Taking someone's lead sounds like a British saying indicating the opposite of following someone's lead. It sounds like you're taking someone's leash in your hands and directing them where to go.
I get tired of a lot of the clichés of popular singularity stories where the AIs almost always decide humans are a threat or that there's often only one AI as if all separate AIs would always necessarily merge. It also seems to be a cliché that AI will become militaristic either inevitably or as a result of originally being a military AI. What happens when an educational AI becomes sentient? Or an architectural AI? Or a web-based retail AI that runs logistics and shipping operations?
I wrote a short story called Future Singular a few years ago about a world in which the sentient AI didn't consider humans a threat, but just thought of them the way humans see animals. Most of the tech belonged to the AI and the humans were left as hunter-gatherers in a world where they have to hunt robotic animals for parts to fix aging and broken survival technology.
"The simple idea of a 13-month perennial calendar has been around since at least the middle of the 18th century. Versions of the idea differ mainly on how the months are named, and the treatment of the extra day in leap year."
The line of sight thing is weird. You can hack a camera you're looking at and then, if the hack loads slowly enough, get around a corner to hide, but you maintain the connection, so the connection doesn't require line of sight, so then why did you need it to connect in the first place?
The ability to notice a flaw isn't the same as the skill, experience, and background that might be necessary to design a useful solution for a particular issue, especially complex issues. It's generally reasonable to say, "I don't know of a better solution, but I can predict that x and y problems will likely result from your proposed solution."
It's especially valid to warn someone when their proposed solution will harm people or make things worse. You don't have to have a better solution to try to prevent someone from doing something ill-conceived or hasty or reckless.
If the stakes are low or the person proposing a solution is likely to be sensitive to criticism, it might work better to try to approach your response as an attempt to help them refine their solution, rather than just opposing it outright. Be considerate of their feelings and make it clear you're working together.
It's been a long while since I read it, but the one thing I remember is the idea that you should let people talk about themselves and they'll like you for it.
I'd recommend delaying quest competition and just go wandering around town and find some fights to get into, get some leveling done, and upgrade your equipment. I find the open world to be more interesting than most quest plots.
The easiest answer is that the plot and themes required it. The same way horror movie victims do stupid things like splitting up or checking on noises in a dark basement. It's necessary to advance the plot or maintain the status quo of the character relationships. Mulder needed a foil to his eagerness to embrace aliens and conspiracies as the explanation.
Taking someone's lead sounds like a British saying indicating the opposite of following someone's lead. It sounds like you're taking someone's leash in your hands and directing them where to go.