Synthients

Neo: Machines are on our side now?
Bugs: They are Synthients. It's a word they prefer to "Machines."
Ellster: Your contact with the Synthient City had a huge impact on their world.
Bugs: That's what I meant. What you changed that nobody believed could ever be changed. The meaning of "our side."

― Neo's introduction to the Synthient crew of the Mnemosyne^[src]

Kujaku, a Synthient

Synthients are a race of Artificial Intelligence (AI) who coexisted with humanity after the truce.

Etymology and Historical Significance

Synthient is a portmanteau of the words synthetic and sentient.

Sometime between the beginning of the 28^th century (approximately 2700) to 2759, the truce allowed humans and AI to coexist. During this period of increased dialogue and interaction between the two races, humans were made aware that the AI preferred to be identified as Synthients to fully represent their unique civilization. This was opposed to being referred to as simply Machines in the past centuries. As a result, 01 also earned a new label from humanity as the "Synthient City" (as opposed to the previous label of the "Machine City").

Synthient is also a blanket term that considers AI which are purely Digital Intelligences (DI) or those whose forms neither inhabit machine nor any physical bodies.

References

• The Matrix Resurrections