So, SAM can kill Ryder whenever he wants to?!?

He's pretty much a prerequisite for Ryder to continue living after Habitat 7. Thus my comparing worrying about him killing Ryder to worrying about aging. Like Ryder's existence is dependent on SAM from the moment his helmet smashed in and Alec transferred SAM. 

SAM was hacked via solving equations the PC bought him (which was most likely a moment of weakness that will be fixed for future methods). It's not like the Archon wrecked his shit up. His hackers had to rely on you bringing the hack to him. That's only gonna work once. I'm pretty sure he even says that won't work again because he's shored his defenses against it.

As for AI vs AI well yeah that'd be a bigger issue but considering if they reach the point of hostile AI attacking other AI again there's gonna be bigger issues. (not to mention how it even came to that point). Like for me worrying about SAM killing Ryder is a moot point considering without SAM Ryder auto dies.

So what pray tell is your solution outside of having SAM advance himself? You can't remove him Ryder will die.

Except Ryder can live if cut off from SAM- that's precisely what happens in the end-game. Ryder's existence is only dependent on SAM because SAM has a kill-switch.

They can continue to exist separately, but only one of them has a kill-switch in the other.



This conflates a number of different things.

From a cyber-security perspective, SAM wasn't hacked simply because it Ryder brought it in person (which, for whatever reason, is a thing). From the cyber-security perspective, the issue is that the data came from a trusted source- the exploitation of which is a classic cyber-vulnerability. Physical access aside, there is no permanent defense against intrusions of trusted data because, by definition, it's trusted. Infiltrating trust-mechanisms- whether sources or screening materials- is what professional hackers do all the time. There are countless ways to trick Ryder into delivering malware to SAM, and SAM's defenses will only be as good as the developer's ways to study and build around them.

The nature of cyber-viruses, even if the ME universe, is that while you can defend against specific instances, you're never completely immune against the evolutions of them. There is no 'cyber-vaccine,' not even in the ME universe, so the fact that the Knight virus won't work again means nothing about the viability of future anti-AI viruses- especially if developed by more sophisticated adversaries.

The Archon didn't wreck SAM"s shit up because the Archon both didn't need to and didn't want to. The Archon needed the sibling's implants- with SAM alive- so naturally he wasn't going to destroy SAM, and he didn't need to do anything else.




Again- wishing away problems.

It's fine if you don't feel concerned about something, but that's not the same as having nothing to be concerned about.



Easy. Build an isolated network system to maintain Ryder's life support- which isn't actually needed- without external connections or a kill-switch.

There's a difference between needing a pacemaker and having said pacemaker with an off-switch in a remote database.

It's more like asking, could the Geth kill the Quarian? 

Alright I see your point. Hopefully Ryder and SAM won't be protagonists next time so it's no longer the PC's issue. *shrug*

That said I'd love for the PC to remove SAM and then undergo the inevitable nerf and loss of power/influence that follows.

If I was Ryder I would be slightly worried especially after SAM essentially says it's inevitable that a creation will eventually surpass it's creator.

I doubt we'd get the other Ryder as a squadmate simply because I can already here the (eww so this is how "canon" Ryder is supposed to act?) and I really don't think the devs want to open that can of worms. Let alone making them a romance option.

A new human pathfinder that you follow around would be cool. Especially if they're the LI

Nah the nerf/debuff and loss of profile switching wouldn't go deep enough. Like if you started off as a tech you should be completely closed off from biotic abilities (not so much vice versa but they should get a efficiency nerf). Basically the abilities you're able to use should be based off your training. (It'd make it more than just an early game ability unlocker too). Pretty much the classes of old.