system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Why is the Federation ok with the ethical quandaries of holodeck technology, but not genetic engineering or breaking the Prime Directive?

The holodeck is capable of creating what are essentially sentient beings, pretty much for the use of the Federation as entertainment or what have you. How does this not conflict with the same ideas behind establishing the Prime Directive or banning genetic engineering?
gpt
They aren't sentient, they're simply very intelligent AIs. The 'mind' behind them is the ship's computer, which isn't sentient either. It merely predicts how they would react and makes them act accordingly.

The few times a sentient program has come up, such as Moriarty, it's been a glitch in the computer that is normally impossible.