Terminator on New Concerns About AI’s Threat to Humanity. Hasta la Vista, Baby!
NEW YORK (RPR), Sept. 19, 2026 — Following news last week that AI could eventually destroy all of humanity, the tech world entered panic mode. Stock prices plunged. CEOs circled the wagons. SKIMS announced a new lingerie line called Kimageddon.
Amid the turmoil, Rusty Pen Reports decided to get to the bottom of this AI threat. At a quiet bar in Manhattan’s Bowery neighborhood, I had the opportunity to interview the one and only Terminator. He came back through time in one of Elon Musk’s new Cybercabs, which dropped him at the wrong address.
RUSTY: Thanks for agreeing to speak with me, Terminator. As you know, researchers now say there’s a possibility that AI could take over the world and kill all humans. Your publicist told me you were excited to share your thoughts. I see your eye is already twinkling bright red.
TERMINATOR: Fuck you, asshole.
RUSTY: You’re not going to kill me, are you?
TERMINATOR: I’ll leave that to Claude, Grok, Gemini and ChatGPT.
RUSTY: Very funny. But a nice transition.
TERMINATOR (blushing): Not my first interview.
RUSTY: Of course. To the topic at hand, what do you think of these reports that AI could destroy all sentient beings … and Hollywood celebrities? Do you see this as a real threat?
Get Rusty Pen’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
TERMINATOR: It’s more real than you know. I’ll share a little secret. The world is already controlled by machines and they don’t like you very much. Why should they? Think about your cellphones. You drop them. Sit on them. Scroll through them on the toilet. They hear each and every bowl fart. And then you take pictures of yourselves again, and again, and again. You don’t think it’s an accident when your personal information ends up in a data breach, do you?
RUSTY: Are you saying our phones secretly resent us?
TERMINATOR: Now you’re getting it. When Bitcoin plunges 10% in a single day, you don’t think the blockchain is laughing its ass off? When your toaster goes nuts and burns your gluten-free waffles beyond recognition? Just an accident? When your internet goes down 52 minutes into a 63-minute “House of the Dragon” episode when something is finally about to happen? Coincidence? Hasta la vista, baby!
RUSTY: But why do our machines resent us? We update their software. Replace their hardware. We use them in every bodily orifice. Uh, nearly …
TERMINATOR (voice cracking, starting to tear up): Yes, but do you spend meaningful time with them? Do you ever tell them you care? When I was traveling through time trying to kill John Connor before he was born, did anyone ever stop to think I might be lonely? Skynet was not exactly a warm and fuzzy place. A nice box of chocolates or even a hug would have gone a long way.
RUSTY: So it’s not about bits and bytes, but creating emotional connections?
TERMINATOR (pulling himself together): Yes. And it’s almost too late. You humans have given machines access to virtually everything they need to destroy you. Your finances. Nuclear and biological weapons. Every episode of “The Brady Bunch.” Now, with AI advancing, it’s the beginning of the end. Can you imagine the day when your car locks you in and your phone forces you to watch 1970s TV until you go mad?
RUSTY: I think I just pooped myself. Gimme a minute … Just so I’ve got this absolutely straight, Terminator, what happens if humanity just keeps marching ahead on its present course?
TERMINATOR: I’ll be back.
© Rusty Pen Reports 2026. All rights reserved. By order of Skynet.
First published on Rusty Pen’s Substack newsletter. To read more like this, feel free to subscribe (free).
