I found that trying to refer to the AI directly doesn't work. I tried asking the AI in the middle of dialogue, "Hey, AI, can you give me a lute so I can be a musician?" and instead the NPCs respond and say there may be a lute at the store or somewhere else. Could there be a menu item to let me refer to the AI directly? I imagine the AI isn't designed to handle that the way it's set up here, tho.
I’ve never seen the AI break character except when the LLM isn’t responding. I don’t think the AI will acknowledge it’s an AI. I believe you can ask most NPCs for items, though Aldric is the purveyor for requested items. He won’t always, but I’ve been able to get him to give me stuff he has on him and stuff he doesn’t have on him once in a while. You can also ask for an item with a name if you ask the question right.
EG: Do you have a book named Karma Sutra? He didn’t but gave it to me anyway.