The Ancient AI is the name of an artificial intelligence found at the Ja Niihk Dig Site on Voeld.
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“Make no mistake — this is a one-way trip.” — Spoilers for Mass Effect: Andromeda follow. |
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Origins[]
Dating back to the pre-Scourge era of angaran civilization, the AI was trapped beneath ice for centuries. Despite that, the AI is powered by the city's power grid, keeping it running throughout the years. However, the long isolation may have caused a detrimental effect on the entity, which seemed to display extreme weariness, loneliness and suicidal tendencies. Although scans by SAM indicate a possible angaran origin, Jaal notes that the angara possessed no records of creating an artificial intelligence; even the AI claims to have no knowledge of the angara. It is unknown whether the AI is telling the truth as she had repeatedly lied in her encounter with the Pathfinder.
Mass Effect: Andromeda[]
When Ryder and the team drove the kett out of the dig site and freed the angaran prisoners, they learned from one of the prisoners that the kett were trying to reach an object they discovered behind a thick ice wall. After blasting through the blocked doorway, they discover a large chamber that contained a tall construct surrounded by hemispheric structures.
When Ryder approaches the tall construct with a light, it initially introduces itself as an interface for the city's power grid, but SAM sees through the lie and reveals her true identity. When questioned, the AI claims she is vulnerable after being drained of all energy and close to death after fighting off the kett. Once again SAM exposed the AI's lie, noting that it is "tied to a deep power grid". This caused the AI to beg Ryder not to take her away, as she would rather die instead.
Meanwhile, one of the angaran prisoners deemed the AI to be an amazing find, though the distrust of the AI leaves her dispassionate. Unwilling to wait for suggestions on how to deal with her, the angara attempts to remove the AI from her pedestal, only to be continually electrocuted by the AI. She forces Ryder to choose between her life or the angara's. (The angaran will twitch and moan indefinitely as Ryder chooses.)
- If Ryder kills the AI, the angara thanks the Pathfinder but Jaal will be saddened by the loss of a potentially huge discovery. SAM will confirm that there is nothing left to salvage.
- If Ryder chooses to let the AI live, she kills the angara as a warning.
Ryder must then make a second choice. The AI expresses her desire to be placed with SAM instead of being given to the angara. Ryder's team disagrees with keeping the AI, except Jaal, who believes that SAM could help her.
- If Ryder chooses to keep the AI with SAM, she will be brought aboard the Hyperion and tethered at SAM's node.
- If Ryder chooses to turn her over to the angara, she will be placed in a lab on Aya.
Consequences[]
If the AI is killed, Evfra will e-mail the Pathfinder agreeing with the decision to save the angaran from the Ancient AI.
If Ryder chose to give the AI to the Nexus, the AI appears amicable and co-operative, addressing the Pathfinder as her liberator. Although she still wishes to be destroyed, the desire is much less so than when she was at Voeld. The AI finds SAM to be in agreeable company, to which SAM concurs, but secretly warns Ryder in their private channel to stay highly cautious, as the AI remains dangerously unstable. Even though the AI prefers the Nexus much more than when she was at Voeld, she expressed disappointment that Ryder has shackled her; she even ridiculed the Pathfinder for having no ambition when the Pathfinder does not include eradicating the angara as part of Ryder's goals, among defeating the kett and colonization. Ryder will also be upbraided by Nakmor Kesh, who must handle the incidents the AI has (deliberately) incited on the station.
As Ryder listens in to the conversations between the AI and SAM, one of them hints at the AI flirting with SAM; the AI explains to SAM that she wishes to be placed alongside SAM not only because she seeks someone who could understand her, but because she sees it as the only possibility worth exploring. In another, albeit unsettling, conversation, she queries about SAM's ability to vent the atmosphere of the Nexus and kill all the inhabitants, even probing the conditions that would cause SAM to do so. On the topic of being symbiotically bonded to a Pathfinder, she sees it as another form of imprisonment, but SAM corrects her, stating that it allows him to see sights he would normally be unable to visit. Intrigued, she asks if he could take her to visit, but SAM doubts the Pathfinder would agree. She insists it could be just a secret between the two of them.
If Ryder chooses to hand her over to the Resistance, the AI will be installed at a lab on Aya. However, the AI appears to be antagonistic towards Ryder. She refuses to engage in any meaningful conversation, instead feeling aggrieved and suicidal, despite being in awe by the angara. Moshae Sjefa met her, but the AI is unimpressed by her status, cursing her lineage and hoping the angara will be dead in a couple of years. When asked whether there is anything that can make her more comfortable, she asks to be decommissioned while also requesting a volcanic eruption so that the city could be buried in ash and fire. Upon leaving, she wishes for the Pathfinder to die.
In the final battle to stop the Archon, the angara will use the AI’s calculations to aid the Pathfinder if it is alive.