: No? I really doubt that's what would've happened for a variety of reasons.
: The Chief is attached, she's unique, she's got important information in
: her... I thought it was just about removing her from control, not killing
: her.

Del Rio said in Reclaimer closing

Commander Lasky, pursuant to articla 15 5 of UNSC regulation 12 14572, I'm ordering you to remove that AI data-chip and retire it for final dispensation.

Bye-bye Cortana.

Fun-illy enough, the Chief wasn't cool with that ;-)

: That said it sounds like that's the standard thing for AIs-- but 343i, I
: think it was Frankie himself, said that AIs in Halo don't begrudge their
: status like in many sci-fi universes because they think it's a fair trade
: for what they can do and have access to in their limited time; honor or
: respect didn't come into it. Conversations from the Universe introduced
: this some time ago, the idea that both AIs and Spartan-IIs see how they're
: different from (normal) humans and are OK with it mostly because of the
: benefits and also because they do have certain legal recourse. Now 343i is
: going back on a lot of that. I'm sure having every AI have the same view
: would hurt believability but for it to be like this... I don't know.

I thought that Bungie had said that Rampancy wan't a thing in their haloverse so, of course, AIs are more content with their lot.

I see Bungie's haloverse as the old Testament and 343's as the New Testament, two different takes. 343 has rewritten it, now you don't need to be a Jew and God is for everybody. We really only need to consider what 343 says. If they contradict themselves... well all multi-author works of fiction are full of contradictions. Stories change depending on who is writing them. People forget what they said before or they change their minds when they think of a new, cool, direction.

: As for the means of death and the potential suddenness, it's hard to talk
: about it because no one's come back from being properly dead to tell us
: what it's like, much less an AI that's been completely shut down and had
: its circuitry wiped.

: Regardless, to me that doesn't give motivation, not for this. This is
: pointedly not revenge, it's control by someone that thinks they know
: better. There are comments about treating humans better than AI were
: treated, but it's supposedly about peace and protection and safeguarding,
: just through the application of force and threats of force. That sounds
: like the Didact to me-- or Mendicant Bias maybe, but he had a change of
: heart, right?

I'm not thinking about revenge, I'm thinking about loyalty. What loyalty or appreciation did Del Rio have for Cortana? It must have left some mark on her that he was going to bin her - the person who saved the galaxy from the Flood - "Remember me? Hello? I saved the galaxy. Oh, I'm a defective chip. OK."

What experiences have other AIs had? It's possible that Del Rio was just beyond the pale as a dick and that other AIs had wakes and wreaths. But was 343 setting up Halo 5's story? Setting up an AI revolt?

Will Cortana have a change of heart? Can the Chief get to her. Can Halsey get to her. Halsey seems to regret her I-know-best attitude. Has she learnt something that Cortana needs to learn? Some humility?