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Description
Ever since the First Industrial Revolution, mankind has feared the most ironic of fates: its destruction at the hands of its own creations. For much of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, men as serious as computer scientists and physicists and as farcical as speculative fiction writers warned mankind about the potential of artificial intelligence to destroy mankind. Whether this be through conscious rebellion, catastrophic obedience to otherwise-sensible orders, the designs of humans or corruption through a virus, or simply because artificial intelligence would invariably be too alien for human psychology to understand, by the end of the 21st century it was widely accepted that the use of artificial intelligence for war is too dangerous to permit. Reeling from the Third World War and the consequences of limited nuclear war, by the dawn of the 22nd century, humanity was unwilling to unleash another evil from the technological Pandora's Box on itself. So, in 2201, every sovereign state - and the major tech firms - gathered in Shanghai. There, humanity collectively agreed that they would design no artificial intelligence for the purpose of war or other lethal combat, nor would they design machines intended for such purposes without direct human intervention. In a world already reeling from the changes brought by automation, humanity put an end to the automation of war.

Of course, the Treaty of Shanghai had its loopholes. Nothing was done about the social harms caused by mass automation; too much money was being made here, and nothing but a fourth world war could have put an end to it. Unmanned drones that are ultimately under human control were still permitted, as were limited autopiloting AIs; what was strictly forbidden was allowing a machine to kill without human authorization. With the use of virtual reality controls, the world powers eventually created drones controlled directly by human minds. Nothing prevented the cybernetic augmentation of humans to become better soldiers; in fact, the signatories all expected one another to make developments in this direction. It was only the bioconservatives that objected, and they paid the price in the long run. The Gene Wars proved that augmented soldiers were worth ten of their unaugmented counterparts, and it was only because the bioconservatives outnumbered their opponents a hundred to one that they achieved victory. But even after the Gene Wars, augmentation technology improved to make augmented soldiers even more effective, to the point that all of the Orbitals used them in lieu of unaugmented soldiers. Eventually, these soldiers were grown from purpose-designed genetic stock for the sole purpose of war. Many Orbital corporations grew rich from selling these mercenaries to Orbital governments, and they were popular in suppressing revolts on Earth or even the Orbitals themselves. The bioconservative Terran states relied on baseline soldiers, and they were only good for suppressing revolts or fighting other Terran states.

The Treaty of Shanghai would remain the law in the Solar System until the formation of the Greater Germanic Union. Once the loosely-aligned Germanic Federation, a quiet collection of Germanic orbitals and Lunar habitats, the Germanic leader Siegfried Walther transformed it into a highly centralized, militaristic state. The other Orbitals and Lunar states opposed Walther's ascent to power, as he gained it through a military coup, and the Germanic people themselves were deeply divided on the issue. Walther knew that his power was not secure from both the rest of the Orbitals and half the Germanic population, even though he had one of the Solar System's most formidable armies at his command. Knowing that he had no other choice, and that he was already an enemy of the Solar System, Walther broke the Treaty of Shanghai and deployed the first Automated Combat Units against his Lunar opponents.

Made up initially of repurposed androids armed with rifles, the first Germanic ACUs were not impressive on their own, but Walther had millions of them available overnight. Preparing to face an army of only a few hundred thousand, his enemies were suddenly faced with an army many times that size. While Germania's enemies had combat drones, an ACU does not require direct human control, meaning more can be deployed. Capable of operating in vacuum without issue, the ACUs were transported across Luna via vactrain and dropship, and some even marched. Threatening to burst through air locks by using construction tools, the Germanic ACU armies managed to get entire cities to surrender without a fight. Within a few short months, Walther was the undisputed master of Luna, and his fleets were landing ACUs on Terra, threatening Orbital rule there. Walther managed to negotiate a peace settlement with the rest of the Orbitals as they considered their options. Ultimately, it was decided that the only way to combat an ACU is with an ACU, and so the Orbitals discarded the Treaty of Shanghai and made ACU armies of their own. Ultimately, Walther would be beaten back to Germania's original territory and be forced to sign peace, but his breaking of the Treaty of Shanghai would change the Solar System forever.

Today, every modern army has a large contingent of ACUs. Some stubborn Orbitals still maintain professional augmented soldiers, but the great powers all maintain ACU armies in the millions. Even bioconservative Terran states, such as the American Directorate, have large ACU armies; in fact, the Directorate has the largest ACU army in the entire Solar System. ACUs are now purpose-designed for a variety of combat roles, and are far less fragile and stupid than their counterparts during the Third Interplanetary War. Each ACU is equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence, albeit one programmed specifically to obey any order from a commanding officer. ACUs are preprogrammed with mission intelligence, rules of engagement, and any other information a soldier would need to know prior to deployment. ACUs are typically handled through a network of increasingly-centralized hub AIs, which ultimately report to human handlers. No state has placed its entire military, or its weapons of mass destruction, under the control of artificial intelligence. However, with the growth of advisory artificial intelligence, this might change.

Description
Ever since the First Industrial Revolution, mankind has feared the most ironic of fates: its destruction at the hands of its own creations. For much of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, men as serious as computer scientists and physicists and as farcical as speculative fiction writers warned mankind about the potential of artificial intelligence to destroy mankind. Whether this be through conscious rebellion, catastrophic obedience to otherwise-sensible orders, the designs of humans or corruption through a virus, or simply because artificial intelligence would invariably be too alien for human psychology to understand, by the end of the 21st century it was widely accepted that the use of artificial intelligence for war is too dangerous to permit. Reeling from the Third World War and the consequences of limited nuclear war, by the dawn of the 22nd century, humanity was unwilling to unleash another evil from the technological Pandora's Box on itself. So, in 2201, every sovereign state - and the major tech firms - gathered in Shanghai. There, humanity collectively agreed that they would design no artificial intelligence for the purpose of war or other lethal combat, nor would they design machines intended for such purposes without direct human intervention. In a world already reeling from the changes brought by automation, humanity put an end to the automation of war.

Of course, the Treaty of Shanghai had its loopholes. Nothing was done about the social harms caused by mass automation; too much money was being made here, and nothing but a fourth world war could have put an end to it. Unmanned drones that are ultimately under human control were still permitted, as were limited autopiloting AIs; what was strictly forbidden was allowing a machine to kill without human authorization. With the use of virtual reality controls, the world powers eventually created drones controlled directly by human minds. Nothing prevented the cybernetic augmentation of humans to become better soldiers; in fact, the signatories all expected one another to make developments in this direction. It was only the bioconservatives that objected, and they paid the price in the long run. The Gene Wars proved that augmented soldiers were worth ten of their unaugmented counterparts, and it was only because the bioconservatives outnumbered their opponents a hundred to one that they achieved victory. But even after the Gene Wars, augmentation technology improved to make augmented soldiers even more effective, to the point that all of the Orbitals used them in lieu of unaugmented soldiers. Eventually, these soldiers were grown from purpose-designed genetic stock for the sole purpose of war. Many Orbital corporations grew rich from selling these mercenaries to Orbital governments, and they were popular in suppressing revolts on Earth or even the Orbitals themselves. The bioconservative Terran states relied on baseline soldiers, and they were only good for suppressing revolts or fighting other Terran states.

The Treaty of Shanghai would remain the law in the Solar System until the formation of the Greater Germanic Union. Once the loosely-aligned Germanic Federation, a quiet collection of Germanic orbitals and Lunar habitats, the Germanic leader Siegfried Walther transformed it into a highly centralized, militaristic state. The other Orbitals and Lunar states opposed Walther's ascent to power, as he gained it through a military coup, and the Germanic people themselves were deeply divided on the issue. Walther knew that his power was not secure from both the rest of the Orbitals and half the Germanic population, even though he had one of the Solar System's most formidable armies at his command. Knowing that he had no other choice, and that he was already an enemy of the Solar System, Walther broke the Treaty of Shanghai and deployed the first Automated Combat Units against his Lunar opponents.

Made up initially of repurposed androids armed with rifles, the first Germanic ACUs were not impressive on their own, but Walther had millions of them available overnight. Preparing to face an army of only a few hundred thousand, his enemies were suddenly faced with an army many times that size. While Germania's enemies had combat drones, an ACU does not require direct human control, meaning more can be deployed. Capable of operating in vacuum without issue, the ACUs were transported across Luna via vactrain and dropship, and some even marched. Threatening to burst through air locks by using construction tools, the Germanic ACU armies managed to get entire cities to surrender without a fight. Within a few short months, Walther was the undisputed master of Luna, and his fleets were landing ACUs on Terra, threatening Orbital rule there. Walther managed to negotiate a peace settlement with the rest of the Orbitals as they considered their options. Ultimately, it was decided that the only way to combat an ACU is with an ACU, and so the Orbitals discarded the Treaty of Shanghai and made ACU armies of their own. Ultimately, Walther would be beaten back to Germania's original territory and be forced to sign peace, but his breaking of the Treaty of Shanghai would change the Solar System forever.

Today, every modern army has a large contingent of ACUs. Some stubborn Orbitals still maintain professional augmented soldiers, but the great powers all maintain ACU armies in the millions. Even bioconservative Terran states, such as the American Directorate, have large ACU armies; in fact, the Directorate has the largest ACU army in the entire Solar System. ACUs are now purpose-designed for a variety of combat roles, and are far less fragile and stupid than their counterparts during the Third Interplanetary War. Each ACU is equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence, albeit one programmed specifically to obey any order from a commanding officer. ACUs are preprogrammed with mission intelligence, rules of engagement, and any other information a soldier would need to know prior to deployment. ACUs are typically handled through a network of increasingly-centralized hub AIs, which ultimately report to human handlers. No state has placed its entire military, or its weapons of mass destruction, under the control of artificial intelligence. However, with the growth of advisory artificial intelligence, this might change.