[Aiken]

GP, most part of your reflections is true, imho. For example, modding of AI_Speach.txt and AI_Politics.txt files is considered as "secondary" or even "not important" (that's my impression of course). But these files are responsible to AI "personality", so we are losing something with such approach.

At the same time, most of complains were about "weak AI", not "uncreative AI". So I think it was natural for AI modders to boost AI strength, not its RP aspects.
AI modding is a sort of contest, and why should someone write an exremly artistic, unpredictible, but helpless AI? The truth is that there are less than "1000 ways to do it", probably there is only 1 way to make successful AI with a slight set of unsignificant variations.

This game was not developed as a space RPG, it a human players who can make it RPG.