Since 1980, only one year — 2023 — produced two novels where AI wipes out humanity

A researched shortlist of 11 science-fiction novels in which artificial intelligence, intelligent robots, or machine minds bring completed extinction, near-extinction, or an active endgame against humanity, spread over 10 first-publication years from 1980 to 2024. This is a defensible lower bound, not a complete census: plot outcomes are subjective and no bibliographic database tags this exact fate.

Qualifying novels by first-publication year — one dot per book, height = books in that year

completed extinction — the last human dies near-extinction — a handful of survivors at most ongoing attempted extinction — the machines are still finishing the job

2023 is the only year with two qualifying titles: After World and In the Lives of Puppets, both near-extinction plots with a single last human — therumpus.net, thegeekiary.com

Just one novel on the list depicts a fully completed extinction: in Sea of Rust (2017) the robots win the war and the last human dies — malwarwickonbooks.com

Eight of the eleven novels appeared from 2011 onward, beginning with Robopocalypse, in which the AI Archos turns networked machines against people — best-sci-fi-books.com

The longest silence runs 18 years, from Great Sky River (1987) to Accelerando (2005), whose Vile Offspring wipe out most of humanity — en.wikipedia.org

All 11 novels on the shortlist

Year	Title & author	Outcome class	What happens to humanity	Plot source	Bibliographic source

Method: hand-researched shortlist of 11 science-fiction novels (one row per book) across 10 first-publication years, 1980–2024, compiled 2026-08-28 from broad web searches with plot and publication evidence cross-checked against the linked pages. A book qualifies when AI, intelligent robots, or machine intelligences cause completed extinction, near-extinction, or an active extermination endgame against humanity; short stories, film, TV, games, threats stopped before mass destruction, and non-AI catastrophes are excluded. The chart plots one precomputed books-per-year value per year to avoid double-counting. Counts are a lower bound; no column was cut.