Artificial Intelligence

AI supports everything from infrastructure management to healthcare, but biased algorithms and corporate data control create social and ethical divides across colonies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most pervasive and divisive technologies across the colonies. Initially developed to support industries on Earth, AI systems evolved through machine learning and data analytics, eventually becoming powerful enough to handle complex tasks autonomously. In the colonies, AI now underpins everything from infrastructure management to medical diagnostics, agricultural planning, and security. These systems have reshaped daily life, providing efficiency and precision beyond human capabilities. However, the path to widespread adoption of AI is fraught with ethical compromises and corporate exploitation. Rather than remaining neutral tools, AIs are deeply influenced by their creators’ and owners’ interests—primarily corporate stakeholders seeking profit and influence.

Corporations use proprietary AI models that operate on closed data sets, keeping the technology’s inner workings opaque to the general population. The most powerful AIs are deployed in capital cities and affluent regional centers, while rural communities have limited access to these high-level systems, relying on outdated or basic models that lack advanced functions. Corporate influence over AI training data introduces biases that impact every sector. From selective healthcare algorithms that prioritize wealthy populations to predictive policing models that target specific demographics, these biases are embedded into AI systems, amplifying inequalities. AI systems built to serve corporate needs often disregard the ethical and social impacts on ordinary colonists, reinforcing a tiered society where access to quality AI services is reserved for the privileged.

Despite these issues, independent developers and research groups attempt to create open-source AI, aiming to provide accessible alternatives and remove corporate bias. However, corporate interference remains strong, with legal battles, sabotage, and smear campaigns targeting any attempt to democratize AI. In an increasingly automated society, debates over data privacy, AI transparency, and algorithmic fairness grow louder. As colonies continue to adopt AI for essential services, the question of who controls this powerful tool becomes central to life in Stela Mondo, with citizens torn between the convenience and efficiency AI offers and the potential for corporate overreach and manipulation.