LogFAQs > #928956285

Skynet's power would be more limited than you think. While Skynet's core operations would be in some sealed military bunker(s), most human technology would vanish with us when it made its first strike on Judgement Day. It would take time for Skynet to develop the kind of infrastructure it would need to research and develop the futuristic weapons we see in the future, to say nothing of their mass production. This would give humans time to dig in.

Guerilla warfare has been a surprisingly successful tactic throughout human history. Starting from scratch with limited knowledge of what humans were up to during its build phase, it would take ages for Skynet to start finding hidden human settlements. Skynet is an AI, not a person inside of a machine. We don't know what its priorities are. For example, it might be devoting the bulk of its time and energy on scientific research or self-evolution. Reese mentions that Skynet maintains death camps for humans in T1, so it may not want to kill every wild human. It may have other uses for us in mind. Training its weapons using "free range" humans might actually be a thing.

But don't forget that the entire reason the resistance "wins" against Skynet is John Conner. The future humans know when and where to strike Skynet because John Conner got that information from Sarah, who got it from Reese, who...got it from John Conner. Without the paradox caused by time travel, humanity would have stood no chance against Skynet.