Disclaimer: This post is pure speculation and is not related in any way to how the dev will end up doing the AI, races or factions.
So, about this thing with the different races/factions, I am curious as to how this will work. I'm assuming that the dev will create factions for the different... well, factions. So, for example, a human npc might be a member of the faction/group: Humans. The faction the npc belongs to would effect the npc's interaction with other factions. An npc belonging to the human faction might have a positive "opinion" of a member of the simian faction, and a negative opinion of a faction such as bandits, predators, or perhaps the reptilian faction. This would also affect how the npcs might react the the player character as well: if the PC is avian, he might get a better reception in an avian village.
The faction mechanic I just described is nothing special, alot of games use something of that sort; however, with the AI the dev seems to be planning, the faction system could work alot better. With the goal oriented planning, and the AI "personalities" or alignments, really REALLY cool faction interactions could be possible, with alot more realism. For example, if a certain member of the human faction had a more tolerant personality, he might have less of a problem with other factions (perhaps he has a trait called "tolerant" which adds 5 to his factions default opinion of all factions.)
Of course, there are other ways it can be done, and I'm definitely no professional. if anyone has any ideas on how factions etc. might work, post them here! And if pspeed wants to correct my clumsy rant, that's also fine!