Novelisationerna är ganska oklara i ämnet. Både John och Sarah erbjuder sitt ämne, med att båda starkt föreslår att Skynet var avsikt för mänsklighetens förstörelse från get-go, men det finns ingen positiv bekräftelse från den allvetande författaren eller från Skynet själv:
She knew what no one else did: One day the computer designed to automatically control the U.S. nuclear strike force would become “alive,” and Skynet’s first sentient decision would be that mankind was obsolete. It would launch a first strike, riding out the firestorm of retaliation to follow, safe in a hardened underground complex in Cheyenne Mountain, while on the surface men, women, and children would writhe in their death throes. - Terminator 2: Judgement Day
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Before long, the machines Skynet had built to be its eyes, ears, and weapons would spread out across the earth to claim its prize. It wanted a world populated only with endless mechanical refractions of itself, the ultimate egoist, with direct control linkages to automated factories to realize its scheme. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
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It was every man for himself [thought John], until Skynet became alive and filled the void left by a seemingly disinterested God. Its vision was very controlled. The ultimate dream of man, carried out by one of man’s lowliest tools: eliminate evil men. But there was a touch of evil in all men, and Skynet was having trouble separating the worst of them out. So the totality of humanity, with all its biologic messiness, wasn’t wanted. And to this machine-god, forgiveness just did not compute. Only cold retribution for the sins of the past. Terminator 2: Judgement Day