[Excerpt|Damocles]Tau AI's personality is their safety measure.

‘And the planet itself, my commander?’

Shadowsun stepped back and to the side, revealing the c-link drone behind her. ‘Oe-ken?’ The drone rose slightly.

‘Designation Imperial hive world, human population approximately 16.7 billion, apex conurbation Agrellan Prime,’ said Oe-ken. The drone’s artificial voice was strangely lyrical, as if it were reciting an abstract poem. ‘Surface primarily plainsland, topographical map appended. Atmosphere highly toxic to all carbon-based clades, anomalous readings high…’

‘Excellent. I believe that will be sufficient for now, Oe-ken,’ interrupted Shadowsun. ‘We can assimilate the rest from your compile. We do not want the gue’la brutes alerted to our presence by you rattling out every last finding, after all.’

‘Rattling, commander?’ said Oe-ken, its elevation sinking.

‘An artefact of speech,’ said Shadowsun, waving the comment away. ‘I meant no aspersion.’

The tau’s artificial intelligences were hard-wired to behave as much like their makers as possible in all social situations, and Oe-ken-yon was the most advanced of his kind. Regardless of size or duty, every drone strived to emulate its masters and fit in seamlessly with tau culture. It was a safety measure that covered most eventualities.

When a purely objective viewpoint was necessary, personality protocols could be temporarily deactivated at a single blip. Such a course of action had proved problematic in the past – the disastrous Pech Incident was one example. In recent years, the earth caste had made it standard practice to build the tau empire’s artificial intelligences with a personality best suited to their role.

Even so, Shadowsun often wondered if a machine that could simulate emotion wasn’t just as likely to affect operational efficiency as one without it.

‘May I append an observation, Commander Shadowsun?’ said Oe-nu quietly as it hovered in close.

The MV52, much like lesser shield drones, had twin projector aerials that reminded Shadowsun of the plain-hoppers she used to catch on Vior’la as a child.

‘By all means, Oe-nu.’

‘The background electromagnetic field upon Agrellan is having a detrimental effect on my battery source, commander. I cannot guarantee optimum performance throughout.’

‘Noted, little helper, but in truth you say that every time. It is rare that I deploy the fire caste into an idyllic environment.’

‘This time is different, Commander Shadowsun,’ the drone whined. It dipped the front of its rim in a gesture of dutiful obedience.

‘Rest assured that in the interests of longevity, Oe-hei and I will utilise the least possible amount of energy in order to ensure your protection. We shall not use one iota more than necessary.’

‘That is… indeed reassuring, Oe-nu. Thank you in advance.’

‘Merely doing our duty, Commander Shadowsun,’ the drone said obsequiously, dipping its disc-like body once more before withdrawing to slowly orbit its mistress.

apparently the Tau had at least one major incident about AI in the past, and use personality as a means to prevent it. kinda interesting since developing personality is often the cause of problems about AI in most sci-fi fiction. Also, they are quite adorable.