The Fosterite Empire arose as a response to the AI threat. It began as an alliance of independent powers of disparate origins that wanted to avoid the extinction that had already come to many who stubbornly insisted on independence.
They clustered under the leadership of a luddite culture that had obeyed the warnings against AI, even going so far as to avoid any technology that might be easily commandeered by an AI, as it saw the mistake as inevitable. Instead, they relied on human and homunculus labor for nearly everything. As this culture fared the best against AI enemies that relied heavily on such commandeering, they were vindicated not only by their apparent foresight but their greatly disproportionate battlefield effectiveness against the threat. They went from being considered backwater geno-slaver nutjob luddites to near-prophetic defenders of humanity's future.
After the victory, the autocratic control structures & emergency powers established for the war remained. They became the basis for a new society held together by the collective trauma of near-extinction. The bodies subject to their rule found it acceptable, as the appropriate decision-makers were assimilated into the ruling strata.