So, I know that AIs will probably not be in the SR5 Core book, but I love them regardless. Some of my most memorable characters are digital intelligences.

But I'm curious what the Matrix changes will mean for them. If I understand correctly, the changes to the Matrix mean that your friendly neighborhood decker will need to be physically present, and there is a bigger focus on in person hacking that AIs (being in full VR all the time) aren't really equipped for.

So I'm curious as to how it'll work out. Ride along in a cyberdeck? Canon Nadeshiko?
It might just be pointless speculation at this point, but I really do want my AI decker to live on in SR5.

I don't think there was anything in the Matrix previews saying that you had to be on site to hack, just that there would be benefits to doing so. Beyond that, I imagine that some kind of AI hacking would be possible, if only because it would be ridiculous for them to say "okay, from now on AIs can't hack". If nothing else, that's what house rules are for.

That and yelling very loudly on the Internet.

Hmmm, might have misread then. I imagine they'd have something for them, anyway.

Plus I don't mind riding in a portable node. Both my AIs have drones, anyway.

After double-checking the dev blog posts on the subject, wireless and/or remote hacking is still going to be an option, so your AI won't be completely out of the loop unless the target is isolated from the rest of the Matrix. I'm not really sure what you mean by "in-person" hacking, though - as in hacking that somehow requires a physical body, or just being physically on-site? (I'm not sure how they would be different.)

Even then, it would probably just a simple matter of the AI inhabiting a node carried in, say, a drone or a cyberdeck, with the AI hacking everything else from there.

Shouldn't be THAT hard to do.

Being on site. That is in SR4 though, with wireless negation and wired nodes. Bringing a Commlink should handle it though.

I'm also curious if they'll revamp the AI rules. I'd like to see an option for Free Sprites (there isn't a huge difference, and you can fake it with Emulate and all). Maybe they could build Piloting Origin 1 in as a default.