So, in this mission, still fairly early on in the faction storyline, the railroad tasks you with saving your first synth. It’s structured as an educational mission more than a challenge or a huge world shift, you get to visit a new railroad base, learn a bit more about their security protocols. But what stuck out to me most Were a few lines of dialogue with H2-22.
You have to pass some persuasion checks to even access them, so they’re easy to miss. But what he tells you is, in short, that the cruel, evil institute expected him to behave like a machine. To perform janitorial duties over a few tunnels. Forever. The purpose of this bit is obviously to make you feel sorry for him and encourage the idea that the institute is morally suspect, but like. Think about that for a second.
We just learned that the institute is creating gen 3 synths complete with true AI that can fully behaviorally and physically mimic humans. And they’re building them to CLEAN. Why in the fuck? They could easily have a gen 1, or at least a simpler model of AI without emotions and freewill to avoid them escaping. And it’s not even for narcissism or a desire to see human analogues in their day to day, as H2 confirms he cleaned tunnels and not the main area. We also know that vacuum robots exist in fallout, and mr. Handys are outright programmed to enjoy domestic work. I cannot think of a single reason why this section could make sense.