AI do nothing

Ok i have read on this that some people have problems with the AI well, my friend bought the game we played a multiplayer on the one computer and i am deciding on buying it as it looks great and you can do so many things with it. But we have found one major problem that the AI in the game do nothing other than just sit there, they do not build ships or do anything at all. He has said he has downloaded the lastest patch, im not sure which one that is but still is this a common problem or whats up? i am going to buy the game myself if we can get this figured out. We have tried checking out the game settings and have had no luck. Can anyone help?