Moxon's Master

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"Moxon's Master" is a short story by the late 19th Century American author Ambrose Bierce that speculates on the nature of life and intelligence. It describes a chess-playing robot automaton that murders its creator. Published in 1909, it is one of the first descriptions of a robot in English literature.

In the story, the master, Moxon, is found to be conversing with an unnamed narrator. After a thorough discussion about what it is to be "thinking" and "intelligent", the unnamed narrator leaves Moxon to his robot creation. After winning the game, the "automaton" kills Moxon. The narrator having observed this later questions what he really saw, though does not directly deny it.