Hi! So, to go straight onto answering your questions:

1. Generally, AI isn't a technology that is highly focused on in 'Frontier' -- the space race and quest for dominance in the universe would have been a more pressing issue than developing it. The only possible use for AI in this setting would be in the richer colonies nearer Earth to monitor climate, etc, and even then, I doubt they would truly fit under the category of AI. It isn't a priority for either party in the war given that it is tricky enough to fund without implementing AI which could be hacked or just a liability in general.

2. Artificial bodies have not been introduced in this setting. The colonies - especially on Mars and those stemming from it - are surprisingly religious (or if not that, then traditional) when it comes to the sanctity of the human condition. Implanting someone's mind into a machine would be disturbing to the general populace and likely to cause an uproar.

3. Animals have not been uplifted in intelligence, unfortunately. We're in the 'wild west' of space expansion and scientists are more focused on discovering the human mind given the relatively recent discovery of psychic abilities. Furthermore, the 80 year stalemate makes funding a little difficult.

4. Earth is your typical 'utopia with problems' - a lot of them. It is the hub for big business and about 60% of the solar system's agriculture (the colonies are on their own). The population has stabilised at 11 billion. Climate change is moderated, and alternatives to fossil fuels have been widely accepted. Despite all of these typically perfect ideals, the government for the whole of the universe (as we know it) is based on Earth. Corruption is rampant, deals are made under the table, and politicians are creating new colonies in the dark beyond that they don't have the money for. Furthermore, previous wars and 'unsavoury' history is being erased from living memory. 

Poverty on Earth is something not spoken about. A large chunk of the poorer people volunteered as colonists in the early days, and others moved to even nearby planets and stations such as Mars.

5. There are no lasers, really, because we're focusing on a gritty, realistic sci-fi. Perhaps there wasn't enough funding for the development, or perhaps there was fear in the government officials that if the population got their hands on such weapons (in the early days of space travel) that there would be far more dangerous civil wars than the one they are in now.

Eclipse Phase seems intriguing! I don't think that technology in 'Frontier' has quite reached that level, though. Thank you for your interest, and all your interesting questions -- Stitches and I had a blast discussing them.