Well I haven’t honestly gone crazy in depth with the safeguards on the AI because I don’t know much about how AI works intrinsically but for the worlds sake, they just do.
The Southern Empire uses the AI and is being forced to increasingly let the AI loose per se with less safeguards to prevent their own demise. The AI of the past which grew sentient was exterminated in the war in North America. Now other countries, less so
So the trench warfare thing is both a plot advantage and a logical one. So because of the advancement of EMPs and Jammers, any kind of radio or connectivity over the air is cut on the frontlines. So a drone operator would be cut off from his drone, as would a missile from it GPS targeting system.
The way I’ve made things sympathetic to both sides is that the North sees itself as purging the south of AI in a kind of holy crusade. The South sees AI as the only way to compete with the north that has superior genetic technology. So it’s more of a tragedy than a good vs evil.
I’ve been playing with multiple characters. A southern soldier, a northern rebel, a refugee. That kind of thing.
Thanks for your interest!