Your comment reminds me of a character in a show called "The Good Place". The character is basically an AI construct in a human shape. There's a whole line of j

Your comment reminds me of a character in a show called "The Good Place". The character is basically an AI construct in a human shape. There's a whole line of jokes about people forgetting that "she" isn't human, or even alive. Anyhow, at some point in the plot, someone is going to push a button to destroy her. She reminds them that she will attempt to persuade them not to "kill" her, as part of a self-preservation protocol. Whenever someone approaches the button, she starts sobbing, pleading for her (non-existent) family, and so on. HAL was manipulative. If the scene was carefully written to show that the crying was a form of emotional manipulation, I could see that working. Of course, the version used in the movie highlights HAL's inhuman qualities nicely. It's a tough call which would be more interesting.