... If this is how the AI behaves towards a player then why would they act differently towards another AI faction?
Because the AI has been re-set, to cheat like crazy in v0.913 ! It does so in numerous ways, several of which have been identified and documented in the current feedback thread on v0.913.
What is worse, is that the AI not only now cheats like crazy on the Challenging and Hard levels (which could be argued, as acceptable), it also cheats like crazy on the Medium, Easy, and Beginner levels. This is annoying; and at present, it largely defeats the purpose of having Beginner and Easy levels in the game. For more discussion on this subject, see the thread started by EmperorJarin, entitled: "The day that Easy became too hard". (I should add, that I remain hopeful that the FE Devs will get this properly sorted out, in a later update. But if you share this concern, please add your feedback to the "Easy" thread. Thanks!)