The conspiracy here is simple.
Doing this causes people to assume that the tech isn't that good.... yet.
In truth, the tech is 100 years advanced beyond what we see out there. AI has existed for decades. They just set it up this way so people assume the current technology isn't that good so they never realize how much tech they actually have.
All this started with Atlantian tech. The group that maintained it after the downfall decided to enslave humanity with it.
Can you explain in more detail? What was this AI you programmed able to do? Was it able to do the same thing as AI today?