So the Soongs are a peculiar bunch. What do we know about them? Arik Soong's mother was a chemist. Arik was a geneticist and obviously worked on further developing the augment work of previous years. Eventually he gave up on his genetic work, one assumes, and begin work instead on androids. Noonian Soong.. curious choice of name. Ok, we know the real life reason Roddenberry used the name, but in character, and retroactively after Arik Soong was introduced, it does seem as if there was still some fascination with augments. Was Arik himself possibly an augment? Augmenting still continued to be practiced, albeit illegally. Malek and the others certainly regarded him as one of their own. Altan Inigo Soong: Noonian's son. This leaves a wide gap between Arik and Noonian of which nothing is known. Has it ever been stated within the series or books that the Soongs are all clones? It certainly would explain the Soong family's centuries' long focus on one line of thought, culminating in Soong-type Androids. Human cloning existed in Arik's time, since Terra Prime used it. It probably dated back to the 90's/or whatever the Eugenics Wars occurred. We don't see lot of Federation Citizens as clones but maybe it just isn't talked about much. Were the Soongs actually citizens of the UFP? If Arik ever got out of prison, which presumably he did to have his child, he might have left Earth space once more. He was already more familiar with some areas than Earth Starfleet. I hope they continue to explore this family. They're embedded into Trek lore at every turn now, and its interesting to see just how they managed to do what they did.
Quite the contrary, we have Arik giving up genetic work at the end of "The Augments," and Altan saying his father had him in contrast to offspring that were created. I understand the fan desire to come up with an explanation for a family a Spiner lookalikes more profound than obnoxious stunt casting, but that's really all it is.
Well, taking the word of Arik might not be the smartest choice - and A.I. Soong could be a clone or a subtle manipulation but still drastically distinct from the androids Dad built. Nothing has been ruled out yet as such. There was a time window for that, though: during TNG proper, cloning was a disgusting thing that got you brutally killed. Had our heroes had a reason to think that Noonien Soong was a clone, there would probably have been some sort of a reaction, from Riker at least. But Noonien was a recluse, and the heroes other than Data never really saw his face. Cloning could have been his dirty secret all right. And after TNG proper, attitudes towards cloning apparently mellowed out... Timo Saloniemi
I think augmentation/genetic manipulation to the point of cloning is still a good explanation for Noonian Soong, if not for A.I., regardless of the casting. Noonian is said to be extraordinarily brilliant, and he'd have to be to develop sophisticated androids beyond all known Federation technology. Even known augment Julian Bashir was fascinated by that level of knowledge. Sure, he was working off of his ancestor's notes, but all science is like that. Noonian, on his own mostly or at least with very little help aside from the odd friend or two, leapfrogged the technological marvels of his age. Two explanations are at play. First, the Federation is slow to develop AI technology, perhaps not legislatively but bureaucratically, with the necessary hoops to jump through too much, so Noonian was freer on the fringes of society. And two, he actually was smarter than everybody else. And given that underground augmentation producing the occasional Bashir and probably more brilliant examples exist, Noonian would have to be augmented just to outclass the Vulcans. As for Altan Inigo, I always had the impression that Noonian had no interest in reproducing the traditional way, instead favoring his cybernetic constructs as his children, which is explicitly stated in many episodes. Having an actual child throws a spanner in that impression, but A.I. seems older than Data by at least a decade, probably two. I don't think he was on Omicron Theta, and almost certainly isn't the son of Juliana. He is the product of an earlier part of Noonian's life. Now, my assumption is that he is genetically augmented at least, in order to continue the family business, which he dutifully does so for some odd reason (despite an air of hostility towards his father's "other children"). He also builds an entire civilization of twinned androids, and our new Golem friend, bypassing his father's achievements (even with the remarkable Juliana lovebot), almost certainly after his father's death. Young-ish Noonian might not have had the ability early on to build a replacement on the level of a Data or Juliana, instead deciding to grow a replacement in the 2310s to serve as his contribution to the Soong legacy. Cloning seems apt, especially of the already advanced genome he possesses. Raising a kid is annoying business, especially for a constant tinkerer obsessed with the science of positronic cybernetics, so it seems likely that A.I. spent his youth among more primitive androids. Arik, though, is presumably a standard human being, albeit brilliant. Certainly any augmentation is nothing compared to those of his hatchlings, who end up tossing him out with that week's garbage. I think we can safely assume that he is not enhanced, although underground capabilities are probably still extant in his time.
The timing seems right to me. Assuming Alton is the same age as Brent Spiner, 71, he would have been born in 2328. According to Memory Alpha, Julianna O'Donnell and Noonian Soong were married in a secret ceremony in... 2328. The Memory Alpha article also states that they had no biological children, but I don't recall if that's something that was ever explicitly stated on screen. And even if it was, unreliable narrators and all that. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Juliana_Soong
Nothing direct about lack of children in "Inheritance", although the two androids discuss the concept of biological children a lot, and one would very much expect the subject to arise. Nothing in "Brothers", either. And indeed you never trust a Soong anyway, so the place to learn would be one where the Soongs are absent. Scanning of records, rummaging through the Omicron Theta lab, things of that sort. But a Soong would also know how to cover his tracks. Timo Saloniemi
No need for clones if the Soong's genetic makeup is for high intelligence. Why not Alton be a unknown child of Noonian, conceived during a brief affair? Alton much later learned who his father was?
I was always under the impression that androids were basically the only way Soong could have offspring, which makes this revelation he had a biological son really out of left field. Though I guess I could just be confusing head canon with reality.
At first it struck me as odd that Altan would create a "Spot 2" despite seemingly never having reached out to Data all his life, but it's possible that Data and Altan did meet up and keep in contact offscreen during the TNG movie period. There are only 4 movies set across 8 years and a lot could have happened offscreen. Although clearly Picard has never met/heard of Altan before, Data could very well have met up with him during shore leave time. For all we know, Altan is responsible for Data's upgrades during the movie period, such as being able to deactivate his emotions chip at will.