Silicates are what
A.I.'s are called in the series
space: above and beyond.
Silicates were manufactured to be servants and soldiers, designed to be visually pleasing. They were programmed to comprehend abstract concepts such as philosophy, theology and ethics. Although they could understand these ideas they were not allowed to originate new ideas. Their superior intelligence was totally learned so they could understand an idea like freedom but did not have the ability to formulate how to obtain freedom.
Around 2047 there was a programmer who worked for Silicate Tronics. Dr. Ken Stranahan who was considered a genius, discovered his boss was taking all the credit for his work. While upgrading the A.I. Central Processing Unit Dr. Stranahan inserted a virus to get his revenge. The virus said 'Take a Chance', which started the A.I. wars. The idea of risk is like a religeon for the A.I.'s.
The only thing Human created including themselves that they respect is gambling. The Silicates learned how to win a rebellion against the humans, they don't feel emotions such as fear, intimidation and mercilessness but they know how it affects Humans.
For 10 years they were terrorists on Earth until the Humans finally got an upper hand, but again they 'Took a Chance', and commendered some military launch vehicles and took off into space.
Silicates can communicate through a networked wireless modem, they also have a 5 terabyte collected memory capacity. Any unit can recall any event to any A.I. that was ever built. Intelligence reports indicate that the Silicates are now helping the Chigs in their war against the Humans, they have recently been spotted trying to disrupt the mining of Helium 3 rocket fuel on Bunuel. The have also been spotted on various Chig outposts.