Warhammer 40,000 takes place in the 41st millennium and delivers unimaginable technologies. However, one thing is missing that is already a part of our daily life today: artificial intelligence. Why is that? The reason is exactly what critics are currently fearing.
Artificial intelligence is an essential part of our lives in 2025 and many areas can no longer do without it. It helps to get work done and makes it easier. There is now music, images, texts, and even entire movies created with AI.
The world of Warhammer 40,000 is significantly more advanced. There are towering battle suits and genetically modified supersoldiers, space travel, and space magic. With such a technically advanced state, AI should be much better, right?
Theoretically yes, but still, there is no artificial intelligence in Warhammer 40,000 anymore, at least not in the Imperium (and not officially). The reason is exactly what some people already fear today: a machine rebellion.
In Warhammer 40,000, what Arnie warns us of in Terminator has happened
Already today, progress carries a certain danger. Some people, and even experts, fear that AI will eventually become too powerful and displace humanity. There are even users who politely say “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT – out of fear.
The Terminator films are older, but they show what can happen in a machine rebellion: humanity is (almost) completely destroyed. Warhammer 40,000 had this scenario too, but much earlier than the current state of lore.
Roughly between the years 15,000 and 25,000 was the Dark Age of Technology, well before the Imperium of Man was even founded. Humanity was supposedly at the peak of its technological knowledge. During this time, two new “races” were created:
- The Men of Stone, or Stone Men, were a smaller species with high technical knowledge and mechanical abilities, ideal tinkerers and engineers.
- The Men of Steel, or Iron Men, were machines created by the Men of Stone with a consciousness – robots with AI that could develop independently.
In the 23rd millennium, the “cybernetic uprising” occurred. The Iron Men rebelled against their creators, the reasons for which are speculated. The most likely reason is that AI calculated that a connection with the Chaos was the most efficient, leading to a corruption of the machines.
The ensuing war nearly exterminated humanity and is considered even more destructive than the Great Brother War, the “Horus Heresy,” which took place in the 30th millennium.
By the way: Something similar happened in Dune as well.
Involuntary Cyborgs instead of artificial intelligence
As a result of the cybernetic uprising, artificial intelligence was eventually banned, even before there was an Imperium. The Emperor only united humanity at the end of the 30th millennium.
However, humanity did not refrain from using machines for help. The alternative is just as brutal as you would expect from Warhammer. Instead of using artificial intelligence, from this point on, humans are simply transformed into machines. And literally.
A person, usually a criminal or someone else being punished, undergoes a lobotomy and has his limbs replaced with machinery – he becomes a “servitor”, frequently against his will.
The human brain then serves to control without independent will. There are rumors that some servitors are still quite conscious and exist in a constant state of helplessness, suffering, and pain because they have no control over their own body.
Remnants of AI are considered sacred today
Artificial intelligence, however, has not completely disappeared. What the Adeptus Mechanicus today reveres as “machine spirits” is most likely a remnant of artificial intelligence in machines.
Unlike the AI of the past, which is now referred to as “Abominable Intelligence”, machine spirits can no longer develop and improve independently. However, they can certainly become corrupted and rebel, which is why the Tech-Priests continually appease them with rituals.
For some time now, there has been “real” artificial intelligence again, and it is even most likely the same as the one that rebelled back then. The conglomerates of Votann were recently discovered.
Who exactly they are has not been officially confirmed, but the likelihood is high that they are the last Stone Men who were scattered throughout the galaxy and have continued to evolve. They have a close bond with the “Iron Kin”, sentient machines that they treat like siblings: In Warhammer 40,000 there are space dwarves, and they are even tougher than in Deep Rock Galactic
