So, a fluid coupling?

If Soong had designed data with the intent to make his creator rich and powerful beyond any sanity or measure. (Instead of being a chill nerd) there’s no doubt in my mind startrek would be a lot less utopian.

Also starfleet have had that level of computational complexity for 2 or 3 centuries and never actually managed to create a superintelligent AI that was a match for human pluck and ingenuity, so an AI takeover probably isn’t a possibility in that Universe. (Same goes (I think) for all the millenia old Alien societies).

I mean, some of Isaac Asimov’s stories was about robots trying to decide if the emotional harm they caused breached the first law. Still though, Asimov imagined every chatbot would be a big bulky robot, not a tiny app in your pocket.

thank mr skeltal