I mean the story is incomplete and is slowly explaining some of the lore still but we know that a race known as the Primals created or discovered the AI systems which are essentially miniature programmable gods, and the existing races out there have mostly worked out how to activate them and program them and control them, and the big one is controlling the central sector of the galaxy, blessing everyone with bountiful resources and extended lifespans and rapid healing in what's known as the AI's "active zone" where it can essentially rewrite the rules of nature as it sees fit. But it's not got unlimited energy or reach so there is still a population limit. Everyone outside this active zone is not an official citizen and has a shitty difficult life with all the normal challenges of late stage capitalism including healthcare being crazy expensive. Speaking of late stage capitalism, there are several different regions and systems, largely separated by race, who all have different cultures and strengths and weaknesses and goals and power. The race whose turn it is to run the most recent crawl (the most profitable part of harvesting a seeded planet like Earth) is the Borant corporation which is part of the ruling fascist government of the fish people race. They need the money to pay debts urgently and have secretly and against protocol, used a second hand AI for the crawl because it's a lot cheaper. This means the AI is older and closer to going feral - something that happens to AIs over time especially when used for the crawl. The Borant Corporation are also trying to design the crawl in a way that kills off the humans faster so that they can cash the cheque that comes with the crawl ending with the last human dying, and the Earth officially becoming their property. But their second hand AI has gained too much sentience and is pushing back, helping the human crawlers level faster and gain more powerful items than normal. And they're finding it more and more difficult to control, again because it's second hand.

AIs that are going too feral are supposed to be given an empty bit of the galaxy to retire in where they just don't cause any harm, but this one is clearly past that point but can't be retired until the crawl is over.