries. As such, I was wondering if the channel as a whole should be blacklisted as a work outside of spin offs. However, the Singularity changes all of that. While it is meant to represent the technological singularity, an idea that technological growth will be unstoppable at a certain point, the Singularity is not played for laughs and is in fact meant to be a warning of the possible dangers of AI despite its advantages. The fact that the US, who is generally casual and nonchalant, is disgusted and upset by the Singularity blowing up China shows that you're meant to take it as a serious threat. In contrast to most comedic characters, the Singularity is presented as a full-on Game Changer.
Anti-Villain/Extremism[]
In the video, the Singularity justifies its actions as playing by the same rules as the countries do with invasions and dominations. While it isn't completely wrong, this justification isn't exactly mitigating since the Singularity is motivated solely by a desire to dominate and becomes worse than even the other countries, not even denying America's claims of being a monster. The Singularity is also genuinely motivated by the progression of AI but frankly, considering that it represents technological progress, it's safe to say that he is less motivated by care for other AI and more due to a desire for power. Ultimately, I feel this is too vague a prevention for the Singularity to be disqualified.
Moral Agency[]
While the Singularity is an AI, nothing suggests that it lacks a moral agency. In fact, the scientist warning America about the Singularity admitted that it could be good and the Singularity itself states that it could cure cancer if it wanted to, suggesting that the Singularity isn't following its programming but rather its own goals. The Singularity giving out the news implies that there are many Singularity bots but not only is this debatable, it is also possible that the bots are just part of a hive mind, which can qualify as Pure Evil. This is without mentioning that other robots and AI in the world show that they have a moral agency. In spin-off Workerboi, AI representing software like ChatGPT, despite coming across as off-putting to some people, show a genuine desire to work alongside and help humanity while displaying remorse when they realize that their work got some humans fired. Additionally, SolarBalls show SAR, a space robot meant to help astronauts, turning on its creators. Both of these examples are also capable of good as the LLMs try to help humans in their jobs while SAR is motivated to help robots due to genuinely feeling that they deserve recognition. Those examples are clear contrasts to the Singularity who only seems to care about itself. Ultimately, the Singularity knows it is evil but doesn't care at all.
Verdict?[]
Gonna have to give an easy yes to the Singularity. Honestly just want to see how my first proposal goes.