The AI still gives you specialization techs as gifts, that you can't refuse. This extreme annoyance has been around for a very long time. I don't want a reduced cost for building ship components forced onto me, when I was planning on taking the reduced mass specialization instead. Is it game breaking? No probably not. Is it annoying as f***? Yes, yes it is.
Several options are available to "fix" this:
1) Let us refuse a gift tech.
2) If an AI gifts you a specialization tech, you are still able to research your own specialization choice.
3) The AI will never gift you a tech that is a specialization tech.
Pick any of those 3 and implement them. Please.