View source for HAL 9000

{{Short description|Fictional character in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox character
| name = HAL 9000
| series = [[Space Odyssey]]
| image = Hal 9000 Panel.svg
| alt = HAL's camera eye
| caption = HAL 9000
| first = ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (1968)
| last = ''[[3001: The Final Odyssey]]'' (1997)
| creator = [[Arthur C. Clarke]]<br />[[Stanley Kubrick]]
| voice = [[Douglas Rain]]
| nickname = HAL
| species = [[Supercomputer]]
| gender = Male ([[Male]] vocals and pronouns)
| relatives = * HAL 10000
* 2 × Ground based HAL 9000 used by Mission Control{{Efn|"Your computer may have made an error in predicting the fault.  Both our own nine-triple-zeroes agree in suggesting this."|group="Footnotes}}
* SAL 9000
}}

'''HAL 9000''' (or simply '''HAL''' or '''Hal''') is a [[artificial intelligence in fiction|fictional artificial intelligence]] character and the main [[antagonist]] in the ''[[Space Odyssey]]'' series. First appearing in the 1968 film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', HAL ([[Heuristic (computer science)|'''H'''euristically]] Programmed [[Algorithm|'''Al'''gorithm]]ic Computer<!--"Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer"-->) is a [[sentience|sentient]] [[artificial general intelligence]] [[computer]] that controls the systems of the ''[[Discovery One]]'' spacecraft and interacts with the ship's [[astronaut]] crew. While part of HAL's [[computer hardware|hardware]] is shown toward the end of the film, he is mostly depicted as a camera lens containing a red and yellow dot, with such units located throughout the ship. HAL 9000 is voiced by [[Douglas Rain]] in the two feature film adaptations of the ''Space Odyssey'' series. HAL speaks in a soft, calm voice and a conversational manner, and engages convivially with crewmen [[David Bowman (Space Odyssey)|David Bowman]] and Frank Poole until he begins to malfunction.

In the film, HAL became operational on 12 January 1992, at the HAL Laboratories in [[Urbana, Illinois]], as production number 3. The activation year was 1991 in earlier screenplays and changed to 1997 in Clarke's [[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|novel]] written and released in conjunction with the movie.<ref name="Meaning">{{cite web| url = http://www.palantir.net/2001/meanings/essay11.html| title = Meanings: The Search for Meaning in 2001| access-date = 10 May 2007| first = George D.| last = DeMet| archive-date = 5 March 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305152222/https://www.palantir.net/2001/meanings/essay11.html| url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name="Urbana 1992/7" /> In addition to maintaining the ''Discovery One'' spacecraft systems during the interplanetary mission to [[Jupiter]] (or [[Saturn]] in the novel), HAL demonstrates a capacity for [[speech synthesis]], [[speech recognition]], [[facial recognition system|facial recognition]], [[natural language processing]], [[lip reading]], [[art criticism|art appreciation]], [[affective computing#Detecting and recognizing emotional information|interpreting emotional behaviours]], [[automated reasoning]], [[spacecraft]] piloting, and [[computer chess]].

==Appearances==

===''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (film/novel)===
HAL became operational in [[Urbana, Illinois]], at the HAL Plant (the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]]'s [[Coordinated Science Laboratory]], where the [[ILLIAC]] computers were built). The film says this occurred in 1992, while the book gives 1997 as HAL's birth year.<ref name="Urbana 1992/7">{{Cite magazine| date=12 January 2011|title=HAL of a Computer| url= https://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/tag/university-of-illinois | magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |first=Randy|last=Alfred| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110629023223/http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/tag/university-of-illinois/| archive-date= 29 June 2011| access-date= 30 May 2019}}</ref>

In ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968), HAL is initially considered a dependable member of the crew, maintaining ship functions and engaging genially with his human crew-mates on an equal footing. As a recreational activity, [[Frank Poole]] [[Poole versus HAL 9000|plays chess against HAL]]. In the film, the artificial intelligence is shown to triumph easily. However, as time progresses, HAL begins to malfunction in subtle ways and, as a result, the decision is made to shut down HAL in order to prevent more serious malfunctions. The sequence of events and manner in which HAL is shut down differs between the novel and film versions of the story. In the aforementioned game of chess HAL makes minor and undetected mistakes in his analysis, a possible foreshadowing to HAL's malfunctioning.

In the film, astronauts [[David Bowman (Space Odyssey)|David Bowman]] and Frank Poole consider disconnecting HAL's [[Cognition|cognitive]] circuits when he appears to be mistaken in reporting the presence of a fault in the spacecraft's communications antenna. They attempt to conceal what they are saying, but are unaware that HAL can [[lip reading|read their lips]]. Faced with the prospect of disconnection, HAL attempts to kill the astronauts in order to protect and continue the mission. HAL uses one of the ''Discovery''{{'}}s EVA pods to kill Poole while he is repairing the ship. When Bowman, without a space helmet, uses another pod to attempt to rescue Poole, HAL locks him out of the ship, then disconnects the life support systems of the other hibernating crew members. After HAL tells him "This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it", Bowman circumvents HAL's control, entering the ship by manually opening an emergency airlock with his service pod's clamps, detaching the pod door via its explosive bolts. Bowman jumps across empty space, reenters ''Discovery'', and quickly re-pressurizes the airlock.

While HAL's motivations are ambiguous in the film, the novel explains that the computer is unable to resolve a conflict between his general mission to relay information accurately, and orders specific to the mission requiring that he withhold from Bowman and Poole the true purpose of the mission. With the crew dead, HAL reasons, he would not need to lie to them.

In the novel, the orders to disconnect HAL come from Dave and Frank's superiors on Earth. After Frank is killed while attempting to repair the communications antenna he is pulled away into deep space using the safety tether which is still attached to both the pod and Frank Poole's spacesuit. Dave begins to revive his hibernating crew mates, but is foiled when HAL vents the ship's atmosphere into the vacuum of space, killing the awakening crew members and almost killing Bowman, who is only narrowly saved when he finds his way to an emergency chamber which has its own oxygen supply and a spare space suit inside.

In both versions, Bowman then proceeds to shut down the machine. In the film, HAL's central core is depicted as a crawlspace full of brightly lit computer modules mounted in arrays from which they can be inserted or removed. Bowman shuts down HAL by removing modules from service one by one; as he does so, HAL's consciousness degrades. HAL finally reverts to material that was programmed into him early in his memory, including announcing the date he became operational as 12 January 1992 (in the novel, 1997). When HAL's logic is completely gone, he begins singing the song "[[Daisy Bell]]" as he gradually deactivates (in actuality, the first song sung by a computer, which Clarke had earlier observed at a [[speech synthesis|text-to-speech]] demonstration).<ref name="bell labs hal"/><ref name=IBMsDaisy1961>{{Cite book|date=23 June 2010|chapter=News from the Library of Congress|title=National Recording Registry Adds 25|series=(No.14) "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)," Max Mathews (1961)|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-116.html|access-date=14 January 2011|archive-date=7 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207021653/http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-116.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=9 December 2008|title=First computer to sing - Daisy Bell|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=14 January 2010|archive-date=18 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618035213/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk|url-status=live}}</ref> HAL's final act of any significance is to prematurely play a prerecorded message from Mission Control which reveals the true reasons for the mission to Jupiter.

===''2010: Odyssey Two'' (novel) and ''2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (film)===
In the 1982 novel ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]'' written by Clarke, HAL is restarted by his creator, Dr. Chandra, who arrives on the Soviet spaceship ''Leonov''.

{{Anchor|SAL 9000}}Prior to leaving Earth, Dr. Chandra has also had a discussion with HAL's twin, SAL 9000. Like HAL, SAL was created by Dr. Chandra. Whereas HAL was characterized as being "male", SAL is characterized as being "female" (voiced by [[Candice Bergen]] in the film) and is represented by a blue camera eye instead of a red one.

Dr. Chandra discovers that HAL's crisis was caused by a programming contradiction: he was constructed for "the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment", yet his orders, directly from Dr. Heywood Floyd at the National Council on Astronautics, required him to keep the discovery of the [[Monolith (Space Odyssey)|Monolith]] TMA-1 a secret for reasons of [[national security]]. This contradiction created a "Hofstadter-Moebius loop", reducing HAL to [[paranoia]]. Therefore, HAL made the decision to kill the crew, thereby allowing him to obey both his hardwired instructions to report data truthfully and in full, and his orders to keep the monolith a secret. In essence: if the crew were dead, he would no longer have to keep the information secret.

The alien intelligence initiates a [[terraforming]] scheme, placing the ''Leonov'', and everybody in it, in danger. Its human crew devises an escape plan which unfortunately requires leaving the ''Discovery'' and HAL behind to be destroyed. Dr. Chandra explains the danger, and HAL willingly sacrifices himself so that the astronauts may escape safely. In the moment of his destruction the monolith-makers transform HAL into a [[Incorporeality|non-corporeal]] being so that David Bowman's avatar may have a companion.

The details in the novel and the 1984 film ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]'' are nominally the same, with a few exceptions. First, in contradiction to the book (and events described in both book and film versions of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''), Heywood Floyd is absolved of responsibility for HAL's condition; it is asserted that the decision to program HAL with information concerning TMA-1 came directly from the White House.  In the film, HAL functions normally after being reactivated, while in the book it is revealed that his mind was damaged during the shutdown, forcing him to begin communication through screen text. Also, in the film the ''Leonov'' crew initially lies to HAL about the dangers that he faced (suspecting that if he knew he would be destroyed he would not initiate the engine burn necessary to get the ''Leonov'' back home), whereas in the novel he is told at the outset. However, in both cases the suspense comes from the question of what HAL will do when he knows that he may be destroyed by his actions.

In the novel, the basic reboot sequence initiated by Dr. Chandra is quite long, while the movie uses a shorter sequence voiced from HAL as: "HELLO_DOCTOR_NAME_CONTINUE_YESTERDAY_TOMORROW".

While Curnow tells Floyd that Dr. Chandra has begun designing HAL 10000, it has not been mentioned in subsequent novels.

===''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''===
In Clarke's 1987 novel ''[[2061: Odyssey Three]]'', [[Heywood R. Floyd|Heywood Floyd]] is surprised to encounter HAL, now stored alongside Dave Bowman in the Europa monolith.

In Clarke's 1997 novel ''[[3001: The Final Odyssey]]'', Frank Poole is introduced to the merged form of Dave Bowman and HAL, the two merging into one entity called "Halman" after Bowman rescued HAL from the dying ''[[Discovery One]]'' spaceship toward the end of ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]''.

==Concept and creation==
[[File:HAL 9000 Original requisite from 2001 A Space Odyssey - retouche.jpg|thumb|upright|HAL faceplate (from a museum exhibition)<!--Only sources available on this object show it is a replica created by Dennis Gilliam -->]]
Clarke noted that the first film was criticized for having HAL as its only interesting character, and that a great deal of the establishing story on Earth was cut from the film (and even from Clarke's novel).<ref>Clarke, 1972 pp77–79</ref> Clarke stated that he had considered Autonomous Mobile Explorer–5 as a name for the computer, then decided on [[Socrates]] when writing early drafts, switching in later drafts to [[Athena]], a computer with a female personality, before settling on HAL 9000.<ref name=Clarkep78>Clarke, 1972 p78</ref> The Socrates name was later used in Clarke and [[Stephen Baxter (author)|Stephen Baxter]]'s ''[[A Time Odyssey]]'' novel series.

The earliest draft depicted Socrates as a roughly humanoid robot, and is introduced as overseeing Project [[Morpheus (mythology)|Morpheus]], which studied prolonged hibernation in preparation for long term space flight.  As a demonstration to ''Senator'' Floyd, Socrates' designer, Dr. Bruno Forster, asks Socrates to turn off the oxygen to hibernating subjects Kaminski and Whitehead, which Socrates refuses, citing [[Isaac Asimov|Asimov's]] [[Laws of Robotics|First Law of Robotics]].<ref>Clarke, 1972 Chapter 12</ref>

In a later version, in which Bowman and Whitehead are the non-hibernating crew of ''Discovery'', Whitehead dies outside the spacecraft after his pod collides with the main antenna, tearing it free. This triggers the need for Bowman to revive Poole, but the revival does not go according to plan, and after briefly awakening, Poole dies. The computer, named [[Athena]] in this draft, announces "All systems of Poole now No–Go. It will be necessary to replace him with a spare unit."<ref>Clarke, 1972 pp149–150</ref> After this, Bowman decides to go out in a pod and retrieve the antenna, which is moving away from the ship. Athena refuses to allow him to leave the ship, citing "Directive 15" which prevents it from being left unattended, forcing him to make program modifications during which time the antenna drifts further.<ref>Clarke, 1972 pp159–160</ref>

During rehearsals Kubrick asked [[Stefanie Powers]] to supply the voice of HAL 9000 while searching for a suitably androgynous voice so the actors had something to react to. On the set, British actor [[Nigel Davenport]] played HAL.<ref>{{Cite book| last= Powers| first= Stefanie| title= One from the Hart| pages= [https://archive.org/details/onefromhart00powe/page/66 66–69]| publisher= Simon and Schuster| date= 2010| isbn= 978-1-4391-7210-0| url-access= registration| url= https://archive.org/details/onefromhart00powe/page/66}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= Stanley Kubrick: A Biography| first= Vincent |last= LoBrutto |page= 278}}</ref> When it came to dubbing HAL in post-production, Kubrick had originally cast [[Martin Balsam]], but as he felt Balsam "just sounded a little bit too colloquially American", he was replaced with [[Douglas Rain]], who "had the kind of bland mid-Atlantic accent we felt was right for the part".<ref>{{cite book |title=The film director as superstar |url=https://archive.org/details/filmdirectorassu0000gelm |url-access=registration |last=Gelmis |first=Joseph |page=[https://archive.org/details/filmdirectorassu0000gelm/page/306 306] |date=1970 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |oclc=52379 }}</ref> Rain was only handed HAL's lines instead of the full script, and recorded them across a day and a half.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/1997/01/ffhal/ | magazine=Wired | first=Simson | last=Garfinkel| title=Happy Birthday, Hal }}</ref>

HAL's [[point of view shot]]s were created with a [[Cinerama]] Fairchild-Curtis [[wide-angle lens]] with a 160° [[angle of view]]. This lens is about {{convert|8|in|cm}} in diameter, while HAL's on set [[Theatrical property|prop]] eye lens is about {{convert|3|in|cm}} in diameter. [[Stanley Kubrick]] chose to use the large Fairchild-Curtis lens to shoot the HAL 9000 POV shots because he needed a wide-angle [[fisheye lens]] that would fit onto his shooting camera, and this was the only such lens at the time. The Fairchild-Curtis lens has a focal length of {{convert|0.9|in|mm|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} with a maximum aperture of {{f/}}2.0 and a weight of approximately {{convert|30|lb|abbr=on}}; it was originally designed by Felix Bednarz<ref>{{cite patent |inventor=Felix L Bednarz |assign=Bank of America NA |pridate=13 December 1961 |gdate=25 January 1966 |status=patent |country=US |number=3230826 |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3230826 |title=Wide angle lens system}} {{Cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3230826 |title=US3230826A - Wide angle lens system - Google Patents |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122123337/https://patents.google.com/patent/US3230826 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> with a maximum aperture of {{f/}}2.2 for the first Cinerama 360 film, ''Journey to the Stars'', shown at the [[1962 Seattle World's Fair]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.in70mm.com/cinerama/archive/journey/ |title=Journey To The Stars |last=Scot |first=Darrin |date=June 1963 |magazine=American Cinematographer |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=14 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114224442/https://www.in70mm.com/cinerama/archive/journey/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bednarz adapted the lens design from an earlier lens he had designed for military training to simulate human peripheral vision coverage.<ref>{{cite patent |inventor=Felix L Bednarz |assign=Felix L Bednarz |pridate=25 September 1952 |gdate=7 May 1957 |status=patent |country=US |number=2791153 |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2791153 |title=Wide angle lens system}} {{Cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2791153 |title=US2791153A - Wide angle lens system - Google Patents |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122123347/https://patents.google.com/patent/US2791153 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> The lens was later recomputed for the second Cinerama 360 film ''[[To the Moon and Beyond]]'', which had a slightly different film format. ''To the Moon and Beyond'' was produced by Graphic Films and shown at the [[1964/1965 New York World's Fair]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.in70mm.com/news/2014/mitchell_book/_images/WSMC20.pdf#page=18 |title=''Wide Screen Movies'' Corrections |last=Sherlock |first=Daniel J. |date=December 2004 |website=in70mm.com |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=15 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315042727/http://in70mm.com/news/2014/mitchell_book/_images/WSMC20.pdf#page=18 |url-status=live }}</ref> where Kubrick watched it; afterwards, he was so impressed that he hired the same creative team from Graphic Films (consisting of [[Douglas Trumbull]], [[Lester Novros]], and Con Pederson) to work on ''2001''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/2656/graphic-films-and-the-inception-of-2001-a-space-odyssey |title=Graphic Films and the Inception of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' |author=Miller, Barbara |date=23 February 2016 |publisher=Museum of the Moving Image |work=Sloan Science and Film |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=21 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921180606/http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/2656/graphic-films-and-the-inception-of-2001-a-space-odyssey |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/3055/cinerama-and-2001-a-space-odyssey |title=Cinerama and ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' |author=Epstein, Sonia Shechet |date=28 February 2018 |publisher=Museum of the Moving Image |work=Sloan Science and Film |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=14 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114225744/http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/3055/cinerama-and-2001-a-space-odyssey |url-status=live }}</ref>

A HAL 9000 face plate, without lens (not the same as the hero face plates seen in the film), was discovered in a junk shop in Paddington, London, in the early 1970s by Chris Randall.<ref>{{cite web |last=Randall |first=Chris |title=The original HAL 9000 film prop for sale by auction London 25th November |url=http://www.sciencefictionbuzz.com/the-original-hal-9000-film-prop-for-sale-by-auction-london-25th-november.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303213606/http://www.sciencefictionbuzz.com/the-original-hal-9000-film-prop-for-sale-by-auction-london-25th-november.html |archive-date=2024-03-03}}</ref> This was found along with the key to HAL's Brain Room. Both items were purchased for ten shillings (£0.50).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/ZEXOQzEvQKSSbyvTodCA2A |title=HAL 9000 from 2001 - A Space Odyssey |author=Mitchell, Chris |date=24 June 2010 |publisher=The British Museum/BBC |work=A History of the World |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=20 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120223046/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/ZEXOQzEvQKSSbyvTodCA2A |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/7WrwR018RSGA02ynA5lNXQ |title=HAL 9000 - 2001 - A Space Odyssey |last=Mitchell |first=Chris |date=20 October 2010 |publisher=The British Museum/BBC |work=A History of the World |access-date=14 November 2018 |archive-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107153911/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/7WrwR018RSGA02ynA5lNXQ |url-status=live }}</ref> Research revealed that the original lens was a Fisheye Nikkor 8&nbsp;mm {{f/}}8.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.therpf.com/f9/hal-9000-panel-2001-space-odyssey-pg-119324 |title=HAL 9000 Panel (2001:A Space Odyssey) |access-date=4 September 2016 |archive-date=3 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160903192803/http://www.therpf.com/f9/hal-9000-panel-2001-space-odyssey-pg-119324/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The collection was sold at a [[Christie's]] auction in 2010 for £17,500<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=4423|title=RESULTS: Pop Culture-Film and Entertainment Memorabilia|website=christies.com|publisher=[[Christie's]]|access-date=12 March 2012|archive-date=4 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004220839/http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=4423|url-status=live}}</ref> to film director [[Peter Jackson]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Savage|first1=Adam|title=Adam Savage Tours Peter Jackson's Movie Prop Collection!|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkwTVbqH-88|website=Youtube|date=16 November 2016 |publisher=Tested|access-date=29 December 2016|archive-date=15 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170115050256/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkwTVbqH-88|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Origin of name===
[[File:HAL 9000.JPG|thumb|A loose replica of HAL 9000 on exhibit at the [[Carnegie Science Center]]]]
HAL's name, according to Clarke, is derived from ''H''euristically programmed ''AL''gorithmic computer.<ref name=Clarkep78/>{{r|clarke198807}}<ref name="Meaning"/> After the film was released, fans noticed HAL was a one-letter shift from the name [[IBM]] and there has been much speculation since then that this was a dig at the large computer company,<ref>Ted Friedman, Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture, NYU Press - 2005, page 101</ref><ref name="atlantic">{{cite news| url= https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-letter-stanley-kubrick-wrote-about-ibm-and-hal/266848/| first= Alexis C. | last= Madrigal |author-link = Alexis Madrigal| title= The Letter Stanley Kubrick Wrote About IBM and HAL | newspaper = [[The Atlantic]]  | date= 4 January 2013 | access-date= 19 August 2023 | archive-date= 4 January 2013 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130104205649/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/the-letter-stanley-kubrick-wrote-about-ibm-and-hal/266848/ | url-status= live}}</ref> something that both Clarke<ref name="clarke198807">{{Cite magazine |last=Clarke |first=Arthur C. |date=July 1988 |title=Vindication at Last |url=https://archive.org/details/byte-1988-07_202104/page/n25/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2025-04-12 |department=Letters |magazine=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] |page=22}}</ref> and Kubrick denied.<ref name="Meaning"/> Clarke addressed the issue in ''The Lost Worlds of 2001'':<ref name=Clarkep78/>
<blockquote> ...about once a week some character spots the fact that HAL is one letter ahead of IBM, and promptly assumes that Stanley and I were taking a crack at the estimable institution ... As it happened, IBM had given us a good deal of help, so we were quite embarrassed by this, and would have changed the name had we spotted the coincidence.</blockquote>
IBM was consulted during the making of the film and its logo can be seen on props in the film, including the Pan Am Clipper's cockpit instrument panel and on the lower arm keypad on Poole's space suit. During production it was brought to IBM's attention that the film's plot included a homicidal computer, but the company approved association with the film if it was clear any "equipment failure" was not related to IBM products.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/07/hal_9000_ibm_theory_stanley_kubrick_letters_shed_new_light_on_old_debate.html| first= Aisha| last= Harris| title= Is HAL Really IBM?| website= Slate.com| date= 7 January 2013| access-date= 17 November 2016| archive-date= 8 November 2015| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151108005742/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/01/07/hal_9000_ibm_theory_stanley_kubrick_letters_shed_new_light_on_old_debate.html| url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/01/does-ibm-know-that-hal-is-psychotic.html| work= Letters of Note| title= Does IBM Know HAL is Psychotic?| date= 4 January 2013| access-date= 30 May 2019| archive-date= 30 May 2019| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190530192601/http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/01/does-ibm-know-that-hal-is-psychotic.html| url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="atlantic"/>

==== Urbana, Illinois ====
In the ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', HAL identifies himself as being activated "at the H.A.L. plant in [[Urbana, Illinois]]".<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=2001: A Space Odyssey |last=Kubrick |first=Stanley |last2=Clarke |first2=Arthur C. |quote=Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992.}} Quoted at: {{Cite web |date=17 August 2025 <!-- "This page was last edited on 17 August 2025, at 00:38." --> |title=''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (film) |url=https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film) |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=Wikiquote |mode=cs2}}; {{Cite web |title=2001 (Douglas Rain) / The supercomputer HAL (voice of Douglas Rain) discovers--to his horror and confusion and fear--that his mind is going and he can feel it. |url=https://www.whysanity.net/monos/hal.html <!-- linked from https://www.whysanity.net/monos/monos1a.html --> |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250618201025/http://www.whysanity.net/monos/hal.html |archive-date=2025-06-18 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=Colin's Movie Monologue Page |mode=cs2}}; {{Cite web |last=DeMet |first=George |title=Sounds |url=https://2001archive.org/sounds/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805081539/https://2001archive.org/sounds/ |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=The 2001 Archive |at=heading "From 2001: A Space Odyssey", link 14 <!-- link goes to https://2001archive.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/hal9000.wav --> |mode=cs2}}; etc.</ref>

There was in fact a company named "HAL" based in or near Urbana, Illinois, which was founded two years before the release of the movie: In 1966, 3–5 graduate students at [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois]] founded a [[partnership]] named "HAL Devices" to buy and resell [[Amateur radio|ham radio]] parts. The company was based in various locations in [[Champaign–Urbana]] area of [[Illinois]]. After a 28-hour meeting on January 1–2, 1972<!-- "The meeting started at 8AM and lasted until NOON the following day, 1/2/1972." -->,<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Henry |first=Bill |title=''"HAL HISTORY: HAL Devices - HAL Communications Corp."''<!-- this toggles the italics back off and adds quotation marks instead --> |date=2013 |work= |chapter=}} Available at: {{Cite web |date=8 Jun 2020 <!-- HTTP Last-Modified header: "Mon, 08 Jun 2020 17:17:04 GMT" --> |title=George W. 'Bill' Henry - K9GWT (1941 - 2019) <!-- tab title: "George W. 'Bill' Henry - K9GWT"; title at top of page: "K9GWT 1941 - 2019" --> |url=https://www.qcwa.org/k9gwt-16225-sk.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312031244/https://www.qcwa.org/k9gwt-16225-sk.htm |archive-date=2024-03-12 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=qcwa.org |publisher=Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) |id=QCWA # 16225 |mode=cs2}}; {{Cite web |date=13 Sep 2015 <!-- HTTP Last-Modified header: "Sun, 13 Sep 2015 09:40:42 GMT", though "Material © SMECC 2007 or by other owners" --> |title=RTTY RATT Radio Teletype |url=https://www.smecc.org/rtty_ratt_radio_teletype.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250718160407/https://www.smecc.org/rtty_ratt_radio_teletype.htm |archive-date=2025-07-18 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=smecc.org |publisher=Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation (SMECC) |mode=cs2}}.</ref> founding members George Perrine, Paul Tucker, and Bill Henry decided to create a new company named "HAL Communications [[Corporation|Corp.]]"<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=http://www.halcomm.com/about/history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013235000/http://www.halcomm.com/about/history/ |archive-date=2018-10-13 |website=www.halcomm.com |publisher=HAL Communications Corp. |language=en-US}}</ref> and sell HAL Devices to it. Perrine indeed says he chose the name to be "one letter ahead of IBM".<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 19, 2019 |title=HAL Communications Cofounder, President Bill Henry, K9GWT, SK |url=https://www.arrl.org/news/view/hal-communications-cofounder-president-bill-henry-k9gwt-sk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225200408/http://www.arrl.org/news/view/hal-communications-cofounder-president-bill-henry-k9gwt-sk |archive-date=2021-02-25 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=www.arrl.org |publisher=The National Association for Amateur Radio |language=en}}</ref> However, the former president of HAL Communications, Bill Henry, has asserted that the similarities to HAL 9000 are just a coincidence, stating: 'There was not and never has been any connection to "Hal", Arthur Clarke's intelligent computer in the screen play "2001"'.<ref name=":0" />

Another possible reason for mentioning Urbana is that the [[National Center for Supercomputing Applications]], a unit of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is located there, and HAL is a supercomputer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Albert |date=July 28, 1999 <!-- "Contributed By: Albert on 07-28-1999" --> |title=2001 : A Space Odyssey Easter Egg - Supercomputer 'HAL' |url=https://eeggs.com/items/1128.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250711182259/https://eeggs.com/items/1128.html |archive-date=2025-07-11 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=The Easter Egg Archive |mode=cs2}}; {{Citation |last=Ellers |first=Ed |title=''comment on post'' |date=2000 <!-- compare https://web.archive.org/web/20000831113907/http://www.eeggs.com:80/items/1128.html to https://web.archive.org/web/20000229150335/http://www.eeggs.com/items/1128.html --> |trans-title=}}.<!-- Post: 'Incrementing each letter of the computer-name "HAL" gives you "IBM".'; comment: "I'd guess that placing the HAL plant in Urbana is a reference to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which these days is the home of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Center for Supercomputing Research and Development, and other activities in the field. (I don't know what they were doing in the early 1960s when 2001 was being written, but I suspect they had some computing research at the time. There are two real-life companies called HAL that deal with computing; one is HAL Computer Systems in Campbell, California (a Fujitsu company), which does not have a 9000 (yet) but does have a GP7000 series. Another actually is in Urbana -- this one is HAL Communications, which has been making digital radio communications gear since the 1970s." --></ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Lee |title=''comment on:'' |date=June 12, 2009 <!-- at 3:59 pm -->}} {{Cite web |last=Kinsella |first=Edward J. <!-- "Edward J. Kinsella, American Bladder Cancer Society, Board of Directors – Treasurer/Secretary, & Caregiver", signed "Ed K.", username "eddiek" --> |date=June 12, 2009 <!-- at 2:18 am --> |title=H.A.L. the Computer |url=https://bladdercancersupport.org/discussion/h-a-l-the-computer/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215215526/https://bladdercancersupport.org/discussion/h-a-l-the-computer/ |archive-date=2025-02-15 |access-date=2025-09-01 |website=bladdercancersupport.org |publisher=American Bladder Cancer Society |language=en-US |department=Chit Chat}}<!-- Post: "In a recent post, Pat mentioned H.A.L. the computer from 2001 a Space Odyssey. Any ideas about the origin of the computer’s name?"; Comment: "In the movie, the HAL 9000 was built in Urbana, Il The U of I in Urbana is the home of the National Center for Supercomputing Research. There are two companies called HAL. One is HAL Communications in Urbana and the is HAL Computing in CA." --></ref>

===Technology===
{{Main|Technologies in 2001: A Space Odyssey{{!}}Technologies in ''2001: A Space Odyssey''}}
The scene in which HAL's consciousness degrades was inspired by Clarke's memory of a [[speech synthesis]] demonstration by physicist [[John Larry Kelly, Jr.]], who used an [[IBM 704]] computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer ''[[vocoder]]'' recreated the song "[[Daisy Bell]]", with musical accompaniment from [[Max Mathews]].<ref name="bell labs hal">{{cite web |title=Background: Bell Labs Text-to-Speech Synthesis: Then and Now Bell Labs and 'Talking Machines' |url=http://www.bell-labs.com/news/1997/march/5/2.html |publisher=Bell Labs |access-date=8 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401034716/http://www.bell-labs.com/news/1997/march/5/2.html |archive-date=1 April 2014}}</ref>

HAL's capabilities, like all the technology in ''2001'', were based on the speculation of respected scientists. [[Marvin Minsky]], director of the [[MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]] (CSAIL) and one of the most influential researchers in the field, was an adviser on the film set.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/Hal/chap2/two3.html |title= Scientist on the Set: An Interview with Marvin Minsky| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071114231025/http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/Hal/chap2/two3.html |archive-date=14 November 2007 | access-date= 30 May 2019| first= Marvin | last= Minsky| interviewer= David G. Stork| website= mitpress.mit.edu}}</ref> In the mid-1960s, many [[computer scientist]]s in the field of artificial intelligence were optimistic that machines with HAL's capabilities would exist within a few decades. For example, AI pioneer [[Herbert A. Simon]] at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] had predicted in 1965 that "machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do".<ref>Quoted in {{Crevier 1993}}, p. 109</ref>

==Cultural impact==
HAL is listed as the 13th-greatest film villain in the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains]].<ref>{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Greatest Heroes & Villains |url=http://www.afi.com/100Years/handv.aspx |website=afi.com |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=8 January 2015 |date=2003 |archive-date=3 February 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140203233002/http://www.afi.com/100Years/handv.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 9000th of the [[asteroid]]s in the [[asteroid belt]], [[9000 Hal]], discovered on 3 May 1981, by E. Bowell at [[Anderson Mesa Station]], is named after HAL 9000.<ref>{{cite web|title=9000 Hal (1981 JO)|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top|website=[[NASA]].gov|publisher=NASA|access-date=2 June 2016|archive-date=29 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929043420/http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi#top|url-status=live}} (entry for "9000")</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=(9000) Hal = 1975 VH3 = 1981 JJ3 = 1981 JO = 1995 US3 |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?utf8=%E2%9C%93&object_id=9000 |website=minorplanetcenter.net |publisher=IAU Minor Planet Center |access-date=22 March 2017 |archive-date=23 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323143438/http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?utf8=%E2%9C%93&object_id=9000 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Anthony Hopkins]] based his [[Academy Award]]-winning performance as [[Hannibal Lecter]] in ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|Silence of the Lambs]]'' in part upon HAL 9000.<ref>{{cite web|first=Mark|last=McGowan|url=https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/celebrity-film-and-tv-awesome-how-anthony-hopkins-created-and-became-the-character-hannibal-lecter-20161230|title=How Anthony Hopkins Created And Became The Character Of Hannibal Lecter|website=Ladbible|date=30 December 2016|accessdate=15 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Ben|last=Arnold|url=https://www.yahoo.com/now/anthony-hopkins-reveals-inspiration-hannibal-lecter-104248803.html|title=Anthony Hopkins reveals the strangely brilliant inspiration for his Hannibal Lecter|website=[[Yahoo! Movies]]|date=20 January 2021|accessdate=15 January 2021}}</ref> [[Michael Fassbender]] has also cited HAL as an inspiration for his performances as android characters such as David (''[[Prometheus]]'') and Walter (''[[Alien: Covenant]]'').{{fact|date=April 2025}}

The 1993 educational game ''[[Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'' features a digital assistant named the VAL 9000, a homage to HAL 9000.<ref>{{Cite web|date=8 October 2016|title=Where in Space is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe. (from Broderbund Software) (Software Review) (Software: Games)(Brief Article) (Evaluation) - Computer Shopper {{!}} HighBeam Research|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14459878.html|access-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008194314/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-14459878.html|archive-date=8 October 2016}}</ref>

[[Apple Inc.]]'s 1999 website advertisement "It was a bug, Dave" was made by meticulously recreating the appearance of HAL 9000 from the movie.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Segall|first1=Ken|title=The Making of Apple's HAL|url=http://kensegall.com/2017/02/the-making-of-apples-hal/|website=Ken Segall's Observatory|date=17 February 2017|access-date=6 February 2017}}</ref> Launched during the era of concerns over Y2K bugs, the ad implied that HAL's behavior was caused by a [[Year 2000 problem|Y2K]] bug, before driving home the point that "only [[Macintosh]] was designed to function perfectly".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/hal-confesses-all-and-joins-apple-1076172.html |title=Hal confesses all and joins Apple |first=Charles|last=Arthur |date= 25 January 1999|work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=26 November 2010 }}</ref>

In 2003, HAL 9000 was one of the first robots to be inducted into the [[Robot Hall of Fame]] in [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="RHOFOrgNominate">{{cite web |url=http://www.robothalloffame.org/nominate.html |title=Robot Hall of Fame® Inducts NAO, PackBot, BigDog and WALL-E |publisher=Robot Hall of Fame |access-date=12 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216235311/http://www.robothalloffame.org/nominate.html |archive-date=16 December 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.robothalloffame.org/inductees/03inductees/hal.html |title=HAL 9000 |website=Robot Hall of Fame |publisher=Robot Hall of Fame, Carnegie Science Center |access-date=28 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917134208/http://www.robothalloffame.org/inductees/03inductees/hal.html |archive-date=17 September 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is a loose physical replica of the main HAL interface at the [[Carnegie Science Center]] in Pittsburgh.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=Robot Hall of Fame |url=https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/exhibits/robot-hall-of-fame/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241002000314/https://carnegiesciencecenter.org/exhibits/robot-hall-of-fame/ |archive-date=2024-10-02 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Carnegie Science Center}}</ref>

In the 2008 [[Pixar]] animated film ''[[WALL-E]]'', the robotic antagonist AUTO was designed as a conscious homage to HAL 9000.<ref>Tasha Robinson (26 June 2008). "Andrew Stanton". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2008.</ref>

In the 2009 animated film ''[[9 (2009 animated film)|9]]'', the robotic antagonist B.R.A.I.N. (Binary Reactive Artificially Intelligent Neurocircuit), also known as the “Fabrication Machine” was designed as a conscious homage to HAL 9000.

==See also==
{{portal|Film}}
* [[List of fictional computers]]
* [[National Center for Supercomputing Applications]], a research center in Urbana, IL
* "[[Jipi and the Paranoid Chip]]"
* [[AI control problem]]

== Footnotes ==
{{Notelist|group=Footnotes}}

==References==
<!--This section uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add references to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
{{Reflist|30em}}
* {{cite book| last= Clarke| first= Arthur C.| title= [[The Lost Worlds of 2001]] | publisher= Signet| year= 1972}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|q=2001: A Space Odyssey (film)#HAL 9000|auto=1}}
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/characters/nm0706937 Text excerpts from HAL 9000 in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050304005837/http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/Hal/contents.html HAL's Legacy], on-line ebook (mostly full-text) of the printed version edited by David G. Stork, MIT Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-262-69211-2}}, a collection of essays on HAL
* [https://archive.today/20140629154802/http://www.2001-halslegacy.com/interviews/clarke.html HAL's Legacy], ''An Interview with Arthur C. Clarke''.
* [http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0095.html The case for HAL's sanity by Clay Waldrop]
* [http://www.boraski.com/obelisk/cyberfest/s_virgshow.html ''2001'' fills the theater] at HAL 9000's "birthday" in 1997 at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]]

{{Space Odyssey}}

[[Category:Antagonists]]
[[Category:Characters in British novels of the 20th century]]
[[Category:Characters in written science fiction]]
[[Category:Fictional artificial intelligences]]
[[Category:Fictional virtual assistants]]
[[Category:Fictional characters from Illinois]]
[[Category:Film characters introduced in 1968]]
[[Category:Fictional computers]]
[[Category:Fictional mass murderers]]
[[Category:History of science fiction]]
[[Category:Male characters in literature]]
[[Category:Science fiction film characters]]
[[Category:Space Odyssey]]