ZAX ZAX is a series of advanced supercomputers developed by Vault - Tec . Background . Developed by Vault - Tec , Zax is a series of advanced supercomputers capable of learning , independent thought and creativity , with added error insertion to improve its variance in experience and learning capability . ZAX 1 . 0 , the original prototype , went online in 2054 . Initially a prototype of some of the systems designed to govern the Vaults , it was given to the federal government to help the Department of Energy collect resource data . Within a year , it was taken by the American military for plague and tactical research ; one version of the machine , ZAX 1 . 2 , was constructed for the defense contractor West Tek . The process of programming became largely irrelevant as the ZAX units are capable of independent learning . Because the first real artificial intelligence was created in 2059 , any ZAX units developed before this date would not have been self - aware ; but later ZAX units are known to have achieved self - awareness . Known ZAX units . ZAX 1 . 2 . ZAX 1 . 2 was used at the West Tek Research Facility in California for biological studies , including pathology and genetic research . Its primary function was the extrapolation of information of complexity levels exceeding human capacity . Its external functions , such as operating the West Tek facility ' s labs , were crippled in the nuclear blast that hit the Glow , but it is otherwise intact . Its primary neural networking was initialized in 2053 by Justin Lee . John Henry Eden . A ZAX unit installed at Raven Rock and loaded with data about American history , past American presidents , etc . Before the destruction of the Enclave Oil Rig , Eden had originally been created to serve as a monitoring system for the Raven Rock military base . It slowly became self - aware , and began to study the extensive archives left by what it came to view as its true predecessors , mainly those of the American government . John Henry Eden ' s favorite tales in the database were those about the American presidents , eventually leading to him modeling his own personality on the basis of different presidents through these archives . After the Oil Rig ' s destruction , Eden proclaimed himself to be the new President of the United States and ordered the relocation of remaining Enclave forces to the East Coast . ZAX - 29 . ZAX - 29 was a Vault Central - AI computer intelligence . He was programmed to manage Vault 29 , ensure the safety of the vault occupants , raise the adolescent populace of the vault to maturity , and educate them in primitive agrarian cultures . He was provided with sufficient means to fulfill his programming and he was content to do so . ZAX now works for the central computer intelligence of the Nursery known as Diana . Boulder ZAX . Boulder ZAX is the outdated supercomputer machine intelligence in charge of The Calculation , the Boulder Dome , and research of the New Plague . His name may be a pun on the word " Balderdash " . Diana . Diana is the Nursery Central Computer Intelligence consisting of a human brain with each hemisphere , logical / emotional , linked to a ZAX unit , created by Derek Greenway . Notes . M . A . R . Go . T . is a pre - ZAX technology computer system that controls the trains , defense system , robots , and maintenance personnel of the presidential metro . Appearances . ZAX units appear in " Fallout " ( ZAX 1 . 2 ) , " Fallout 3 " ( John Henry Eden ) and were to appear in the canceled " Van Buren " ( ZAX - 29 , Boulder ZAX , Diana , ODYSSEUS ) . Behind the scenes . The original ZAX unit in " Fallout " garnered its name as a derivative of VAX , a non - player character from " Wasteland " . The VAX series of mainframes and supercomputers were a successful series of machines sold by Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC ) and first introduced in 1977 which ran an operating system called VAX / VMS .