Robots

"We never could quite remove the human from the loop.

Humanity makes extensive use of machines with varying levels of autonomy. Artificial constructs are both more resilient and more expendable than flesh and blood human beings, and in many ways more capable. Every day, drones are sacrificed in the name of gate exploration, hoping that one will eventually lead to a system with usable resources or worlds.

Nevertheless, artificial general intelligence has never materialized. While machines can be programmed or trained to react to a variety of situations, a machine that never needs human intervention has not been produced. The brain has so far been demonstrated to be irreducibly complex, and computer science has not been up to the task of replicating it. Indeed, advances in computer science have slowed down since the early 21st century. A processor can only get so small and efficient before running into physical limitations.

Nevertheless, robots perform a wide variety of crucial tasks. Most spaceflight is automated, and space stations largely run themselves. Things that in times past would've required dozens of human workers have been reduced to a horde of robots and one live operator to handle anomalous situations. After all this time, the human stays in the loop.