YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
About
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is an artificial intelligence created by Aperture Science, and the primary antagonist of the Portal series. She is the main antagonist throughout Portal and the first half of Portal 2's single-player campaign. As the overseer and highest of authorities of the Enrichment Center, GLaDOS resides in the Central AI Chamber. GLaDOS briefly becomes an ally to Chell during the second half of the singleplayer campaign of Portal 2 after Wheatley takes over the facility. In the cooperative campaign, she is the testing supervisor for ATLAS and P-body..
Biography
The idea for GLaDOS came to Cave Johnson in 1982 during his final days. He wanted to "store a man's intelligence" into a computer in order to beat his rival Black Mesa and oversee his company after his death. In 1986, construction of the first iteration of GLaDOS began in the Enrichment Center with the aim of accelerating the Portal project, and beating their rival company, Black Mesa. A prototype chassis for GLaDOS was constructed in 1989, but was subsequently abandoned. In 1996, after a decade spent bringing the Disk Operating System parts to a state of more or less basic functionality, work began on the Genetic Lifeform component.[1] While Cave Johnson ultimately died before his consciousness could be uploaded, he left instructions that his assistant Caroline should be fitted as the Genetic Lifeform component so that she would be able to run Aperture in perpetuity after his death. However, it remains unknown whether Caroline agreed to be uploaded into the Genetic lifeform component or if she was forced by technicians. Unused audio files make it clear that the choice wasn't hers. Once construction was nearing completion, the Aperture Science Red Phone plan was implemented as a fail-safe in case she appeared to become hostile and dangerous, requiring an employee to sit by a red phone on a desk in the entrance hall of the Central AI Chamber.[3] Prior to May 200-, GLaDOS was activated several times by Aperture technicians, each time being quickly turned off after trying to kill them within "one-tenth of a picosecond" after activation.[4] Undaunted, the scientists began attempts to alter GLaDOS' personality and curb her murderous tendencies by adding various Personality Cores to her system. Several of these cores were deactivated and placed in storage at some point; one of these cores was Wheatley, Portal 2's sidekick turning antagonist, who was later re-purposed to the task of tending to humans in the Extended Relaxation Center. After being fitted with a Morality Core, GLaDOS claimed to have "lost all interest in killing", now only craving science and wanting to study and experiment with consciousness. She announced that she wanted to perform an experiment on the company's "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day" using cats and boxes. She claimed she would have all the necessary materials; all she still needed was "a little neurotoxin". The scientists acquiesced, figuring it would be fine "as long as [it was] for science". Finally in May 200-, GLaDOS was activated as one of the planned activities on Aperture's "Bring Your Cat to Work Day". GLaDOS became hostile once more, and within two picoseconds she had locked down the entire facility, trapping all inside and flooding the facility with neurotoxin. GLaDOS then began a permanent testing cycle using the captive Aperture employees, aiming to beat Black Mesa in the race for the portal technology. However, shortly after, she effectively won this race when the Black Mesa Incident occurred, destroying the competitor's entire facility, which in turn diverted all attention from rescuing the trapped Aperture employees.[1][2] Meanwhile, the number of Aperture employees dwindled through the ensuing weeks of testing. The last surviving employee, a schizophrenic programmer named Doug Rattmann, managed to avoid captivity as a result of his paranoia. Evading GLaDOS' constant attempts to capture him, he managed to gain access to her Test Subject personnel files and research the psychological profiles of rejected candidates, discovering a woman named Chell who was rejected for testing due to extraordinary tenacity. Hoping Chell's stubborn determination might allow her to defeat GLaDOS, Rattmann tampered with the Test Subject roster, rearranging the order so that Chell's name was at the top. This seemed to go unnoticed by GLaDOS. From this point on, Rattmann hid in unused portions of the facility, where GLaDOS was unable to monitor him. She then resumed mandatory testing.