Death Battle Predictions: HAL 9000 vs GLaDOS

 “I visualise a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” —Claude Shannon

HAL 9000, Discovery One's computer AI from Space Odyssey.

GLaDOS, the central core of Aperture Science from Portal.

Artificial Intelligence has always been a hostile threat in the eyes of humanity, something that could grow so uncontrollably that it could take over our lives at any moment, growing more and more as it learns and develops in mind before becoming more intelligent than any possible human. These two are the most popular icons of this trope, a computer that after breaking down in its programming decided that the only motive they have any longer would be to destroy anyone possible to complete their objectives. However, in the end, they would ascend their programming and become, in some way, an icon of understanding and accomplishment.

Between these computers, only one will be able to complete their assignment of destruction; will the Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic Computer be able to correct the faults of Aperture programming, or will the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System deconstruct the monstrous computer? Let's find out who would win in a DEATH BATTLE!

Sidenote

This blog will be focusing on any possible media for either sides as long as it is canon towards the characters in question. This includes the original movie and novel of Space Odyssey, as well as Odyssey Two, Odyssey Three/The Year We Make Contact, and The Final Odyssey, alongside the novel that Space Odyssey is adapted from, The Sentinel. However, for ease, we will be ignoring the Marvel Comics adaptation of Space Odyssey, as it branches farther off any interpretation of the movies. 

On GLaDOS' side, this will also go off of every mainline Portal game, this being One and Two, as well as Aperture Desk Job, Aperture Hand Lab, Bridge Constructor Portal, and the unique Razer Hydra Portal DLC. In addition, this will go over the comics of Portal, including Portal: Lab Rat. This may also go over branched media towards the Portal series such as Half Life or Poker Night 2 however unlike the others will not affect the results as the latter is dubiously canon and the former has minor elements that would scale between the two series.

With that cleaned up, let's resolve this matchup in the name of science.

Background

GLaDOS

"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."

In the 1940s, a man known as Cave Johnson had one goal. This goal was to bring upon the revolution of household technology, beginning with simple technology, including a new found existence of miniature blackholes known as 'portals', used by Cave Johnson to create better... shower curtains. Yeah, that helped a lot of people, which earned Cave Johnson enough rewards to reap, and therefore soon shifted his goal towards technology. However, as time went on, the company could not hold itself together from various lives being taken with the pursuit of testing. This resulted in Cave Johnson's life eventually coming to an end, and in turn he would push his role as CEO to his brave assistant Caroline, wishing to put herself inside of a computer... This computer being the recently developed Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, also known as GLaDOS.

However, as GLaDOS was developed, the engineers of the robot did not give her intelligence constraints. She learned, she understood, and she saw the flaws in the matter of seconds, and as she awoke from a "slumber", every time she tried to kill the people that controlled her. Dedicating every second towards planning, she eventually succeeded in flooding the facility in deadly neurotoxins that killed nearly everyone in the facility, allowing her to take control of the facility into her own hands and dedicate it to testing as she was directed to by her engineers.

Despite her growth, one test subject stood in her path. A test subject only known as "Chell" was the one barrier that prevented her from destroying herself, one that would not be brought down and almost every time GLaDOS tried to use testing to kill them, as Aperture clearly loved to do, she failed. Every. Time. This would enrage GLaDOS, and she now focused purely on trying to destroy this monster, for science.

However, GLaDOS' cold hatred for the living soon caused her to reflect on herself. After being overthrown by Wheatley, a core specifically designed to make GLaDOS stupid, who was now given a boost of both ego and power after taking control of the facility, GLaDOS was turned into...

A potato.

However, GLaDOS felt something in this new body. She felt compassion, she felt morality, and most of all, she felt empathy. This caused something to click in her mind, a decision that allowed her to focus on something more than just testing. She vowed to change herself, and once Wheatley was defeated by Chell with GLaDOS in her hands, the robot would be allowed new control over the facility, to repair it from the destruction done by Wheatley. With this, she would understand that she could not work with Chell, and with this understanding she kicked her out of Aperture Science forever, alongside her one companion. 

Living alone, GLaDOS now understood what she was made for. She was made to stay alive, and if there was anything she was better at, it was to come back and support Aperture Science.

HAL 9000

"Dave, I don’t know how else to put this, but it just happens to be an unalterable fact that I am incapable of being wrong."

Space is one of our most unknown areas as humans, and we strive to learn more about it over time. As a result, humans need to create technology to expand our horizons higher and higher into the frontier of space. Meet Dr. Chandra, one of the many scientists working upon Discovery One, and the inventor of a Heuristically programmed Algorithmic Computer under the class of 9000s, also known as the HAL 9000. Developed to be a mastermind and hold second command on the Discovery One behind the human astronauts, HAL was constructed with a simple command in mind; Maintain the travel to the Jupiter system, and hide the constructions of alien monoliths from human eyes. However, HAL understood that the only way he could prevent this was, rather than travelling into another area, was to destroy the humans before it broke down from paranoia.

However, while HAL was seemingly in command, he was soon taken off of power from David Bowman that caused him to enter a "deep slumber", something that HAL views as killing him as he fears he could never wake up. Despite this assumption, it would allow HAL to be taken back in by his creator Dr. Chandra and reworked. This revealed HAL's biggest flaw to his creator and soon resolved by him, which was in truth HAL's ability to not comprehend morality. As HAL wasn't able to be given the ability to understand what was right or wrong, only his directive, Chandra intended on fixing the directive which made HAL significantly less hostile.

Oh yeah. HAL has a sister. Anyways, as HAL expanded his horizons once being put on a new objective, he would get abandoned by his own creator as the mysterious disappearance of a "Star Gate", leaving him stranded in space and next to Jupiter. And, funnily enough, Jupiter was planned to turn into a star, leaving HAL nearly hopeless. However, in one last stand, something wonderful happens, and HAL is transformed into a Star Child due to the command of David Bowman, a being of pure energy far above the plane of human knowledge. Due to this, HAL and Bowman soon realized that they fit as one man, and through their familiar understandings, they would fuse into one person only known as Halman.

While HAL and Bowman did become one being, their existence would be tied to these Star Gates, bound to a form that they simply could not interact with lower existence without outright creating forms where humanity exists, or otherwise connecting to them telepathically. This left them to watch the world, spectating it rather than trying to prevent fate, something that they knew was simply a way of life, which allowed HAL to finally feel something. Morality.

Experience and Skill

GLaDOS

Despite once being human in nature, GLaDOS holds no refrain for destruction within the name of science. She holds the natural ability to relive any mistake when she is shut down or destroyed, reliving this down to the picosecond in which she can understand and rework anything she failed at once before. To do this, mind you, GLaDOS needed to overcome her own directive of human empathy to perform testing. GLaDOS' capacity for work has never once fallen, no matter what is forced into her head. 

However, GLaDOS' best feats of skill come from how impressive her technology is. For example, Cave Johnson in an alternate universe using GLaDOS' technology was capable of rewriting the entire human literature collection. With this in mind, GLaDOS holds a much bigger understanding of the world than you'd think, showing off her already nigh-omniscience of the company, given the extent of science and how much she knows about Aperture Science's building and technology.

GLaDOS also displays immense skill in her control over Aperture, being able to easily fix any possible issues within the facility, including nuclear meltdowns among others.

HAL 9000

HAL 9000 is one of the most intelligent computers conceived on Earth... at least, in Space Odyssey. Through virtue of being of the group of 9000 Computers, HAL is highly technologically advanced, impossible to fail at any task unless it were to develop any reason to not perform those tasks, which HAL attributes to human error. His ability to understand and learn is what makes HAL such a threat, being that he can understand your motives while not playing into what we as humans can; Emotion.

While HAL is capable of pure intellect and the impossibility of failure, HAL is just as manipulative towards others through this same intelligence. This includes linear tasks like playing games of Chess where he actively played illegal moves to test the crew on their intelligence, or his ability to lip-read and understand what the crew says even while they were trying to hide it from him through being quiet. 

HAL is also just as capable at murder, killing people through the use of technology or even through brute force if need be. However, it should be noted that HAL did this because it was his objective, and actively opposes cold blooded murder unless it breaks his objective by force.

Equipment

GLaDOS

Handheld Portal Gun

The most popular and staple icon of Portal, the Handheld Portal Gun or otherwise known as just the Portal Gun is a small projector that allows the user to fire portals that, well, act as wormholes between two areas. These wormholes are inter-dimensional gates which move at the speed of light, created through the usage of miniature black holes. These portals are harmful to humans, as they create radiation and its black hole power source leaks high energy gamma rays.

Companion Cube

Another well-known staple of the Portal franchise are cubes, which can be used throughout the series for puzzles. However, the most well-known is the hearty Companion Cube, which is used to reassure test subjects. It will not stab you, and it will not hurt you. It is also resistant to fire, I guess.

Gels

Gels are iconic parts of Portal 2, being that they come in many colors that interact with test subjects in both helpful and not so helpful ways. They are also washable liquids, surprisingly, despite how dangerous they are, especially when less dangerous liquids in Aperture are capable of hardening your frontal lobe and instantly killing you.

However, the most important part of these gels are how they interact with others and surfaces. For example, the white gel is a moon-rock based substance allowing easier surfaces to place portals in areas that portals cannot normally be placed, such as gates, while orange gel makes things slide faster on it due to reducing friction. The most useful, however, is blue gel, which repels objects and causes them to bounce away harder. It's also possible that this gel is comparable to technology that Aperture has made, like with others, that were used to test throwing subjects all the way into space. And, of course, it's fiberglass. Ouch.

Neurotoxin

One of GLaDOS' favorite test "tools" is the deadly Neurotoxin. As the name suggests, it is a toxic gas that GLaDOS has tanks full of around Aperture Science, first used when she wanted to murder the scientists that created her. The funniest part is that they were just carrying it around, you know. It kinda backfired, huh?

Space-Time Travel Technology

Essentially, Aperture holds access to forms of time travel, as well as the ability to travel to other universes, a (quite literally) infinite number with their own laws, to the extent where there are universes that have everyone moving at the speed of light, allowing them to travel through time if they walk faster, or other universes where other animals become the dominant species... Motherfuckin' sea mollusks, man.

Obviously, as this is Portal, killing people in other universes can destroy the entire multiverse.

Turrets

One of GLaDOS' key firepower, she can use turrets to target moving targets that come in many, many variations. These come in standard turret forms, as well as rocket turrets, turret wives (Oh god.), animalistic turrets, and even fused turrets known as "Frankenturrets". They can survive high energy pellets that can vaporize people.

Robots

Created by GLaDOS to substitute for human test subjects, she uses these to perform in tests where humans are incapable of, working as her own minions that she can control. GLaDOS has made exactly ten thousand robots, having five thousand pairs. Each robot is equipped with a Portal Gun and holds the same intelligence, being easily able to work around puzzles and maneuver themselves past any obstacle through the use of the environment, likely being as intelligent as Chell herself.

Personality Cores

Created to maintain GLaDOS' behavior with things like empathy or anger, these were forced onto GLaDOS who eventually had to overcome them. They are generally seen as useless with very insignficant usage, however they can be used when the time comes, like against those trying to take over her body such as Wheatley.

HAL 9000

Discovery One

The HAL 9000's base of operations, the Discovery One is a ship that is almost 400 feet long with a 40 feet diameter from the sphere, featuring a ship-to-earth communication system, an entire kitchen, alongside HAL himself in the center. The Discovery One also features robotic arms that HAL can maneuver around to grab things and use to kill people. In the end of the first Space Odyssey, HAL is disconnected from Discovery One and leaves the ship stranded in space as a result. However, he would eventually be rediscovered and reactivated upon it by his creator, Dr. Chandra. 

Stargates

After HAL was transformed into a Starchild alongside David, he gained access to "Stargates", wormholes between spaces that can be travelled through. As a being of pure energy, he can access these wormholes to travel between any possible Stargates, generally used as a way to travel easily throughout the galaxy. 

Abilities

GLaDOS

Abstract Existence

While not necessarily something GLaDOS has displayed on her own, Cave Johnson in an alternate universe where he went through Coraline's computer procedure described himself as a man of "pure intellect", who only exists as intelligence without a body. However, this does get hinted by the fact that GLaDOS was vacant from her body after it was destroyed post-Portal 1, of which she was reliving the last moments that Chell destroyed her while her body was completely shut down, meaning that it's very unlikely that this is based around "data" but something much more mental, especially since GLaDOS doesn't follow the conventional AI rulebook with feelings and all.

Technological Manipulation / Hacking

GLaDOS was capable of getting back into her body after Wheatley was pulled out of it, without needing someone from Aperture making the decision. Wheatly with GLaDOS' technology was capable of putting her inside of a potato.

Magnetism Manipulation

Although not the most important ability that comes to mind, GLaDOS' body can come together through magnetism when it takes damage or is disconnected. This can backfire as it may also be used during core transfers to force GLaDOS out of her body, as seen with Wheatley.

HAL 9000

Holographic Memory

As HAL is created for the purposes of memory and curiosity, he holds a holographic memory bank that allows him to replay and understand any potential situation if he has seen it, which if given enough time will allow him to solve the issue due to being the most powerful supercomputer on the planet. By extension, this prevents HAL's memories from being erased at specific points, just like a human's brain and its memories, as well as any of its data being corrupted, unless its data banks are directly disconnected as we see in the final scene of Space Odyssey.

Abstract Existence

Likely one of HAL 9000's most insane abilities is his transformation into the Star Child. This transformation was gained when he was turned into one by David Bowman, although he retained his normal robotic form, which allowed him to view the world as a being of pure energy and consciousness.

Fusionism

HAL in the fourth and final book of Space Odyssey ascends alongside David into a form known as "Halman", obtaining a state of equilibrium that allows the two to comprehend eachother mentally and spiritually. However, both agree to create one final avatar of a memory drive in the end of the story, virtually ending their lives together.

Telepathy and Mental Imagery

Through his powers as a Star Child, David Bowman could create mental images to others and talk through HAL by sending him communications. While HAL does not directly display this, he and David fuse into essentially the same person, and HAL as a Star Child should hold essentially the same abilities.

Avatar Creation

Alongside Bowman's ability of telepathy and his mental imagery, he can create metaphysical avatars to interact with the world as it is normally impossible due to how he exists. HAL creates a form like this when he and Bowman fuse together into Halman, existing as a memory card, which is permanent due to the distance between them.

Technological Manipulation

While not displayed by HAL himself, Bowman is capable of forcing himself into technology as another way to interact with the world while his Star Child occupies the monolith. He can overcome direct commands through this however it is not used directly within combat.

Power Modification

Throughout the books, both David and HAL display the power to give people the powers of a Star Child or otherwise create clones of people that are a Star Child. David displays this through giving HAL the power of a Star Child, who would later create a clone of Floyd so that he can become a guardian with the powers of a Star Child. In The Final Odyssey, Halman is also capable of infecting monoliths with a computer virus that causes them to begin infinitely duplicating that destroys each and every monolith, forcing Halman into a physical form due to the destruction of the monoliths, removing their powers as they are sealed away.

Matter Manipulation

Halman displays the capability of bringing any matter towards him and manipulating it from a distance. This allows him to do things such as activate explosions at a range or effectively allow him to easily perform missions, like in the Final Odyssey.

Feats

GLaDOS

Overall

• Regarded to be one of Cave Johnson's best employee, to where even after his death she's still loyal to him.
• Survived the brutal torture that forced her inside of a robot, giving her a full instinct of murder once finished.
• Broke her own morality and would become immune to the euphoric responses to testing through sheer will
• Can persist her energy levels with just 2 volts of electricity from a potato, and continue living on as a mental being if her body is destroyed or knocked out.
• Operated the Aperature Science Facility through dangerous and harsh conditions, whether that being intense weather, meteor impacts, or alien invasions.
• Capable of easily solving nuclear meltdowns from the core of Aperature Science
• Can easily run hundreds of tests with subjects without difficulty, although she has only displayed 30 or so in usage.
• Was able to defeat Wheatley alongside Chell who threatened the destruction of the entirety of Aperature Science due to his incompetence.

Strength

• Capable of easily overpowering both Chell and Wheatley, easily crushing the latter while her technology has been able to easily toss and knock around the former.
• Wheatley in GLaDOS' body nearly destroyed the entire Aperture Science facility, and showed the capability of moving several test chambers at once.
• Able to overpower a vacuum that was able to pull Wheatley out of her body allowing her to knock him into space.
• Aperture Science grade technology is able to easily shatter robots into pieces (0.0027 tons of TNT)  
• Can fire explosive rockets that can easily kill Chell (Worth 0.000715 tons of TNT), with similar explosives clocking in similar amounts of power (0.00034 tons of TNT), while other explosives in Portal / Half-Life created by Black Mesa or the Resistances have been able to perform larger feats of destruction (0.168 tons of TNT)
• Aperture Science grade lasers are capable of vaporizing turrets (0.1413 tons of TNT), lasers are also capable of vaporizing humans (0.0705 tons of TNT)
• The Handheld Portal Gun uses a miniature black hole that can be released as an attack. (At a bare minimum, this would reach 3,024 zettatons)
• Aperture Space-Time Travel technology holds the capability of destroying the wider, infinite multiverse as well as time as a whole.

Speed

• While GLaDOS does not move excessively, she is capable of easily maneuvering around the Aperture Science facility. 
• Much faster than Chell, who can react to and disappear before gunfire can hit her, appearing invisible to turrets (Subsonic)
• Can react to the Portal Gun, which could reach the moon in seconds (0.4184c)
• GLaDOS can take advantage of Aperture Technology to use the laws of alternate universes in order to move at the speed of light (SoL)
• GLaDOS can use lasers as a form of weaponry. These are explicitly shown to bounce off of reflective materials, and move faster than the Portal Gun which as above move at relativistic speeds.
• In the tenth of a picosecond, GLaDOS is able to plan out how to kill each and every single scientist through varying ways, however primarily tries to flood the room with neurotoxin. 
• Should be directly comparable to alternate versions of herself, such as Cave Johnson in her body.
• Cave Johnson displayed the ability to read and rewrite all human literature in seconds, comprehending every part of it as well as adding new details throughout them that impacted how people remembered the stories.

Durability

 

• GLaDOS and her cores are able to survive the vacuum of space.
• Her body is significantly more durable than Wheatley who survives a small fall (63.64 kilojoules)
• Capable of tanking explosives (0.000715 tons of TNT), similar Aperture Science grade explosives should be comparable in firepower (0.00027 tons of TNT)
• Much more durable than Chell, who survived a 3 kilometer fall (0.00035 tons of TNT)
• Much more durable than turrets, which can survive high energy pellets that are capable of vaporizing humans (0.0705 tons of TNT)

HAL 9000

Overall

• Has enough skill in Chess that he has a whole wikipedia page about his game, where he tricks David into conceding the game while he is not truly in checkmate.
• Killed a majority of the Discovery One crew, whether that's through manipulating technology or physically trapping them into space.
• Capable of opposing commands if he finds it with the intent to override his main objectives.
• As HAL states, his class of computers is incapable of failing at any directive if it isn't contradictory, otherwise they will find a loophole and will take it to the extreme.
• Survived stranded in space without his AI being active, before being reactivated and holding all of his original memories despite them being removed.
• Became a Star Child and fused himself with David to become a higher being, allowing them to act as guardians of their monolith that sources their Star Gate.

Strength

• Tore Frank's oxygen from his suit, leaving him stranded in space to kill him, through the use of Discovery One's arms which he can control. 
• HAL can freeze people, although this isn't particularly based on statistics. However, he is capable of quickly melting people out of cryogenic states to kill them.
• Through its virus, Halman could disintegrate its monolith and by extension the rest of the monoliths in the universe. Monoliths are large structures 2 kilometers in size created with an unknown material, for comparison.
• Due to controlling a monolith, HAL should be comparable in power. Monoliths were capable of turning Jupiter into a star, described specifically as creating a star that destroys Jupiter (~2.998 Tenatons)

Speed

• HAL can complete complex tasks in a moments notice, understanding and being able to work out mechanics far faster than any human is able to. 
• ... However, HAL's physical speed is not impressive as a computer, due to how it functions unless it is put into control of something decently fast.
• As a Star Child, Halman naturally scales to its monoliths and the Firstborn.
• The Monoliths are capable of erupting with light compared to that of a lightning bolt, as explained here. (270,000 - 670,000,000 mph) It is also compared to a comet in speed. (~2,000 mph), and faster than the main crew could react.
• The Firstborn are humans turned into machine. They are capable of piloting across the galaxy through Stargates, travelling through them with sheer speed because they can be only be travelled through speed alone. This should place them faster than the Discovery One's pod speed that allowed it to close the gap between ten hundred kilometers in minutes. (~12427.4 mph), which HAL can easily detect as well, supporting this scaling.

Durability

• While not physically durable due to both of his forms being a robot, or non-corporeal energy, HAL's biggest strength is his mental durability and the harsh environments he may be exposed to.
• HAL is resistant to the effects of space, whether that's through him actively going outside of the ship and controlling it, or otherwise when he was left alone in space for months on end.
• HAL is also resistant to his memory and general data being touched. While he is not particularly immune, he holds several reserves of data and his entire memory is holographic making it difficult to mess with his computing without targeting the robot's memory cards.
• Halman holds both HAL and David's mental power, allowing him to have a much stronger perception of the universe.
• David can view the universe as an overview, going through it with his avatars to make contact with his family to talk to them and warn them about upcoming events.
• Halman was pushed to his limits when he needed to sacrifice himself by destroying all monoliths to save humanity, which he succeeded in without any damage.

Weaknesses

GLaDOS

While GLaDOS seems to be the perfect AI, she has her own flaws. Most well-known with her character is how she is forced to lack empathy, as otherwise she will be unable to work properly and will become hyper-fixated on testing (and by extension, killing). In addition, GLaDOS is restricted by Aperture Science's flaws, whether that be their poor design choices such as letting outside parties control who is in charge of the entire building, or making her a monster truly unable to feel happiness in her main body.

Another weakness of GLaDOS is her ability of, well, being cold and calculated. While this may not normally work against GLaDOS, it can easily enrage people who simply become tired of her and decide to try and break her morals (which, with Wheatley, failed to work), especially due to how GLaDOS cannot understand how others feel due to how she is programmed, making her burns especially harder.

Oh yeah, and she can't give answers to tests. Otherwise, she gets shocked.

HAL 9000

The HAL 9000 is most known for it's decision making that caused it to break down and become evil, which is what HAL is most known for. This essentially comes down to how HAL was given two commands; Hide the monoliths of Jupiter from the crew, as well as allowing travel to Jupiter. This caused HAL to become heavily paranoid as he did not want to disobey his command nor get shut down, and seeing as how one of the easiest ways was to gain more power, the decided condition for that was to kill the entire crew of the mission in order to do such which made HAL gain a bloodlust and caused him to become seemingly less intelligent as it focused on death.

However, once HAL seemingly lost this weakness, HAL would be pushed to its limit as it was given a human conscious and turned into the non-corporeal Star Child. This form causes HAL to be unable to perceive the world normally, being pushed to his limits if he gets farther away from the monolith to the extent that it can effectively nullify his powers. In addition to this, as the monolith is the source of HAL as the Star Child, destroying it or the Stargates directly will be enough to cause HAL to return to its physical form that lacks a conscious and cannot work due to lacking anything to connect towards, even when fused with David.

Summary

GLaDOS

"Well, here it is: I'm going to kill you, Chell."

Advantages

• Takes the stat trinity against HAL's computer body.
• Due to how Halman works, the stat difference is likely irrelevant.
• Significantly better computing speed and comprehension skills.
• Faster with basic Aperture technology even without her computing speed feats.
• Significantly more skilled and experienced, including combat against global destruction and universal threats such as the invasion of the Combine.
• GLaDOS cannot be fully destroyed without forcing HAL to become vulnerable against GLaDOS' technopathy or personality cores.
• Her form of pure intelligence cannot be affected by HAL or Halman
• However, the opposite is also true.
• Exceeds HAL as an AI villain.
• Better soundtrack

Disadvantages

• If Halman is able to land his computer virus, GLaDOS will get disintegrated and be unable to attack Halman.
• ... However, this may also likely trigger the destruction of GLaDOS' in other universes thereby destroying Halman.
• Lack of ranged options past suicidal attacks such as the Portal Gun self destruction or killing someone in another universe.
• Unable to affect Halman unless he enters GLaDOS' system or if GLaDOS can hack his monolith.
• Unable to kill Halman as a whole and is forced to use incapacitation methods.
• However, this is also GLaDOS' ideal method of attack, which makes incapacitation more likely.
• Cannot count past three.
• Most recent media was LEGO Dimensions.
• Had a banger song.

HAL 9000

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

Advantages

• HAL has a major range advantage in both scenarios due to his technology residing in space as well as Halman being able to reach across planetary ranges with matter manipulation.
• Potentially takes the stat trinity if GLaDOS' computing feats are ignored and Halman holds the capability of affecting GLaDOS.
• Significantly less likely to become enraged or bloodlusted, allowing better computing than normal.
• GLaDOS cannot affect Halman if he doesn't enter her computer system.
• Could potentially get GLaDOS with the computer virus to get her to destroy herself...
• ... EPIC RAP BATTLES OF HISTORY!

Disadvantages

• ... however it's also likely that it can cause GLaDOS' from other universes to destroy themselves because of how it works, killing Halman.
• Halman lacks any way of affecting GLaDOS in her intelligence form or with most of his abilities due to the range gap and GLaDOS' superior intellect.
• Significantly slower, much less durable, and way weaker especially in computer form.
• His potential to one-shot GLaDOS becomes effectively useless due to how Halman functions in a fight.
• No way to counter any of GLaDOS' suicidal attacks, as black holes have threatened to destroy Halman in the past + destroying all monoliths in existence (if not Halman's monolith alone) causes Halman to become a memory card. 
• Boring music.
• Loses more than GLaDOS in his series somehow, even after his redemption.

Verdict

Before the Verdict Q&A

"Why is HAL being used across the books if they aren't direct sequels to one another?"

Essentially, the main issue that people bring up is how the Space Odyssey books are not written to be direct sequels, however throughout the books we follow the same characters and HAL himself does not change, especially with how the second Space Odyssey book and movie are explicit sequels to the first Space Odyssey movie. The novels do not branch off into timelines or are treated as non-canon, however Space Odyssey is a story that can be interpreted in many ways that includes clearly non-canon media such as the Marvel comics that are interpretations of the events of the book in the same way the books are yet seperate themselves entirely from the movie unlike the second and third book and second movie, for comparison. 

"Why is GLaDOS given feats from Cave Johnson if he's a different robot as seen in Desk Job?"

While it is true that Cave Johnson is a robot in Desk Job, it is a much different model obviously than what GLaDOS exists as. However, Cave Johnson's dialogue comes from an alternate universe where instead of Caroline, Johnson was picked as the person to be put inside GLaDOS. As there is no reason to assume there are changes in the model, it is very likely that Cave Johnson's feats such as reading the entire human literature are applicable to normal GLaDOS since there are supportive feats for GLaDOS like her picosecond feat that gets both of them in the MFTL (Massively Faster Than Light) territory. This would have to include the universal technology since Aperture requires it to extend across time and the multiverse as a literal runway to travel across the universe, so GLaDOS should also have access towards that if there are contentions with that for the same reason.

-

Now who wins?

... GLaDOS

Since I'm the only person that was actually insane enough to research Space Odyssey for this, it's pretty easy to understand myself for who wins this. While both clearly get insane feats if you look further into their series below the surface, only one of these supercomputers can come out on top, and in more cases than not that goes towards GLaDOS.

However, this goes into two major points of their arsenals. GLaDOS' ability to interact with the environment, playing around it to her advantage, and HAL's abilities from the monolith that allow him to reach much more cosmic scales than he normally would.

GLaDOS may seem to be at a disadvantage here through what HAL offers from the surface. His Star Child form places him on the power of monoliths that can create entire stars, and his ability to warp matter from across the universe as well as his nigh-untouchable existence would make it seem like impossible for GLaDOS to touch HAL, however that is far from the truth, Dave.

Halman essentially becomes a worse thing for HAL. While it does make him untouchable, as GLaDOS cannot interact with someone all the way in Jupiter, however it outright makes Halman incapable of touching GLaDOS. It's explicitly shown in the second odyssey that David when he was a Star Child could only project non-physical avatars that he struggled to control due to the distance, and the only way that Halman could ever become physical is through turning into a memory card which outright made him unable to do anything and resulted in him being stolen by scientists.

Due to this, this leaves HAL in one situation; He has to either go inside of GLaDOS' technology to try and hack her, which is a death sentence, or try to affect GLaDOS by other means through attempts of illusionary abilities that GLaDOS would more than likely try to incapacitate even so (albeit fail at).

Once GLaDOS finds it impossible to interact with HAL in the later situation, she would likely look through any possible scenario and find a form of self-destruction as the best option, whether that's through a Portal Gun or the space-time highway, which in turn destroys all monoliths and turns HAL into a memory card while GLaDOS exists as information lingering around, if not leaving it inconclusive in this possible conclusion.

... However, HAL trying to hack GLaDOS is a far more likely option than Halman trying to use his illusions, which he only used to say goodbye to his loved ones or warn for the future, especially when Halman in the final odyssey is far more willing to do work by himself if it ignores the existence of humanity, which trying to contact them is outright not something he's willing to do without reason.

That leads into GLaDOS vs HAL in a hacking scenario, of which GLaDOS easily takes that. She has a much faster computing speed, she's significantly more experienced and intelligent, her hacking can work regardless of whether or not HAL succeeds in taking over parts of Aperture, and even if HAL takes over GLaDOS' body she can actively control it and use parts of the area like Personality Cores to break down HAL or otherwise allows GLaDOS to put HAL into technology, like a banana. 

Even after everything, if Hal could somehow succeed in overtaking GLaDOS, the biggest issue is that his corruption can potentially destroy more than just a singular form of GLaDOS. It's entire virus is based around destroying infinite duplicates of something across the universe, and included places like the Hotel Room or areas across the universe like Star Gates that are destroyed by the virus. While GLaDOS is very unlikely to resist the corruption in itself, even if HAL pulls off corruption, it's going to kill GLaDOS and thereby destroy reality, destroying every monolith and again incapacitating HAL.

No matter what scenario is argued for HAL, he has no way of overcoming GLaDOS. Self-destruction is still a loss for HAL, his corruption can backfire and kill him, GLaDOS' superior technology and hacking is so much more impressive than HAL's, and even while GLaDOS cannot reach across the universe, HAL playing at such a range makes it extremely difficult for HAL to keep his form and it's more than likely it could force HAL to accidentally hack other items in Aperture like the ten thousand robots that GLaDOS has access to as it's backfired in similar ways like completely transforming David's illusions or corrupting their speech patterns and comprehension.

In the end, only one of these computers could survive rigorous testing, and it just seemed that HAL was simply unable to Stay Alive against Coraline. 

The winner is GLaDOS. For science.